Dear Parent/Carer

It’s been a short week, but we are back up and running. I hope you are doing alright.

It would be good to report that it’s been a smooth start, but we’ve had around a quarter of all pupils absent, much of this absence related to Covid. We’ve also had 20 or so of the teachers off, and I’m one of them. As you maybe know, I’m having to self isolate due to a Covid case in my household.

So well done to all who are in, and best wishes to those who can’t be right now. I’m hoping that the recent changes to self isolation rules will be helpful. Of course, this is all dependent on effective testing at home, so please continue to support that important process. All young people were given additional test kits yesterday. Anyone who missed out can collect a box from the PSO base next to Guidance. Face masks are available at reception or from teachers. However, it’s best if young people can provide their own and look after it.

The other important aspect is reporting of cases. Please do this online and if the result is positive, contact the school by email or phone. We make a daily return to the Education Service and the school level data is used to track the spread of the virus and to inform staff planning. Yesterday we reported 32 new cases among pupils, but I suspect that this is not the full picture. Many thanks.

As you know, pupils in S4-6 are working towards SQA qualifications. These are completed later this year with an exam diet being planned from Tuesday 26 April to Wednesday 1 June. The qualifications have been amended by the SQA to take account of the disruption which learners have faced. To help our young people prepare for the exams, we are having Prelims in school (with some of these being held in the Assembly Hall) between 17 and 28 January. I should emphasise that our young people shouldn’t think that the Prelims are the only way to demonstrate their progress. There will be other opportunities to generate evidence which might yet be important for assessment, as has been the case in the past two sessions. However, the Prelims give a good indication of how things are going and they are good practice for the final thing.

Given that most pupils in S4-6 will have an assessment on most days during the Prelim period and that it’s a time when normal lessons are disrupted (most of the assessments are longer than our period length), we are granting study leave over that two week spell. Please see the attached letter from Mrs Davidson. When not in school for an assessment, pupils should study at home with online resources being made available on “Teams”. The other attachment is another copy of the finalised Prelim timetable. The official SQA timetable for the final exams can be found on the SQA website.

Some sporting news to close, and well done to our U18 footballers, who had a fine 8-2 victory over Inverkeithing High School in the Third Round of the Scottish Shield just before the Christmas holidays. The boys are now drawn away to Aberdeen Grammar School in a tie to be played on Friday 4 February. Best wishes to them.

And best wishes to you for the weekend and beyond. I hope that you and your family manage to keep well and keep your spirits up in these difficult times.

Yours

Derek Allan
RECTOR
7 January 2022