Dear Parent/Carer

I hope this finds you well enough at the end of another tough week.

We started the week with Fife in the early stages of “Tier 3” Coronavirus restrictions, meaning that all S4-6 students are now required to wear masks/coverings in all classes. Well done to them. Our seniors have wholeheartedly adopted this practice, despite the inconvenience. I visited a few classes this morning and was very impressed by the attitude of our kids. They really are remarkably resilient. Thanks also for helping ensure that your son/daughter, of any age group, has the appropriate gear for school, including their own reusable face cover.

Earlier this week, we also had the news of a couple of positive cases associated with the school and a message was sent home on Tuesday afternoon. These are worrying times and I am thankful for all the calls from parents/carers keeping us informed of any situation at home, pupils awaiting tests etc. This week we’ve had, on average, almost 40 Covid connected absences a day. This is roughly double last week’s rate. I am aware that some high schools have several hundred pupils self isolating after being identified as contacts of positive cases.  And right now, myself and the Deputes are investigating another positive result and this is likely to have an impact. I’ll be in touch once any action has been ratified by Public Health Fife.

I’m also thankful to our staff, who have gone the extra mile throughout this crisis. We have had a very high rate of general sickness absence and many classes have had to go to “cover”. All our staff are doing their very best under stressful conditions and I am immensely grateful to them all. Today, we have 5 “supply” teachers in school providing cover. We’ve seldom been so stretched.

It was the launch of our revamped Positive RelationshipsPolicy this week and we had a series of activities in the mornings on the themes of Kindness, Honesty and Success (KHS). These are the principles upon which our approaches to relationships are based. We have emphasised the basic expectations of all learners, and also what we expect from teachers and other staff. As ever, it’s all about respect. Our teachers and other adults here understand the importance of calm, consistent handling of all interaction and they will always try to focus on the positive. We try to catch the kids “doing things right”. I think that when I was at school, most teachers had the opposite aim. There is recognition for achievement rather than a negative focus on unwanted behaviour. It’s also important we have simple, fair rules which are always upheld and staff training here has a focus on having a “scripted” way of handling conflict and problems. Finally, when things do go wrong we always want to create the chance for reconciliation and apologies, on both sides. This is known as restorative practice and it usually works better than a punishment policy. It’s certainly my experience. Punishment alone seldom “cures” any problem and usually has only a short term impact or even a negative impact overall.

We’ll discuss this at the Parent Council meeting taking place next Tuesday, 24 November at 6pm on “Zoom”. There will be a COVID update, some news of SQA developments and plans for prelim exams. If you wish to take part online, and we’ll be happy to answer any questions that evening, please just reply to this email. I’ll then ask the office to be back in contact with log-in details.

There is an attachment this week and it’s the winter weather arrangements published by Fife Council. As if this virus wasn’t enough to take, there is always the risk that our work will be disrupted by snow, storms or flood. Please expect a “Groupcall” (like this) if we have an emergency closure. It would also be good to follow @KirkcaldyHigh on Twitter. We find this a particularly useful way to communicate quickly and have over 4000 followers.

 

As I say, it’s been another tough week with a several incidents in terms of virus protocols. We are almost certainly going to be badly affected over the next wee while, but the best way for us to avoid having to issue self-isolation orders to large numbers of learners is to take extreme care. Please encourage your kids to use the hand sanitising facilities widely available around school, wear a face covering and keep a good distance from others, especially the adults in school. We are going to have to live with this for now. Here’s hoping the increasingly positive news about vaccines will mean things might be better soon.

Please respond if you are up for the Parent Council on Tuesday at 6.

Aye yours

Derek Allan

RECTOR

20 November 2020