St Andrew's High School

CL&D Youthwork are hosting a series of youth debates every week.  Young people are encouraged to comment on the topic, and earn 50 Young Scot reward points for doing so.

This week’s debate is: Should the SQA have consulted young people in the process of changing the way grades are awarded and should young people be offered the chance to resit any exams they feel they could have done better in?

There is also: Coronavirus lockdown has resulted in the closure of all schools and educational establishments. As a result, children and young people have had the opportunity to gain more life skills than they would have gained by continuing to learn in a formal education setting.

And From now on, all school work should be delivered virtually using online methods of teaching and submission of work.

The topics are sent in by young people. These have a strong education focus but other topics will be included from now on.

All debates are accessed via this link: CL&D Debates

Skills Development Scotland have provided a link to the Job Hub on My World of Work for urgent jobs that may be useful for some pupils and parents.

My World of Work Job Hub

There is also a link for a range of Free Online Learning Courses through My World of Work.

Free Online Courses

‪Parents & Carers – Is your child confused about their future studies? ‬

‪UCAS will be bringing together a panel of experts to answer any questions you have live on their Facebook page , this Thursday, 30 April, at 16:00.‬

Amongst the experts on-hand to answer questions include:

• Mike Nicholson – Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach, University of Bath
• Melissa Scallan – parent, journalist, and author of Starting University: What to Expect, How to Prepare, Go and Enjoy
•  Ben Jordon – Senior Strategy and Insight Manager, UCAS

Should you have questions about your child’s qualifications, application, or future studies, we would encourage you to get involved and get answers directly from those in the know.

Any student in S4 who missed the Reach inset day before the end of term are able to use the following link to access the online module.

www.gla.ac.uk/reach/s4online

The online version replicates the in-school session and is a good introduction to each of the 4 Reach professions and the 3 Access ones.

Only those pupils identified as meeting the criteria by Miss Trainer should apply as the guidelines still stand.

If anyone has any questions they can email Miss Trainer directly.

In these unprecedented times our health and wellbeing is more important than ever.  It is important that we look after our mental health as well as our physical health.  Here are some suggestions on how you can do this and some mental health web links.

• PHYSICAL
  • Walk or exercise for at least 30 mins each day
  • Take part in HIIT or Circuit training from the Internet
  • Have a good sleep pattern, try and get at least 8 hours a night
  • Stick to a healthy diet, balanced with fruit and vegetables.
• MENTAL
  • Family Lives
  • Headspace
  • Children of Parents with a Mental Illness
  • Bite Back
  • MoodGYM
  • Reachout
  • Young Carers
  • What Works 4U

Remember during this time you can still get in touch with the school counselling service.

You can call to get a confidential appointment 0330 202 0283 or you can chat on line at http://exchange-counselling.com

We are here to help if you need it.

If your child is a School leaver who has applied to study at college or University then this information is very important. The SAAS Funding Awareness team will be hosting 1 hour online sessions on Facebook & Twitter from 3pm each day this week.  These can be accessed at

• https://www.saas.gov.uk

The aim of these sessions is to assist your child in their application for funding and to address any issues they may be having. Please see links to Application Help videos

• Application Help 2020
• Apply now for 2020-2021 (top tips)

Pupils who have applied to courses through UCAS can also get updates on

•  Information for students in Scotland

As always please keep an eye out for updates on Twitter.

Due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and the closure of the school, Skills Development Scotland cannot deliver career services face to face, but they are still there to help your child which can be done by visiting

• Skills Development Scotland

The English department have issued a link via Show My Homework for eTextbooks that pupils should work through after the Easter holidays.  Students should check their Show My Homework account for the link.

As a way of supporting pupils during this difficult time, one of our school counselling groups (The Therapeutic Counselling Service) have designed a survey monkey to help with reaching out to pupils and raising awareness of the services they offer.   This Survey Monkey will also help The TCS  with gaining a better insight into how students are coping with the change in circumstances.

Students can access the Survey Monkey at the link below.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/FZJFWWN

Staff across the school have been busy making arrangements for students to have access to online resources for study & revision. Microsoft Teams, Show My Homework & Scholar are the main platforms that students can utilise. These can all be accessed with students GLOW accounts.

Students unfamiliar with how to access Microsoft Teams can follow this guide to add the app to their GLOW launch pad. The Teams app can also be downloaded onto phones & iPads & can be accessed via the App Store.

Scholar username & passwords have all been individually issued to students in S4-S6.

Students can access  their accounts at the following links

• GLOW –  https://glow.rmunify.com
• SMHW – https://satchelone.com/login or via the SMHW app
• SCHOLAR – https://scholar.hw.ac.uk/login

Any problems accessing your GLOW account please email Mr McCrossan – gw10mccrossanjohn@glow.sch.uk