September 18
Dear Parent/Carer
As we are now well into the academic session for
2018/19 I wanted to get in touch to highlight some important information. I would
like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your efforts in supporting
the school this session, especially regarding supporting our dress code. The
vast majority of our young people are reporting to school, arriving on time and
very smartly dressed. I appreciate all the efforts that this take from home and
I look forward to this continuing throughout the session. A reminder of the
dress code is below:
All
our students are encouraged to play their part and support our school community
by adhering to our dress code at all times.
- Sky blue shirt / blouse
- School Tie
- Plain black skirt / trousers / skirt (torn jeans are not accepted)
- Plain black top/ jumper which allows tie to be visible
- Plain black shoes
- Hijab (if worn) in school colours
- Black Leggings (can only be worn with a skirt) and the same pair must not be used for PE
Sponsored
Walk – 28 September
Our whole school sponsored walk takes place on 28
September and we are very much looking forward to the event. Please ensure your
child has returned the necessary forms in order to participate in the walk by
no later than Wednesday 26 September.
Information
below is reported on under the five key headings of school improvement. I hope
you find the information useful and that it keeps you up-to-date with what we
are doing as a school. Please do not hesitate to contact me, or a member of my
Senior Team, should you wish to discuss any matter.
Parent Fundraiser Event
We
would be delighted if you would join us on Friday evening at Gilmerton Miners
club. This is our third fundraising event which is run by parents of both the
high school and primary school. Tickets are still available from the school
office.
Learning and Teaching
This
session our focus on Learning and teaching involves the following:
· Highly
effective differentiation – ensuring learning and teaching is
adapted to meet the needs of individual pupils.
· The
social environment of our classroom – with a focus on
attitudes/support/relationships/information and empowerment.
· We will continue to enhance the skills of our teachers in using digital technologies.
· Ensuring we make the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy explicit across the school in year groups
1-3.
By January 2019, we will have re-established our Teaching and Learning
policy and shared this with you.
Ethos
Our school ethos continues to be a strength and our work in ensuring pupils
feel safe, secure and happy in school will always be a priority. Our work on
becoming the first Local Authority School in the City of Edinburgh to achieve
the Gold Rights Respecting School Award has supported us in ensuring we create
the best ethos we can in our school community.
In order to build on this we are focusing on:-
1.
Efforts to celebrate success
in and out of school and the introduction our Ambition pledge awards for S1
pupils. More details will follow in due course.
2.
Introducing awards for behaviour,
effort and attendance based on information from tracking reports for all
pupils. I am delighted to say that over 60 awards were presented to our new S3
pupils after their first tracking report was issued last week.
3.
Introduce profiling for pupils in S1 pupils to recognise and celebrate
achievements within and out with the school. More details to follow.
4.
Continue to celebrate success in the classroom with our values postcards.
5.
Further enhance pupil confidence and pride in school by creating our Pupil Leadership Team structure.
6.
A trial system of positive texts home – recently just completed with S1.
Pupil
Support
Our Relationships for Learning (Behaviour) policy is well established
and recent focus groups with pupils have suggested that our young people feel
this is working very well to support all pupils. Protecting the learning in the
classroom (a phrase all our teachers use with pupils) will remain a priority so
learning and teaching can flourish in our school and we are working with all
staff to improve our consistency in implementing our school policy.
We understand that professional development is key to our success as a
school and all staff are currently involved in professional reading to support
our own practice to ensure the very best outcomes for all our young people.
We have worked extremely hard on ensuring our information on Additional
Support Needs is up to date and that systems are in place to identify and
support all young people who require any additional support. We will continue
this work.
Our new structure for our Depute Head Teachers, who have assumed the
responsibility for a Year Group for the whole time they are at school, is in
place. This means that a young person’s Year Head and Guidance Teacher will not
change throughout the time they are in school. This will facilitate a new and
much more focused approach to house team meetings to ensure that supports are
well established for all our young people.
At present, the structure is as follows:
Miss Gordon – Year Head for S1, S3 and S5.
Mrs Scott – Year Head for S2. S4 and S6.
Mrs Julie Wilson (PSL and Dance teacher) is our family learning
engagement officer and will be in touch throughout the session to support and
advise families on how they can support learning at home and get access to the
information they need. We will also be re-focussing our efforts on family
engagement sessions – please see key dates below for some information.
Curriculum
We have successfully completed all re-coursing for our senior pupils in
light of SQA results and we look forward to them working hard to ensure success
in their National subjects.
Our Gracemount Guarantee refers to features of our curriculum which all of our students
will achieve or experience, offering
opportunities for personal achievement in S1-3. Equity, excellence &
diversity will be at the core of all features of the Gracemount Guarantee and
the promotion of skills for learning, life & work will be intrinsic in all
that we offer. The activities will stand alongside our regular curriculum and
they will compliment and supplement one another. The guarantee will be reviewed
and refreshed regularly to reflect any changes within national or local
priorities as well as our own local context. See below for details:
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BGE
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S1
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Term
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S2
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Term
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S3
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Term
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Fringe Festival experience in partnership with:
Festivals for young people.
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Term 1
August
H.Grisdale
E.Whyte
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Fringe Festival experience in partnership with:
Festivals for young people.
|
Term 1
August
H.Grisdale
E.Whyte
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A ‘great outdoors’ experience: Sponsored walk to
raise funds to support equitable opportunities for all.
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Term 1
Aug-Oct
M. Gordon
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Expressive arts experience: Theatre trip, Concert,
Gallery trip, Museum trip, Recording studio or in-house creative workshop.
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Term 3
May
L. Shannon
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Expressive arts experience: Theatre trip, Concert,
Gallery trip, Museum trip, Recording studio or in-house creative workshop.
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Term 3
May
L. Shannon
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Community action team participation – community
litter pick during sponsored walk
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Term 1
Aug-Oct
PSL Team
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A ‘great outdoors’ experience: Sponsored walk to
raise funds to support equitable opportunities for all.
|
Term 1
Aug- Oct
M. Gordon
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A ‘great outdoors’ experience: Sponsored walk to
raise funds to support equitable opportunities for all.
|
Term 1
Aug-Oct
M. Gordon
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Volunteering opportunities (Personal development
week)
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Term 2
Feb/March
R MacKenzie
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Community action team participation – community
litter pick during sponsored walk
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Term 1
Aug-Oct
PSL Team
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Community action team participation – community
litter pick during sponsored walk
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Term 1
Aug-Oct
PSL Team
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Educational, subject specific trips.
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Ongoing
All staff as required
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Respect Week: What it means to be a rights
respecting school.
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Term 1
Nov
L. Whale
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Access to an outdoor adventure experience (Outward
bound)
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Term 1
Aug
C. Wyllie
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Sports day
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Term 3
June
M. Gregor
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Sports day
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Term 3
June
M. Gregor
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Sports day
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Term 3
June
M. Gregor
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Community involvement (Personal development week)
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Term 2
Feb/March
R MacKenzie
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“Schools of” elective
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Ongoing
D. Scott
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S2 Electives (to become “Schools of” 19/20)
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Ongoing
D. Scott
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Heartstart (Personal development week)
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Term 2
Feb/March
R MacKenzie
|
|
|
|
Respect Week: What it means to be a rights
respecting school.
|
Term 1
Nov
L. Whale
|
Personal development award (Personal development
week)
|
Term 2
Feb/March
R MacKenzie
|
|
|
|
|
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Respect Week: What it means to be a rights
respecting school.
|
Term 1
Nov
L. Whale
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Self-Evaluation
Gracemount has been selected for a supported self-evaluation visit from
the local authority. Authority colleagues will look at arrange of factors
across the school which includes:
·
Leadership of change
·
Learning and teaching
·
Health and Wellbeing
·
Attainment and Achievement
·
Partnership working
These visits will take place on 8 and 9 October. We are looking for
interested parents to be part of a focus group to support the evaluation of the
school. The focus group is likely to take place on the morning of Tuesday 9
October. If you would like to be involved,
please contact the school office.
Important
Dates
28 September – Gracemount High School and Gracemount Primary School fund
raising event. Evening event at Gilmerton Miners Club. We would love to see you
there.
· 28 September – whole school sponsored walk
· 5 October – Senior tracking reports issued
· 8 and 9 October – Supported Self-Evaluation visit
· 12 October – last day of term
· 23 October – Pupils return to school
Kind
Regards
Ross Hunter
Head Teacher
