Dear Parent/Carer/Pupil,

For our pupils, I am certainly missing all of you and I hope that you are safe and well and are able to work on schoolwork from home.

For parents and carers, I hope that you and your loved ones continue to be safe and well at this very difficult time. Please contact me if you have any concerns I can help with.

As we look ahead I still have no concrete information regarding a return to our school premises. We are, however, working behind the scenes to implement our new timetable remotely. Tuesday 26th May will be the date for this to begin. We anticipate that new Teams will be created over the next two weeks to allow some home teaching to take place for our new year groups. At this point current S3,S4 and S5 will begin to study subjects chosen for next year. I attach below messages from year group heads with information relevant to their year.

From Mr Kerr:

S1 into S2

I hope you and your families continue to be in good health and good spirits. As we continue our distancing learning, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our S1 pupils for their positive engagement with school work across all departments. Tackling school work at home can be challenging at times and we are fully aware that the platforms used for accessing school work are not always working to the pupils’ or teachers’ favour and that there may be several people in each household coping with the demands of working from home.

Well done to our S1 pupils for persevering and for their hard work so far. And, of course, thank you for your patience and continued support.

From Tuesday 26th May, we intend to change our timetable and from this date S1 will follow their new S2 timetable.  S1 and S2 study the same subjects under the 8 curricular areas and the only major change can, in some cases, be their teacher. At this stage, the pupils will not require a new timetable. The pupils should continue to access their work through teams and in the interest of consistency and ease of access, each department should now be uploading work to Teams.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require further information or support in accessing on line learning.

S2 into S3

I hope you and your families are keeping safe and well. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the last 2 years. It has been a privilege to be the DHT working with your children. It’s been great to see your children grow and develop into confident and successful young people.  I have loved their enthusiasm for life and learning and I am really looking forward to hearing about their achievements as they progress through the school.

From Tuesday 26th May, we intend to change our timetable and from this date S2 will follow their new S3 timetable. In S3, the pupils will continue to study Maths, English, French, Social subjects, RE, PE and Personal Support. However, the timetable in S3 will also consist of their 5 subject choices.

At this stage, the pupils will not require a new timetable. The pupils should continue to access their work through teams and in the interest of consistency and ease of access, each department should now be uploading work to Teams. The pupils will be added/deleted from Teams to reflect their subject choice.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require further information or support in accessing on line learning.

From Mr Carroll:

S3 pupils will be moving into S4 on Tuesday 26th May.  All pupils will be following the subjects they originally chose unless by now they have been otherwise informed.  Pupils will have access to instructions and materials for each of these subjects from Tuesday 26th May through Microsoft Teams on their Glow accounts; with all pupils being added to teams for each of their subjects.

S4 pupils will be moving into S5 on Tuesday 26th May.  All pupils will be following the subjects they originally chose unless by now they have been otherwise informed.  Pupils will have access to instructions and materials for each of these subjects from Tuesday 26th May through Microsoft Teams on their Glow accounts; with all pupils being added to teams for each of their subjects. Subject choices and respective levels may change as a consequence of SQA results but between now and then we are unable to make any changes.

From Miss Cairney:

The importance of providing continuous evidence of learning throughout the school year has been underscored this year by the circumstances we find ourselves in. I cannot stress too highly therefore, the importance for pupils in both the new S5 and S6 to engage fully with their online learning from the change of the timetable on 26 May.

At this stage, the pupils will not require a hard copy of their S5 or S6 timetable. The pupils will be added/deleted from Teams to reflect their subject choices and levels which they made earlier this year.

As S4 move into S5 I look forward to working with them as they move into this next important phase of their education. Mrs Hughes will continue to be the Pastoral Care teacher for the year group. Pupils should access their learning materials from Microsoft Teams on their Glow accounts, with Teams being created for each of their subjects and levels.

All S6 pupils will have a minimum of 4 or 5 National Qualifications subjects on their timetable, with the exception of those pupils who are studying for 3 Advanced Highers, where additional attendance at classes at university is often required.  Sixth Year pupils will be following the subjects they chose during the options period. All S6 pupils are also encouraged to engage in some voluntary activities in the course of S6 – this will be discussed with S6 once they return to school.

Other information:

• We continue to work on Estimate Grades for SQA to ensure that S4/5/6 pupils are rewarded appropriately for their work this session.
• Our Learning Hub and Food Hub continue – please use the App to book places at the Learning Hub and contact myself or Pastoral Care if you have any other questions.
• We are making contact with P7 pupils who will be joining us next session to support their transition.
• Father David has offered a Virtual Leavers’ Mass for all who will not return to our school next session but with a special emphasis on our current S6 and we are working with him to take this forward. I will keep you informed of developments.
• All school trips, of course, are cancelled and we are working very hard to claim refunds for parents. The member of staff leading each trip will contact parents/carers directly when we have more information from the travel companies. As you can imagine this is challenging but is a priority for us at present

On behalf of all who work in our school, we are missing your children and hope to see them, and you, when it is safe to do so.

God Bless and keep safe

Mr McGuigan