Dear Parent / Carer,

Welcome to our weekly family and community communication that provides a Headteacher overview of the weeks events and other school-based events and information.

The week that’s been…

It’s been a very peculiar week with a holiday Monday, INSET day on Thursday and examinations continuing throughout.

Over this week, examinations and masterclasses have continued for learners in S4-6. We have had Drama (N5 / Higher), Admin and IT (N5 / Higher), Dance (N5 / Higher), French (all levels) and Maths (all levels). We are halfway through the exam diet and it’s great to see the continued energy, enthusiasm and determination from our young people. Well done and keep going!

On Tuesday, we held our last PACK meeting of this session. At the meeting, I provided the following updates:

• HMIE Report and next steps – developing our School Improvement Plan to support next steps
• Budget – likely to be underspent by around £20,000 – this will be retained into new financial year
• Pupil Equity Funding – used to support a range of learners – currently supporting – 4 x PSO’s, Trade Hub places, YM provision and Counselling and development roles to support specific interventions and needs.
• Staffing – Ms Leiper taking on Mr F’s caseload, Mrs Stewart continuing in PTC Support role, plans for next session – new English, Maths and HE teachers required.
• Updated policies on Passes and Mobile Phone use – support from PACK for both and no issues raised.

PACK issues raised as follows:

• Concerns about the misuse of mobile phones filming incidents in and around school – updated policy should help with this
• Staffing issues – ongoing issues in English, communication around this and plans to improve – we have worked as a school to improve this and continue to do so. We are seeking to appoint new English teacher and will support the faculty as needed.
• Communication around S3 literacy catch up and max numbers in masterclasses – apologies for lateness of communication for catch up and for any confusion caused. Reviewed masterclass – no young person sent away for busy classes but need to ensure that appropriate number of staff for number attending. School to review.
• Sports activities – Cross Country and Football – communication feels like last minute with cancelation of training for Football and short notice about Cross Country. Aware of S1 Football issues from term 2/3 but this has improved. Cross Country feedback – TBC
• KC3 bus continually late picking up / dropping off in the morning. HT spoke to transport. Company will send a memo to drivers to ensure they pick up at 8.06am leaving at 8.08am sharp. Company will monitor.
• Issue about paint work on windows at front of school looking neglected – school to raise with school estates and update in due course.

If you want to read more about what is happening here at KHS, please follow our blog.

We are currently working with colleagues to develop our School Improvement Plan for next session. As part of this work, we will be seeking your views. As you will be aware, we have had a lot of feedback over the session from families and young people through our ELP in September, HMIE inspection in November and from various surveys across the session. We are using this information and current data to support with this.

Finally, we are making changes to our Mobile Phone policy which will come into effect on Monday. In addition, we will be implementing a new Learner pass policy from Monday 18th May 2026 (this is a change from the date shared with learners). I shared both policies with you last week and discussed with PACK on Tuesday. We shared this with our young people on Wednesday.

N.B. We will be emailing all families affected by the change to our Learner Pass policy. I would ask you to discuss this with your child(ren). As a rule of thumb, there needs to be a valid medical reason or exceptional circumstance for a learner to receive a pass. More information is contained in the policy.

House Points

Please see below the House Points:

Adam Smith – 6
Carlyle – 4
Oswald – 33

Overall total:
Adam Smith – 2129
Carlyle – 2422
Oswald – 2412

The week ahead…

Next week, our timetable changes for S1-S3, moving into S2-S4. All learners were given new timetables during class today. If your child(ren) was not in school today, you can see their new timetable on Parents Portal. They can also collect their timetable on Monday morning from the old Guidance base. Staff will be on hand to direct learners.

On Friday there will be a dress down day in support of Mental Health week. As ever, we would ask for a donation to support a named charity – Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH). Please ensure that this is ‘school-sensible’! More information about Mental Health awareness week is available on the Mental Health Foundation website.

I hope you enjoy the weekend!

Best wishes,

Chris McKay
Headteacher
08 May 2026