All posts by Mr Hamilton

Whole School News

Parent letter: Home Learning

Dear Parent / Carer

Firstly can I wish you a Happy New Year! Not how we would have liked to welcome 2021 but we hope it will become better as the year progresses!

As you will be aware online learning starts on Monday 11th of January. We are looking for your support in encouraging your child to engage with the work being posted.

All lessons and associated resources will be posted on teams with a mix of tasks and methods of delivery. If you visit our website there will be advice on how your child can access their glow team although all pupils have been shown in school. There is also an electronic form to complete if your child has forgotten their password. Pupils can access glow from a laptop, ipad, xbox and playstation.

The school website is https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/nl/Braidhurst/ and the glow help tab can be found on the menu bar as shown below:

 

 

 

 

If your child is struggling to access their glow account, we are offering a drop in session from 10am until 10.30am in the assembly hall from Monday 11th of January until Friday 15th of January. Pupils should enter the hall via the fire exit.

It is vitally important your child engages with all the work posted.  If they are having difficulties with a piece of work or a task please ask them to contact the teacher directly via teams. Although we cannot guarantee an immediate response we will endeavour to get back to them within 24 hours. For pupils in the senior phase the SQA will require evidence that your child is working at the level currently reported on. If they fail to engage with the work this will directly impact on their ability to attain qualifications.

We advise pupils devise their own timetable taking account of their own circumstances to ensure they cover all their curricular areas. This does not need to follow the times on their previous timetable as we are aware that ICT may have to be shared within a household with some parents / carers having to work from home or siblings requiring access to devices. If this is posing a problem for you please contact us to discuss.

We appreciate these are difficult times for everyone and we are all facing different issues but we are all here to help and support in whatever way we can. If there is anything we can help with please do not hesitate to get in touch with your child’s pupil support teacher by phone or email. If you feel that you need to come to the school for any reason please phone ahead as we are operating a vastly reduced appointment system in line with the current restrictions and may not be able to accommodate a meeting at this time.

Thank you for all your continued support at this difficult time.

Take care and look after yourselves.

Mrs Rooney

Head Teacher

PDF version: Click here

Clubs

BHS Pride Alliance

The Pride Alliance will be celebrating the meaning of each colour, starting with red = life in January. Check out the board in the foyer.

It is not uncommon to see the rainbow flag being proudly displayed as a symbol for the LGBT+ rights movement, but how did that flag become a symbol of LGBT+ pride?

It goes back to 1978, when the artist Gilbert Baker, an openly gay man and a drag queen, designed the first rainbow flag. Baker later revealed that he was urged by Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S., to create a symbol of pride for the gay community.

Each stripe of the flag has a meaning, including life, nature and harmony.

Gilbert Baker and many other LGBT+ icons will be celebrated each month from January on the Pride Alliance notice board. Each month we will use one of the colours as a theme, starting first with the celebration of life. We will link each of these to the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child, giving us the opportunity to reflect on how we want our school, community and nation to grow in the future.

Whole School News

Return to School in Jan 2021

Following the latest advice from NLC, please be do not send your child to school on Wednesday 6th August unless you have been contacted by the school or have applied to the council for provision as a key worker. The authority has indicated that all learning from the 11th January will be online with no direct face to face teaching. Any pupils in school from the 6th will be supervised and given access to ICT in order for them to complete work set on teams.

These measure have been put in place to break the transmission of the virus so please only apply for provision in school if you qualify for key worker status and have no other childcare available.

If you have not been contacted by the school or are unable to apply for provision as a key worker please contact the school where we will discuss each situation on a case by case basis.

Hopefully these measure will prove effective and we will be able to welcome back all pupils to the school in the following weeks.

Please take care

Mrs C Rooney
Head Teacher

Please click below to view a letter from Executive Director (Education and Families), Derek Brown

Parent-carer letter – Jan 2021 return

PLEASE NOTE: Transport will be available from 6th Jan (if required)

Key worker application form

Key Workers support request (PDF version for easy printing/ viewing on mobile device)

Key Workers support request (MS WORD version)

Expressive Arts

Christmas Service

In light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic the school changed its usual Christmas service to an online event which pupils and staff tuned into on Tuesday 15th December. The online service was produced by the department of Creative Arts, led by Ms. Donnelly, and featured an array of contributions from pupils, staff and the wider school community.

The service opened with a slideshow of beautiful Christmas themed art work by pupils to the song “Do You Hear What I Hear?” This was followed by readings from school captain Amy-Lee McLachlan and S4 pupil Reanne Mason, then S2 pupil Emy Brandt gave a fantastic rendition on trumpet of “We Three Kings” accompanied by brass tutor Mrs Paterson. The service also contained two thoughtful and optimistic Christmas messages from members of the wider Braidhurst community, Valerie Sim and David Ramage, whilst Head Teacher Mrs Rooney thanked pupils and staff for their resilience and hard work since the school re-opened in August.

The service ended with a lovely solo vocal rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by S6 pupil Lauren Wright followed by another S6 pupil, Cameron May, closing the service with a rousing “Scotland the Brave” on the bagpipes. A huge well done and thank you to everyone who contributed and wishing you all a very happy Christmas.

DYW

Developing the Young Workforce Competition

The school recently ran a developing the young workforce and My World of Work Scotland competition where pupils were challenged to investigate different jobs and sectors and then produce a poster or slideshow that covered key points, such as: useful subjects, qualifications required, what the job is like and how much you could earn. Fantastic entries were submitted from various departments but the eventual winners were: S4 pupil Craig Young who researched working in a hospital; S2 pupils Terri Rodger and Mateusz Majewski who looked at being a furniture designer and aerospace engineer respectively; S5 pupil Calum Park who investigated what it’s like to work as a personal trainer, and finally Oliwia Marek, who looked into the hotel industry. Congratulations to all of the winners for their fantastic informative work.

PEF

Christmas Food Boxes

Once again the Pupil Equity Fund team, led by Ms McKenna, galvanised the school community to bring in donations of non-perishable food items, toiletries and gifts, which were then distributed in our local community. School staff and pupils were incredibly generous with their donations which allowed the PEF elves to organise a wealth of Christmas boxes filled with lots of goodies. Thank you to the entire school community for their continued generosity which once again proved that Braidhurst may be a small school but it has a big heart.