The Science Department have created Microsoft Teams for their upcoming classes for pupils to access resources, revision materials and updated work.
You can access Microsoft Teams via login to GLOW. The Microsoft Teams codes are available by clicking the link below. Please join the course relevant to you.
We are proud to present our delicious recipes in our doughtastic Taylor High School Lockdown Cookbook! We have been working on our best quarantine recipes to share with you. Many thanks to both teachers and pupils who contributed their recipes to the cookbook. We hope you are ready to cook up a storm!
We have attached our Lockdown Cookbook below. Click on the front page to see what’s inside!
There are starters, mains, sides and sweet treats to choose from. We would love to see your creations, please tag us on twitter @TaylorHS1982 @taylorlibrary @HETaylorHigh.
Many thanks to Mr Russell and Mrs Leslie for their time and effort in collating these wonderful recipes!
Ready, Steady, Cook! 
The Music department have put together a video containing many memorable moments throughout this year. We hope this video will bring a smile to many of you during these difficult times.
This is just a small selection of pupils who have rewarded us with their perseverance, tenacity and support. Remember that we will be back soon to create more innovative ideas and have some fun!
Everyone at Taylor is really missing the opportunities to work with pupils to achieve success. We hope you are all staying safe and looking forward to returning to school.
T- together
E – everyone
A- achieves
M- more
Enjoy the memories and look out for Miss Kane’s teeth!
Pupils entering Fifth and Sixth Year with intentions of working through the National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher Mathematics courses can now join Microsoft Teams created by the Maths Department.
You can access the teams via login to GLOW. Each team contains revision materials to help you prepare for the courses.
The Microsoft Teams codes are available by clicking the link below. Please join the course relevant to you.
The Social Subjects Department have been working hard to create Microsoft Teams for all upcoming classes. You will be able to access Teams by logging into your GLOW account.
Below you will find a link to the list of Teams codes that you will require in order to join your relevant classes.
The schedule for the Speakers for Schools virtual talks for this week is below. The interesting talk subjects range from apprenticeships to film and animation. Don’t miss out!
| DATE | SPEAKER | INFO |
| Mon 15th June 10am | Baroness Lola Young, Independent Life Peer & Consultant | Baroness Lola Young is joining SFS to share her life lessons and advice with a KS3/S1-3 audience and to discuss the importance of the arts in society. |
| Mon 15th June 2pm | Julian Baggini, Editor-in-Chief, The Philosophers’ Magazine | Join Julian Baggini, Editor-in-Chief, The Philosophers’ Magazine to explore the philosophy of personal identity – what makes us who we are. This VTalk would suit KS5/ S5-6 students and students who are interested in Philosophy. |
| Tues 16th June 10am | Dan Snow, Historian and Broadcaster | Why History matters? Join us as historian, author and broadcaster Dan Snow discusses the importance of studying history and the lessons you can learn. |
| Wed 17th June 2pm | Dean Beswick, Film and animation company founder, Gorilla Gorilla! | Film and animation company founder Dean Beswick is joining us for this virtual talk to discuss his career as a producer and commercial filmmaker, sharing his top 3 life lessons to help you prepare for your future. |
| Thurs 18th June 2pm | In collaboration with Penguin Talks: Mohsin Zaidi & Jessica Kellgren-Fozard | How to embrace your Intersectionality |
| Fri 19th June 10am | Charlotte Stacey, Head of UK Apprenticeships Programme, BP | Interested in learning about apprenticeships? Join us as Charlotte Stacey, Head of UK Apprenticeships Programme with BP discusses the practicalities of apprenticeships, how they’re structured, the benefits of completing an apprenticeship and the opportunities that exist at BP. |
We hope you enjoy some more inspirational talks this week!
We are preparing for our P7 transitions visit next week. All pupils will know their class and practical section by then. The dates and timings for the visits are listed below.
Class 1.1 – Tuesday 16th June (9.30 – 10.30)
Class 1.2 – Tuesday 16th June (11.30 – 12.30)
Class 1.3 – Wednesday 17th June (9.30-10.30)
Class 1.4 – Wednesday 17th June (11.30 – 12.30)
Class 1.5 – Thursday 18th June (9.30 – 10.30)
Class 1.6 – Thursday 18th June (11.30 – 12.30)
Pupil are asked to arrive at the main entrance at the time stated and will leave again from here. Socially distanced markings will be visible in the yard in 3 groups of 10. Pupils will be escorted into the building by a member of staff. On entering the building each pupil must use the hand sanitiser provided.
**ALL pupils should wear casual clothes that are easy to wash**
Please remind your child to maintain a 2m distance as they move towards the school theatre. Pupils will hear from Mr McCormick (HT), Mr McQuaid, DHT and Mr McPake (PTPS). They will be provided with a stationery pack and a transition booklet.
Pupils will then tour the school in small groups and will be introduced to the health and safety procedures which will be implemented in August in line with COVID-19 advice. They will then have an opportunity to meet with their new classmates and socialise with them in the school canteen (the canteen will have markings to ensure social distancing). They will be provided with a hot snack, drink and a treat free of charge.
Parents / Carers should wait outside in the car park to collect their child (they must not enter the school building). Pupils will be escorted again in small groups to the front entrance and will remain in socially distanced lines until collected by a parent/carer.
If you wish your child to walk home please provide them with a note to confirm this.
If your child is displaying any of the extended list of symptoms associated with COVID-19 they must remain at home. Please contact the school (Tel. 01698 274976) and arrangements will be made to send the transition booklet and pack home.
We look forward to meeting you all.
All parents and carers have now been issued with the most recent Second Year tracking report which was compiled just before lockdown. In addition, all parents and carers of current Second Year pupils should have received the updated Immersion Choice form for completion and return.
The member of the Pupil Support Team dealing with each class in respect of this process is as follows:
Details of how to contact the relevant member of Pupil Support by telephone and the email address to use to return the completed form were provided in the email sent last week. If, for any reason, you have not received this email or have inadvertently deleted it, please contact the school by telephone on 01698 274976 to obtain relevant contact details. Please also see link below to the form.
Immersion Curriculum Choice Form June 2020
I would ask that these forms are returned promptly by email. Subject choices should be entered into the relevant text boxes on the form.
In addition Mrs Murphy , S3 Pupil Support teacher, may be contacted via your child’s registration class Glow team. Miss Rooney, Stage Head, can be contacted at the school.
All Pupil Support staff have a work mobile which is monitored by North Lanark Council. Please feel free to call this number (available in the email or from the school) to contact the relevant member of Pupil Support.
Please submit the completed form as soon as possible and no later than Monday 15th June 2020.
Memo regarding New S1
Normally at this time of year the Support for Learning Department at Taylor High School would be visiting primary schools to assess identified pupils so that we can prepare individualised programmes of support. I want to reassure you that this will take place as soon as we are able to work with the pupils and the support will be provided as required. Our transition programme begins when the pupils are in Primary 6 and we already have a great deal of information which we can disseminate amongst our secondary colleagues so that those pupils who need it are supported in class from the outset. If you have any concerns please do not hesitate to contact me through your headteacher and I will answer your questions.
I look forward to working with your son/daughter.
Anna Robertson (PT Support for Learning, Taylor High School)
Memo regarding current S1/S2 
Here is some information about Additional Support materials for Literacy and Numeracy.
Read, Write, Inc Groups
Mrs Weir has been posting work for pupils to complete via Edmodo. This is a great way to continue to practise tasks to improve literacy skills.
IDL Learning 
Pupils who require additional support with literacy (including those who work on Read, Write, Inc) and those who are in Mr Dorris’s, Mr Harty’s or Mrs Bergen’s maths classes have access to IDL Learning. They can use this resource daily to help improve their literacy and numeracy skills. Even as little as 15 minutes a day will help keep them up to speed. If they have forgotten their login it is:
Username: (first name, first initial of surname) then add @ml14jp
Password: taylor
Eg. John Smith Username: johns@ml14jp Password: taylor
Maths Numeracy Workout (Extra maths work)
This is a great resource to help improve pupils’ mental maths and to help with various topics across Geometry and Measure, and Statistics and Probability. It is self-correcting and pupils can work through a variety of levels from basic to more advanced. Half an hour a day gives pupils an additional way of supporting their maths skills.
Username: taylor
Password: circle41
Memo regarding current S3/4/5 
At present work is being provided by subject teachers. If your son/daughter is finding the work challenging please contact me and I will do my best to support them remotely on an individual basis as I would have had they been in school.
Maths Numeracy Workout (Extra maths work)
This is a great resource to help improve pupils’ mental maths and also to help with various topics across Geometry and Measure, and Statistics and Probability. It is self-correcting and pupils can work through a variety of levels from basic to more advanced. Half an hour a day gives pupils an additional way of supporting their maths skills.
Username: taylor
Password: circle41
Letter to Parents/Carers – 8 June 2020
Dear Parent/Carer,
I am pleased to have the opportunity to write to you to outline the progress we have made in planning for the return of children to school from August 11 onwards. It is anticipated that we will clarify arrangements in more detail in June, but what follows is an outline of our planning and a description of the steps we are taking to consult with various groups of stakeholders.
Planning Assumptions
In August, we have to plan, first and foremost, on the basis of safety. We need to ensure that your child and the staff in schools are as safe as possible and that the opportunity for viral transmission is reduced as far as possible.
In addition, due to government stipulations on physical distancing (2 metres squared, being used as a basic stipulation for schools, and anticipated guidance on smaller groupings in early years settings) it is likely that the capacity of settings to welcome children and young people will be between 40%-50% of current volumes.
We also have a reduction in staff capacity due to the continued need (under Scottish Government guidance) for staff who are part of the shielding programme to continue to work from home, as has been the case during the emergency lockdown period. It is difficult to
quantify this absolutely at present, but the service is planning on the availability of 80-85% staff being able to attend work as a basic assumption.
Therefore, as Scottish Government advice makes clear, there will need to be models deployed in local authorities and in private settings which incorporate what the First Minister has called,
‘partial delivery’ and ‘blended learning.’
Opening Schools
It likely that all young people, with the exception of the children of key workers and designated vulnerable groups will receive between 40%-50% of pre-lockdown education and childcare
provision in the recovery period.
While this is enormously challenging for staff in schools and settings, as well as for the young people and those who care for them, it is an absolute requirement if Scotland is to recover its services fully in a way that prioritises health and safety and minimises viral transmission.
In schools, most pupils will experience a partial in-school timetable, equivalent to a minimum two days most weeks, supplemented by an enhanced online digital learning offering and the potential for wider community based support. In primary, the priority will be to take a familycentred approach, overseen by head teachers. In secondary, due to the need to align the senior phase with the offering of key partners, such as New College Lanarkshire, there will be a focus
on key year groups attending on particular days.
Importantly, further consultation on how this will operate in practice will take place in June, and the precise detail will be clarified before the end of the school session, in plenty of time for August.
Early Years
In Early Years, the Scottish Government decision to pause the roll out of the 1140 Hours Expansion programme, due to the need to reduce staff:child ratios, means that it will be likely that most parents will receive 600 hours, which they are entitled to by statute.
This is based entirely on the prioritisation of critical child care for the children of key workers and vulnerable children as set out by the Scottish Government. Where local authorities make a critical childcare offer to key worker families and vulnerable families, this should be free at the point of access during the emergency response period.
To ensure settings are as safe as possible for children and staff, there is an expectation that all settings will put in place arrangements to accommodate physical distancing. This will also potentially reduce capacity within individual settings.
How this all works in the recovery period will depend on further advice and guidance from Scottish Government, due to be published on 15 June on arrangements for early years’ settings, including private funded providers. Following this, further dialogue will take place with partner providers regarding how they can adapt their settings to comply with guidance and draw down funding from the framework and further communication will take place with parents and carers.
Consultation and Communications
We hope to enlist the support of the members our representative parent groups for the approach we are advocating, which is grounded in clear national guidance and the professional
advice of our own central officer teams.
Any plans being brought forward are being done with reference to existing council policy and we will continue to communicate with you as things develop.
We understand you will have questions, many of which we are unable to answer at this point. We are working as hard as possible to manage all of the details and we will keep you updated
by letter and at http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/schoolplans.
Yours sincerely
Derek Brown
Executive Director, Education and Families
