{"id":1306,"date":"2017-02-03T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/?p=1306"},"modified":"2023-11-08T09:12:38","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T09:12:38","slug":"rectors-log-3-2-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/2017\/02\/03\/rectors-log-3-2-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Rector&#8217;s Log 3\/2\/17"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Parent\/Carer<\/p>\n<p>I hope that our regular update finds you well. Here is the news.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve had another very busy week here with\u00a0SQA Hospitality prelim exams\u00a0on every day. On Monday afternoon\u00a0we had a special\u00a0talk about engineering career opportunities. It\u00a0was delivered by &#8220;OGTAP&#8221; with a special focus on the oil and gas industry, particularly offshore.\u00a0Presenter Kitti Kelemen, from OPITO, was a very good ambassador for the sector and sparked a high level of interest from our engineering science students.<\/p>\n<p>The Assemblies were House based (Tuesday to Thursday) and the theme\u00a0was Diversity and Equality with a special spotlight on LGBT issues, led by our in-school support group. This was to mark February as Gay and Lesbian History Month. We&#8217;ve also asked all pupils to stand up against\u00a0bullying of any kind\u00a0by signing a &#8220;charter&#8221; next week to say that they will not be a &#8220;bystander&#8221;. I&#8217;m sure that most are convinced that this is what is required of all decent people.<\/p>\n<p>On the Tuesday we were joined by Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Further and Higher Education and Science, who\u00a0met with a\u00a0group of KHS girls to talk about &#8220;STEM&#8221; careers and attitudes to science. The\u00a0Government is keen to tackle the &#8220;gender gap&#8221; in STEM. Our girls and young women were exceptional &#8230; they made some excellent points and the Minister left KHS quite enlightened.<\/p>\n<p>In the evening, we had a Parent Council meeting, discussing school governance and &#8220;direct funding&#8221; from the Scottish Government in order to support the attainment and achievement of young people most affected by poverty.\u00a0The Council then joined\u00a0our S1 Literacy focus evening which was\u00a0laid on\u00a0by\u00a0the English Department. This was a very well attended evening which received great reviews. The key message was to keep a positive mindset and also to try to\u00a0develop the home environment as a place where reading and\u00a0the discussion of\u00a0ideas happen naturally. Thanks to Mrs Hume, Dr Jones and the English staff for setting this up. Mrs Hume shared some useful web links. Here they are;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/education.gov.scot\/parentzone\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/education.gov.scot\/parentzone<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Topics\/Education\/Schools\/Raisingeducationalattainment\/Parentalengagement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Topics\/Education\/Schools\/Raisingeducationalattainment\/Parentalengagement<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.npfs.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.npfs.org.uk\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/education.gov.scot\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/education.gov.scot<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Japanese child fails to jump the barrier four times. Look at the reaction of his colleagues. Can we\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/E4F98joi104?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>(Growth Mindset illustration)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scottishbooktrust.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.scottishbooktrust.com\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wordsforlife.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.wordsforlife.org.uk\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On the theme of &#8220;equity&#8221; funding from the Scottish Government, I am delighted to report that the school will be in receipt of almost \u00a3170000 of additional funding next session, direct\u00a0from the Scottish Government. This is the second highest sum of any of the Fife high schools. Some of you may possibly have heard my comments on Kingdom FM this week? We&#8217;ll be targeting those affected by poverty and will focus on literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing &#8211; with a special\u00a0emphasis on helping the most disadvantaged young people to gain a &#8220;positive destination&#8221; ie a job, apprenticeship, training, college or university place.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday afternoon we\u00a0held aptitude tests for the Arkwright Engineering Scholarships. This is a fantastic programme which offers mentoring and financial support to young people across the UK. We are pleased that, over the last 10 years, KHS has won more of these engineering scholarships than any other state school in Scotland. Good luck to this year&#8217;s applicants and thanks to Mr Fulton for taking the lead this year.<\/p>\n<p>And well done to our Rotary Club Leadership Camp candidates. This is a fantastic one week outdoor adventure experience in the Cairngorms, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Kirkcaldy, which takes place each July. There are 3 fully funded places available for all of the Kirkcaldy schools and I am so proud to report that, after a tough selection process and interviews,\u00a0KHS pupils have secured 2 of the places. Well done to Chloe McGlashan and Kyle Dick (S5). Well done also to Danny Graves (S5) who is first reserve.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday saw our &#8220;Friends of Kirkcaldy High School&#8221; supporters offering further advice to the S5 pupils undertaking a programme of 5 Highers. I must thank\u00a0FoKHS for all their assistance with this mentoring programme. It was also the Intermediate UK Maths Challenge &#8211; good luck to those involved and thanks to Miss Grubb for her work with this.<\/p>\n<p>This morning, we hosted the Fife College &#8220;Roadshow&#8221; in the Hall. All those considering a college pathway were invited and we thank our FE partners for their continued close engagement with the school. Also, S2 parents and carers can expect the school report in the post. Please be aware that our &#8220;Learning Fair&#8221; which looks at next steps in learning,\u00a0is 22 February, and our Parent\/Carer Evening is 1 March.<\/p>\n<p>Last week&#8217;s &#8220;Saturday School&#8221; was Maths, and we had 130 young people in for the day &#8230; I think that is a fantastic uptake. Unfortunately, tomorrow&#8217;s planned\u00a0revision school\u00a0for SQA Geography, History and Modern Studies has had to be postponed until Saturday 25 March. Our next session\u00a0will now be\u00a0Business, Administration and Computing, on Saturday 11 February.<\/p>\n<p>Next week is the SQA Prelim exams for National 5 candidates\u00a0(S4) and again, I must thank our &#8220;Friends&#8221; who are helping with invigilation. Miss Diamond sent home a copy of the timetable on Tuesday. For parents\/carers of S5\/6, school reports should be with you by the end of the week, and will include details of results from the recent prelims and improvement advice for May, when the final SQA exams take place.<\/p>\n<p>We have a Science trip to visit the new Forth Bridge on Monday. On\u00a0Wednesday morning\u00a0it&#8217;s the Fife Festival of Music at Adam Smith Theatre and in the afternoon we&#8217;ll have our Rotary Interact Club members planting snowdrops in Beveridge Park as part of Kirkcaldy&#8217;s &#8220;Britain in Bloom&#8221; entry.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, we are pleased to be hosting a group of 12 teachers, headteachers and school inspectors from France, Germany and Poland as part of an international study programme. Mr Young (Depute\u00a0Head)\u00a0has put together a varied experience for our European friends and I&#8217;m sure that they will be impressed by seeing our young people and our teachers in action.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0hot dish menu for the week ahead\u00a0is; Monday: Spaghetti Bolognese with garlic bread. Tuesday: Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and mash. Wednesday: Macaroni cheese with chips or garlic bread, Thursday: Steak pie and potatoes. Friday: Fish and chips. We also have our pizza, pasta, sandwich and salad options too. Do remember that a cup of home-made soup is available free to all young people at lunchtime.<\/p>\n<p>On a final note, you will\u00a0be aware that we greatly value young people&#8217;s opinions and suggestions about the direction and the work of the school. For example, our &#8220;Learning Council&#8221; of S6 students is currently working with local primaries to create a common &#8220;Learning Charter&#8221; which lays out the principles of how young people are expected to learn and make progress. We&#8217;ve also had preliminary\u00a0discussions about the &#8220;equity&#8221; funding. Also, we&#8217;ve taken feedback from forums about the condition of our indoor toilet facilities and bus punctuality. I can report that, as a consequence,\u00a0both are now in hand, Stagecoach will adjust the times of the KC2 from the end of February and we&#8217;ll be decorating the toilets soon, probably in the Easter break.<\/p>\n<p>Our weekly employability bulletin is attached as usual. If there is anything we can do to help, you know we are a responsive school. Please call.<\/p>\n<p>All the best for the weekend, wishing you well.<\/p>\n<p>Derek Allan<\/p>\n<p>3 February 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Parent\/Carer I hope that our regular update finds you well. Here is the news. We&#8217;ve had another very busy week here with\u00a0SQA Hospitality prelim exams\u00a0on every day. On Monday afternoon\u00a0we had a special\u00a0talk about engineering career opportunities. It\u00a0was delivered &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/2017\/02\/03\/rectors-log-3-2-17\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10574,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news","category-rectors-log"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10574"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1307,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306\/revisions\/1307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/kirkcaldyhighschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}