Author: Mrs Burton

All English students in S5/6 should have handed in the first draft of their folio to their English teacher.   The folio is worth 30% of the final mark and therefore it is worth working really hard on it.  In Session 2021-22 candidates need only complete one folio piece (not the usual two) therefore all students should ensure they take on board the feedback they are given and work hard to ensure their folio piece is a true reflection of their capabilities.  They are lots of helpful materials available on Scholar which students can access.  Any student who does not know their Scholar login should ask their English teacher for help.

We are delighted to announce that we are relaunching our First Minister’s Reading challenge for S1 students.  Reading is integral to life, it is one of the ways we gain information and learn about the world.  The FM’s Reading challenge encourages our young people to read for pleasure, pure enjoyment.  Each S1 register class is is competition with the other classes to  read the most books !   Once a month we will count up the books and put the tally onto our amazing reading board which is at the entrance to the school.  We will also post the monthly figures on Twitter and on this blog.   All S1 students are encouraged to choose five days in the week where they will read for enjoyment, they then note the pages they have read in their diaries.  Please encourage your child to read and to participate in this fabulous activity.  Students can borrow books from the school library and hopefully our local libraries will be open again soon.  If your child doesn’t have library card it would be beneficial to them if you could take some time to join your local library as libraries offer a wide range of facilities for all of us.

Over the course of this week students in S4-S6 English will be setting their targets for the exam diet in May 2022.  Students consider their prior attainment and then establish the grade they are working towards.  On a monthly basis they will discuss their specific targets and how they can help them to meet their eventual target.  Learner conversations will take place with the class teacher who will offer guidance and advice as well as help students to set a specific monthly target.  We would encourage parents and carers to discuss targets with students and support them on their journey.  If we can help in any way then please contact me via the school office.

Mrs Burton

We are delighted to welcome all of our students back and look forward to a more settled acacademic year this year !

At the end of last term we said goodbye to Miss McKenna from the English Department and Mrs Bell from the Modern Languages Department.  We are delighted to report that Miss Sullivan, Mrs Fraser, Mrs Gonzalez and Mrs MacDonald will all be staying in the faculty.  Mr Campbell is going part-time and we are delighted to welcome Mrs Lamb who will join the English Department part-time and Mr Milarvie our new DHT who will also teach Modern Languages.

All students should be members of a MS Team for English.  IN S1-3 there are two teams for English depending on which register class a pupil is in.  Pupils should be in the appropriate team and work will then be posted on the channel for their teacher/s.   If any pupil is unsure if they are in the correct team or how to access their channel they should speak to their class teacher.

S1 & S2 should be a member of both the Spanish and the Frenh team for their appropriate year.

S3 should all be in the Spanish team for the Spanish for Life and work which is a compulsory class and which is taught one period per week.   If students have opted to study Spanish in S3 with a view to continuing study in S4 then they should also be in the S3 Spanish class team.

Students from S2-6 are asked to bring their jotters back as a record of their achievements.  Please ensure your child returns these records and can I ask at this time that you return any text books or English texts which you may have lying at home as lost books all have to be replaced.

If you have any questions or worries then please contact me via your child’s Pupil Support Teacher and I will be only too happy to help.  Myself and my team look forward to working with you and your young people in the year ahead.

 

Mrs Burton

Principal Teacher of Languages and Literacy.

Assessments are currently underway for students undertaking National Qualifications this year.  Please find attached the timetable for the faculty assessments which have already been issued to pupils and parents by Mr. McWatt. We wish everyone well with these assessments and would encourage students to prepare as well as they can,  but to be mindful that they need some time away from their books.

Mrs Burton’s Higher class have an opportunity to attend Supported Study in class on Tuesday afternoon’s (3.45pm-4.45pm) until the assessments are completed for a chance for extra practice and support.

 

Lang & Lit Exam Timetable Pupil Version Final   

We are delighted to be back in school and working with our young people.

During these three weeks all students will undertake English/Literacy in class with S5/6 having one double period of English on a Monday.   Class teachers will set work for the rest of the week.  Mrs Burton’s class also have a live lesson on Thursday during periods 3&4.

S4 will have a double period of English per fortnight.  Students in classes 4.4-4.6 will be in class this week and students in classes 4.1-4.3 will be in next week.  S4 students will be working on the “Sailmaker” past paper from 2014 this week  with classes 4.4-4.6 working on this in class and classes 4.1-4.3 preparing this exercise this week and bringing it with them next week.

Classes in the B.G.E. (S1-3) will have one double period per week, all classes in a year group are working on the same thing and class teachers will set work which should be done during the rest of the week.

During this three weeks all Spanish and French will be undertake remotely and pupils should check MS Teams and ensure they complete the tasks set.

Hopefully all of our young people will be back in school full-time from Monday 19th April 2021 and we can move towards some kind of normality !

Please note there is a change to this week’s Live Lesson timetable which was published on the Languages Blog on Sunday.  There will not now be a Live Lesson for Mrs Nelson’s Higher English class tomorrow.   This lesson was NOT included on the list emailed to parents on Saturday.

Apologies for any confusion.

 

Well done to everyone who took part in our Masked Reader Competition to celebrate World Book Day.   Thanks to all the staff who took time to record their story behind the mask !  Congratulations to the Sausage Dog a.k.a. Mrs Meharry who won the popular vote.

Well done to Zara Menzies and Cale McFeely in S1 who were joint winners and Owen Murphy is S2.  You can collect your prize from Nessie when we return !

Monday	P2	5AH1	Higher English	MJ Burton	Tutorial
	P3&4	4G	N5 Spanish	S Jackson	Tutorial
Tuesday	9.30am	4A4	N5 English	K MacDonald	Live Lesson
	P1	4A1	N5 English	R MacPhail	Tutorial
	P1 & P2	4A3	N5 English	C Sullivan	Tutorial
	P1	4A2	N5 English	MJ Burton	Live Lesson
	10am	2.4 Spanish	BGE Spanish	S Bell	Tutorial
	11am	4E	N5 Spanish	S Bell	Tutorial
	2.00pm	1.3 Spanish	BGE Spanish	S Bell	Tutorial
	P7	5HC2	H English	R MacPhail	Tutorial
Wednesday	P1 &2	4G Spanish	N5 Spanish	S Jackson	Tutorial
	P3& 4	5CN5	N5 English	C Sullivan	Tutorial
	P3 &4	5CH1	H English	Mrs Nelson	Live Lesson
	11am	1.6 Spanish	BGE Spanish	S Bell	Tutorial
	11am	5CH2	H English	K MacDonald	Live Lesson
Thursday	P1&2	4F	N5 Spanish	T Campbell	Tutorial
	P3 &4	5AH1	Higher English	Mrs Burton	Live Lesson
	P3 & 4	5AN5	N5 English	Miss McKenna	Tutorial
	P6&7	4G Spanish	N5 Spanish	Mrs Jackson	Tutorial
Friday	9.00am	5CH2	H English	K MacDonald	Live Lesson
	P3&4	4F Spanish	N5 Spanish	T Campbell	Tutorial

Today is World Book Day – a day we always celebrate. There are lots of fun activities on the Teams pages.  We are very excited to launch the Taylor version of “The Masked Reader” – see if you can guess who is reading the book !   We can’t wait to share this with you ! Please find attached your World Book Day token.  These can be exchanged for one of the £1 WBD books which are available in the Supermarkets or you can use it as part payment for any other book.  Normally we would distribute these in school.  Have fun and happy reading !!!!!

booktoken_SecondaryUK