Street soccer will be starting again on Wednesday 16th September Cove Street, Shotts, from 7 – 9pm for 9 – 16 year olds.
School Captains 2020
Congratulations to our School Captains for this year, Emma Gifillan and Matthew Muir, and to our Vice Captains, Neve Black, Lewis Campbell and Amy Wilson.
Fourteen candidates applied to be School Captain and all were a credit to themselves, their families and the school. The amount of preparation that they all put in meant it took a long time to make the selections. It was very clear how much they have valued and continue to value their experience in Calderhead High School. The range of activities and experiences they have been involved in was truly impressive and a great advert for the school. The old saying “it takes a village to raise a child” could be adapted to say it takes a school with real character and integrity to develop such outstanding pupils.
Letters from Jason Leitch (National Clinical Director) and John Swinney (Depute First Minister)
Today both Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director for the Scottish Government, and John Swinney, Depute First Minister, have written open letters to parents and carers regarding COVID 19 testing.
These letters can be accessed by clicking on the links below.
Face Coverings in School
Please find attached a letter from Mr Robertson regarding the wearing of face coverings at Calderhead High School (click on image below – letter will open in new page).
Facemasks
From Monday, 31 August 2020 face coverings should also be worn by staff and pupils when:
- adults and young people in secondary schools (including special schools) are moving about the school in corridors and confined communal areas (including toilets), where physical distancing is particularly difficult to maintain;
- adults, young people and children aged 5 and over are travelling on dedicated school transport.
We appreciate that some staff and children and young people will be unable to wear a face covering for good reasons and that position will be respected.
Staff and pupils should ensure they:
- bring their own face coverings to school;
- store these safely in a washable, sealable bag or container when not in use;
- wash reusable face coverings in hot water at the end of each day; and
- safely and hygienically dispose of disposable face coverings after use.
Please remember that a face covering can be as simple as a scarf, snood or other piece of cloth which covers the nose and mouth.
The Young Scot website has produced an excellent web page explaining the changes and further information on face coverings is available from the Scottish Government website.
Full face covering guidance is available by clicking here.
School Photographs 28th August 2020
The school photographer will be in school on Friday, 28th August, to take individual photographs of all year groups. Pupils should wear full uniform on that day.
Information for Parents and Carers
Dear Parent / Carer,
I hope this letter finds you safe and well. I would like to set out some new arrangements that we have put in place to help keep pupils and staff safe. These are all in line with Scottish Government and North Lanarkshire Council guidance. As this guidance changes we will keep you updated.
Transport
Pupils travelling by transport provided by NLC do not have to wear face coverings but can if they wish. We ask that pupils sit it in the same seats for each journey.
Pupils
At the start of interval, start of lunch and at the end of the school day pupils are asked to leave the building by the doors at the bottom of the stairs, this is to minimise/avoid large gatherings. There are hand sanitiser stations at the main entrances to the school and throughout the building, please make use of these to prevent the spread of any diseases. In addition at the end of each block of learning pupils will be asked to wipe their desk to help prevent the spread of any disease.
Parents and carers
If parents or carers need to speak to someone the first port of call should be via telephone to their Principal Teacher of Pupil Support
Mrs Angela Buchanan (Burns)
Ms Louise Carson (Lochhead, acting)
Mrs Gillian Horn (Fleming)
Mrs Phee (Lochhead)
Mrs Ros Ward (Wallace, Mon, Tues, Wed AM)
Mr Leitch (Wallace, Wed PM, Thur, Fri)
Face to face meetings will only take place in exceptional circumstances and will be pre-arranged.
When dropping off your child at please remain in the car.
Uniform
As we are not permitted under the guidance to use our changing rooms pupils should come to school dressed for outdoor PE and remain in their kit for the rest of the day. We recommend that pupils bring a change of footwear. On all the other days pupils should come dressed in full school uniform.
2 Week Timetable Rotation for S1 /S2 / S3 /S4
To enhance the safety of all in the school community in relation to Covid 19 NLC has introduced a 2 week timetable rotation for S1-S4. The reasons for this are:
- To reduce pupil / staff movement during the school day
- To reduce the number of physical interactions between different staff and pupils
- A reduction in the number of times that pupils ‘cross over’ between classes from 18 to 3
- There will be no loss to any pupils in allocated teaching time for each subject
Please be assured that all pupils will receive 100% of time in their subjects over the course of the 2 weeks
How will this work?
Introduction of a new rotation to the existing school timetable
This will begin from Monday 17th August 2020
Timetables will remain similar, but, follow a 2 week rotation
Week 1 RED, Week 2 BLUE
Mapping the original timetable with weeks 1 & 2 as shown below, please note Mon 5, Tue 5 and Thu 5 map onto both weeks.
Original Timetable
RED Week 17/8, 31/8, 14/9, 28/9, 19/10, 2/11, 16/11, 30/11, 14/12
BLUE Week 24/8, 7/9, 21/9, 5/10, 26/10, 9/11, 23/11, 7/12, 21/12
John Robertson
Headteacher
Calderhead High School
We will reopen for S1 & S4/5/6 pupils on Friday 13th August.
We are delighted to confirm that the school will be open for S1, S4, S5, S6 pupils on Thursday 13th August as previously intimated. We had some water damage due to the substantial rainfall in the area. Contractors will be on site until 10pm, sorry in advance for any excess noise.
The behaviour of the pupils S1-3 was excellent as they waited for 2 hours in the school playground. This was not the restart to school for S2 and S3 pupils that we wanted nor was it the best way for S1 pupils to start Calderhead High School.
We were informed today that some of the bus contracts were only confirmed by SPT late yesterday afternoon, hence the lack of information about pick up points and times. We have spent a lot of time trying to support our pupils to gain these basic facts.
Due to the water damage our catering, until further notice, will be cold food to go. This will be prepared off-site.
We look forward to welcoming all pupils back on Friday 14th August.
John Robertson
Headteacher
Calderhead High School
Arrangements for return to school in August 2020
Please click here for the latest update from North Lanarkshire Council on the plans for pupils returning to school in August.
Secondary schools:
• Wednesday 12 August: First Year, Second Year, Third Year.
• Thursday 13 August: First Year, Fourth Year, Fifth Year, Sixth Year.
• From Friday 14 August: All pupils.
All First Year pupils will attend on 12, 13 and 14 August.
https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=35006
Statement from North Lanarkshire Council on the reopening of schools in August 2020
Today’s announcement from the Scottish Government outlines the plan to reopen all schools on a full time basis from August.
We are currently considering the practicalities and implications of this announcement and will await further clarification and guidance from government, particularly in relation to public health and scientific advice.
Our priority is the safety of our pupils and staff across our network of primary, secondary and ASN schools, as well as our early learning and childcare settings.
We understand that you will have questions, and as this news was only announced today, we will make further information available on how this impacts on our schools and facilities in the coming days.
We are preparing for pupils to return full-time to school on 12 August and we will be working closely with our schools and partners, including our early years and childcare provision to establish our plans, which we will communicate as soon as we are in a position to.
