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2018 Prom<\/p><\/div>\n
Last week I mentioned our leavers\u2019 Prom, which was heldat Forrester Park, Dunfermline (see photo). It was a terrific final send off for the \u201cClass of 2018\u201d. Good luck to them all, they have been a real credit to KHS. The event went very well, and much credit goes to the staff side of the Prom Committee. Many thanks especially to Mr Fulton, Mrs Hardie, Mr I’Anson and Miss McIntosh for their excellent work. They responded magnificently at the end of the evening, when we had transport difficulties. This is being followed up.<\/p>\n
Last Saturday, our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Support Group,\u00a0@KHS_LGBT, took part in Edinburgh Pride and had\u00a0a great day out. They are now getting ready\u00a0for Fife Pride, to be held in Kirkcaldy on Saturday 7 July. A large number of our young people are actually organisers or helpers at this excellent community event.<\/p>\n
This week is the\u00a0penultimate week of term but despite that, it has been an exceptionally busy one.\u00a0We had our new S3 First Chances group off for a residential experience at St Andrews University from Monday to Wednesday. From Wednesday onwards our S4 students\u00a0then stayed\u00a0at the University with their graduation at the end of the week. Many thanks to Mrs Hunter, Miss Nessel\u00a0and Mr Dick for their commitment to this. Also on Monday, and again on Friday, our Advanced Higher Chemistry students\u00a0spent the day\u00a0at the Edinburgh University labs at King’s Buildings. Thanks to Dr Murray for organising this. The\u00a0other Higher Education input that day was a guest speaker from Abertay University, who spoke to our Higher Human Biology students about his stem cell research into cardiovascular disease. Many thanks to Miss Fotheringham, who set this up.<\/p>\n
We also had the S3 Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI)\u00a0Finals in school on Monday. This is sponsored by the\u00a0Wood Group and\u00a0results in a local charity receiving a cash donation of \u00a33000. It’s a very worthwhile initiative and involves groups of young people researching good causes and becoming advocates for that charity.\u00a0\u00a0It was tough for the judging panel which comprised myself, David Torrance MSP and\u00a0Charlie Murdoch (S3), winner of the Gordon Aikman Cup for Charity.\u00a0We decided that\u00a0Autism Rocks,\u00a0promoted by Khai Slater and Cara Hayes were winners. Autism Rocks is a small charity based in Buckhaven and this donation was described by Morag Duff, one of the volunteers, as a “game changer”.\u00a0Khai and Cara’s reward was to\u00a0attend the National YPI Showcase at Perth Concert Hall on Wednesday, which included a performance by Emeli Sande. By all accounts, it was fantastic.<\/p>\n
On Monday afternoon, we had \u201cBoozebusters\u201d Peer Educator training supported by “Clued Up” and we also held our Employability Partners Meeting after school, arranged by Miss Nessel. The aim was to set up work placements and other engagements for the year ahead. If you can help us provide “real life” or vocational experiences through any business link, please do be in touch.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday we had an Adam Smith Assembly and Miss Osborne (History)\u00a0took a\u00a0group of S4 students to St Andrews University for workshops and lectures to help with their studies.\u00a0This was a fantastic experience and included a talk from Michael Morpurgo, celebrated author of “War Horse”.\u00a0In the evening it was\u00a0the AGM of\u00a0our Parent Council.\u00a0We discussed our latest budget position, which I am pleased to report is reasonably healthy in a time of difficulty in the public sector. I also gave a staffing update and explained that by and large, we are unlikely to have recruitment problems. I shared our Improvement Plan priorities\u00a0for the year ahead (please see attached)\u00a0and spoke about\u00a0\u00a0the latest “Pupilwise” and “Parentwise” Survey results from Fife Council (again, please see attached reports and further comments below). Our next meeting is set for Tuesday 28 August at 7pm. Please do come along if you are able, it really is useful to have you involved in the workings of the school.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u00a0was an Oswald Assembly and we\u00a0also held\u00a0a staff “Bake Off” in support of Cancer Research UK at lunchtime and this raised over \u00a3125, many thanks to Ms Collins, Head of Home Economics. At lunchtime, student members\u00a0KHS LGBT+ delivered\u00a0training NHS staff at\u00a0Victoria Hospital. As\u00a0you know, I am very proud of all their\u00a0campaigning and\u00a0training efforts. I think I mentioned that their pioneering work has been nominated for the CoSLA Excellence Awards by Fife Council.<\/p>\n
Our Boozebusters sessions, delivered by the S5\u00a0peer educators to all S3 took place\u00a0yesterday and we also\u00a0had a group out of school all day attending the Computer Game and Animation Jam Competition\u00a0at Fife College,\u00a0Glenrothes.\u00a0 Thanks to Mr Adams for involving us. Today we have two trips to Edinburgh … one is a Business Studies trip to the Investment 2020 Conference and the other to the Royal Highland Show (Home Economics).<\/p>\n
Next week is the final week of the session. On Monday, Dr Jones and Mrs Brewster (PSA) will take our S1 “Reading Group” on a day out at Camperdown Wildlife Park\u00a0in Dundee, I hope they have a great experience.<\/p>\n
Also on Monday, the History Department is hosting a seminar on the First World War. It will be good to welcome Fraser Brown, former curator of the Black watch Museum in Perth. On Tuesday, our Administration and IT students have planned and organised a trip to Edinburgh, where they will visit the Camera Obscura. In the afternoon we will be represented at the Capshard Leavers’ Show.<\/p>\n
We will have a special assembly for S4 on the Wednesday. Miss Diamond wants to explain what to expect from the SQA qualifications process and exams. She is a senior appointee with the SQA. That afternoon, I intend to get along to the Torbain leavers show with some of our Student Leadership Team.\u00a0In the evening we have arranged a parent\/carer evening for those interested in our planned trip to Rwanda in October 2019.<\/p>\n
Thursday afternoon is our “Big Event” to mark the end of session. We’ll have the usual stalls and fun activities with\u00a0bubble football,\u00a0graffiti art workshop, giant inflatables and a mobile zoo as well as ice cream, face painting, nail bar\u00a0etc. Many thanks to the staff committee who have planned this and booked up the different inputs.<\/p>\n
Friday 29 June is the end of session and we are having a “Dress Down Day” in support of the Scottish Motor Neurone Disease Association. It’s also our traditional last day\u00a0Talent Show and I expect the buses to be at school at around 12.15pm. That will be our official closing time.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, the SQA exam results are posted out on Tuesday 7 August, the staff return to school on Monday 13 August and the pupils’ first day in Wednesday 15 August. Please expect a further message home in mid-July, along with an electronic copy of our latest Newsletter.<\/p>\n
Next week’s menu\u00a0is;<\/p>\n
Monday:\u00a0<\/strong>Lentil soup, Butter Chicken Tikka Masala and Rice, vegetables<\/p>\n Tuesday<\/strong>: Mushroom soup, Grilled Sausage\/burger \u2013 veggie\/beef\/chicken, chips, baked beans<\/p>\n Wednesday<\/strong>: Scotch broth, Roast chicken and gravy, potatoes and vegetables<\/p>\n Thursday<\/strong>: Carrot and coriander soup, Mince pie, potatoes and vegetables<\/p>\n Friday:<\/strong>\u00a0Buffet\/sandwich menu.<\/p>\n We also have baked potatoes, pizza, pasta, sandwiches and salad available every day as well as our outdoor snack bar. Please do be aware that we offer a free cup of soup with bread for all our young people, regardless of their \u201cfree school meals\u201d status. We also have our “Breakfast Club” available from 8.10am and this is free to those facing hardship (it costs 50p otherwise). We have cereal, toast and jam and juice on offer.<\/p>\n Please\u00a0check, amend, sign and return the\u00a0\u201cAnnual Data Check\u201d form which was sent home this morning. We need your up to date contact details etc on record. Many thanks.<\/p>\n I did say I’d give some feedback about the\u00a0\u201cParentwise\u201d and \u201cPupilwise\u201d surveys conducted online by Fife Council earlier this year.\u00a0This was discussed at our Parent Council meeting this week.\u00a0In terms of response rate, you should know that 41% of Fife pupils took part, including over 800 KHS young people. The parental response rate for Fife was 14%, although 22% of our parents\/carers took part. Please see the attached files, which are also available on our website. See the tab on our homepage.<\/p>\n Remarkably, in all of the 57 questions asked over both surveys, the KHS “satisfaction” response was higher than the Fife average, often significantly higher. Overall, the Pupilwise satisfaction level was 7% above Fife and the “Parentwise” level was 15% higher.<\/p>\n Please see the attached reports for full details. Some of the important trends are that 74% of our young people say that they feel safe and cared for in school, 66% enjoy their learning and 61% report that they are happy in school. The equivalent Fife figures are 63%, 54% and 51%. We are heartened by this trend\u00a0but will continue to work on all of these things (please see our Improvement Plan Priorities).<\/p>\n The “Parentwise” report shows that 65% of you feel that we take your views into account in comparison to 43% across Fife. It also indicates that 95% of our parents\/carers are “happy with the school”. The Fife figure is 79%. I must thank you for this very powerful vote of confidence, it means a lot for us here to have our collective efforts recognised by you. However, as I shared at the Prizegiving last week, we will strive to do better still. Usque Conabor, as it says on the badge!<\/p>\n Congratulations to Stephanie Blyth (S6), who has been awarded a place\u00a0at the Rotary Youth Leadership Award camp in the Cairngorms this summer. This situation has arisen after an extra place became available and I am delighted that we will now have\u00a0three young people taking part from July 7-14. Stephanie joins Kiara Montgomery and Blain Aitken at Nethy Bridge. Many thanks to the Rotary Club of Kirkcaldy for their extensive support of our school. It really makes a difference.<\/p>\n Finally, a request from Templehall Gala Day Committee, asking\u00a0that all former Gala Princes or Princesses please get in touch\u00a0via the Templehall Gala Facebook page. It’s the 10th anniversary of the Gala\u00a0this year and they would love to hear from you. Perhaps you could spread the word? Maybe you know a past Prince or Princess? We have several still in school and will share the message internally.<\/p>\n Yours<\/p>\n Derek Allan<\/p>\n RECTOR<\/p>\n 22\u00a0June\u00a02018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Parent\/Carer Welcome to the weekly news update from your school. I hope you are well. Last week I mentioned our leavers\u2019 Prom, which was heldat Forrester Park, Dunfermline (see photo). It was a terrific final send off for the … Continue reading