Message from Mrs Cunningham
I write to you at the start of another unusual term and wish I could indicate a more settled start to 2021. However, as always we will work with you to ensure that learning continues to take place for all of our young people.
Please find below our arrangements from Monday 11 January. These will apply until further notice.
Online Learning
From Monday all pupils (S1-S6) and staff should be following their normal timetable online as if they were in the school building. Monday 11 January will be ‘week 1’ so if a pupil has, for example, English period 1 and 2 on their timetable then they should log in to Teams and they will be invited to join/or already have an invite to join their English class team. Pupils should then follow the work set out by the class teacher who will be present online during the double period for instruction, support, guidance and feedback. The teacher may choose to type in the chat function, speak online or turn on their camera. Pupils should take a break during the normal interval and be ready for period 3 and 4, have lunch and then be ready for the afternoon lessons.
The timetable will move to ‘week 2’ week beginning 18 January and then continue to alternate between ‘week 1 and 2’ as their normal timetable does.
Online learning will be as close to classroom teaching as possible and staff will make every effort to support all of our young people. However, we acknowledge that this situation is not easy for staff and pupils and we will endeavour to adapt to our new way of working.
Work will be available on the class team after each class has met for pupils to refer back to and complete. Due to individual circumstances and availability of devices, we understand that a pupil may not be able to join the team during class time but they are encouraged to complete work at a time that is more suitable. They can leave questions for their teacher and submit work at any time. However, these questions may not be answered until the next time the class meets.
Children of Key Workers
Please note the school will be open to the children of key workers and a small number of vulnerable children. In the case of key workers an application to NLC must be completed online. The children who attend school will be supervised by staff and will attend a computer suite each day. They will then access their class teams and complete work in exactly the same way as their peers who are learning at home.
Parents of Senior Phase Pupils
The results of S4/5/6 prelims will be communicated to all parents in the Senior Phase Report that will be issued later in the month. The reports will be available to view online via Parents Portal. If you have not signed up to the portal then you may wish to consider doing so. The school office will be happy to help with any Parents Portal issues. Several emails have already been sent to parents with instructions on how to sign up.
It is important to note that prelim results will not be the only evidence taken into account when we are asked to submit predicated grades to SQA later in the year.
At this time pupils should continue to engage with their individual classes on Teams and submit all work as requested.
We understand that this is a particularly stressful time for our pupils and we encourage them not to worry. We want to reassure all pupils that the school will support them in every way we can.
We realise that you will have many unanswered questions regarding SQA, predicted grades etc. We will send any updated information from the SQA as soon as we receive it.
IT Access
If there any issues around pupil access, passwords, logins etc. then please email enquiries@ourladys.n-lanark.sch.uk with your child’s name and class.
18 January 2021
The Scottish Government are due to give an update around school closures on 18 January. I will be in touch soon after that with any updated arrangements.
Please click on the image below to access our Online Learning Guidance Booklet.
