To all Parents and Carers,
Head Teacher Update – October 2015
Welcome to the second blog of this
academic session.
The session has started very
positively and staff and students are working hard in school and the process of
implementing our improvement priorities is well underway. In order to better
understand these, we are currently putting together a video for you as a guide
to understanding the school improvement plan. I hope to show this at the
forthcoming Parent Council meeting on Monday 16 November and you
are very welcome to attend – 7pm in the School Library. The video will be available
to view on our school website when it is completed.
Attainment and Achievement
Details
of our school academic attainment and wider achievement for session 2014-15 will
be published shortly and you will be informed when details become available.
Behaviour in the Community
Whilst
the majority of our young people behave well and conduct themselves in a manner
we would expect, a small number are causing issues in the local community,
particularly at lunchtime. We have addressed our concerns at school assemblies
and all students have been made aware that as a school we take a very dim view
of this. We will deal with reports of anti-social behaviour in a very serious
way and will contact you where we have concerns as well as taking any necessary steps to ensure the safety of our students and individuals
in the local community. As always, your support in this matter is very much
appreciated.
Immunisation
in Secondary Schools: Spring Term 2016
1. Meningitis
ACWY programme
This is a one off programme for teenagers aged
14-18 aimed at preventing the further spread of the meningitis W disease.
Students in S3, S4, S5 and S6 will be vaccinated in school next
term. S3 students will also be offered the routine teenage
booster at the same time. Christmas school leavers will be offered vaccination
at their GP Practice (as have others in the age group
who left by summer 2015). In order to provide protection as quickly as possible, we are running these vaccination sessions immediately following the Christmas break. The programme
will run from 11 January 2015 to 8 March 2015.
Named invitation packs with a letter, information leaflet and
consent form will be distributed to schools in early to mid-November. These
will be distributed to students as soon as we receive them and should be returned
to school within 7 days.
2. HPV
programme for girls
Due to the need for the emergency
meningitis ACWY programme, the HPV programme will now begin after the ACWY has been
completed. The HPV programme will therefore run from 7 March 2015 to 27
April 2015.
HPV Invitation packs will be distributed after the Christmas
break. This is the year (one off) when as a result of the changeover from the
previous programme, the sessions will involve S1, S2 and S3 girls (first dose
for S1, second dose for S2 and second dose for S3).
We would appreciate your support in encouraging students to return
the consent forms for both programmes. We realise that these can easily get
lost in the school bag or forgotten - so any help you can give in reminding
them is very welcome.
Dates agreed so far for the
Immunisations:
·
- Teenage Booster 25 and 26 January
·
- HPV S1 & S2 – 21 March 2016
Educational
Maintenance Allowance (EMA)
From January 2016,
the income thresholds for Education Maintenance Allowances are increasing for
those students born before 1 March 2000 and this means more students may qualify to receive weekly payments
of £30 per week. The income threshold for families with one
dependent child will increase from £20,351 to £24, 421 and for those with more
than one dependent child will increase from £22,403 to £26,884. If you
believe your son or daughter will now qualify for an EMA you can find out more
at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/ema. Applications
can be submitted from 26 October 2015.
Formal Assessment Weeks – Senior Pupils
(S4, 5 and 6)
As part of our revised assessment and
reporting calendar, Formal Assessments (previously known as prelims) will
operate differently than in previous years.
First, we
have brought forward the timing of the assessment weeks. The rationale for this
is to give earlier awareness of progress in courses and most importantly to
ensure there is appropriate time for intervention strategies to
take place. Week 1 and week 2 will take place as below:
Week 1 -
23/11/15 – Week 14
Week 2 –
30/11/15 – Week 15
Week 3 – 24/02/16 – Week 25
Students will be offered more exam style
question practice during this week and this will help to inform final decisions
on appropriate levels of study. They will also have a final opportunity to
demonstrate ability at level and get invaluable practice whilst providing us
with feedback on performance at the same time.
THERE IS NO STUDY LEAVE FOR FORMAL ASSESSMENTS. All students should attend normal classes
when they do not have assessments and school uniform must be worn at all times.
Formal Assessments in Exam Halls – 23 - 25 November 2015
Subject & Level
|
Time
|
Room
|
|||
Monday
23rd November
|
English
|
||||
National 5 - Paper 1
|
8.45-9.45
|
Drama/Gym
|
|||
National 5 - Paper 2
|
9.55-10.40
|
Drama/Gym
|
|||
Higher - Paper 1
|
13.45-14.45
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Higher - Paper 2
|
15.00-15.45
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Advanced Higher - Paper 1
|
13.45-15.15
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Tuesday
24th November
|
Mathematics
|
||||
National 5
|
8.40-10.10
|
Drama/Gym
|
|||
Media Studies
|
|||||
National 5
|
10.55-12.25
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Higher
|
10.55-12.55
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Languages
|
|||||
French, National 5
|
10.55-12.25
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Spanish National 5
|
10.55-12.25
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
French Higher
|
10.55-12.55
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
French Adv Higher Paper 1
|
10.55-12.25
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Computing
|
|||||
National 5
|
13.45-15.15
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Higher
|
13.45-15.45
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Wednesday
25th November
|
Mathematics
|
||||
Higher, Paper 1
|
08.40-9.50
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Higher, Paper 2
|
10.15-12.00
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Drama
|
|||||
Nat 5
|
13.45-15.15
|
Drama Studio
|
|||
Raising Teens with Confidence
Following
the sessions at Gracemount some of the feedback from parents is highlighted
below:-
·
“Fantastic! Relaxed and non-judgemental,
open to discussion and interruption! Thank you for not judging but
listening!”
·
“So much information and so interesting.
Loved the course. Highly recommend.”
·
“Thank you for the practical guidance. I
feel better equipped to deal with what’s to come.”
·
“This has given me a better understanding of
my child’s behaviour.”
·
“Course went by really quickly and I will be
disappointed to finish.”
We very much hope to continue to deliver this
course as part of our overall support to you. Please continue to keep up to date
as this will be advertised on our school website.
Values Focus – Mutual Respect
My values focus for this blog is Mutual Respect
and I firmly believe that this must be at the heart of any successful school.
Mutual Respect
is defined as ‘proper regard for the dignity of a person or position’. It is the
value we perceive in others. At Gracemount Mutual Respect means
that “We are polite, courteous and caring.
We treat people with dignity and respect.”
I know teachers work hard every day to forge positive relationships with
our young people and to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect. Our
vision statement clearly states that we “put
young people at the heart of our community” and we will always continue to do
this. Our challenge is to ensure our young people are aware of this and
understand our commitment to them but that they also appreciate their role in
being part of our values based approach. If our young people understand this,
then it will positively shape how they behave towards each other, to their
teachers, to other school staff and to individuals in the local community. Our approach
will always be based on a foundation of mutual respect coupled with an
understanding of the role of staff in school. Successful schools are firm, fair
and caring in their approach and have the highest expectations of young people.
They combine an unconditional positive regard with an assertive authority to
ensure that the standard of education remains as high as possible – something
we all want for our school.
Please take the time to look at our values on the school website
and talk to your child about them. I am very much looking forward to the term
ahead and to continuing to work with you to ensure the best outcomes for every
young person who attends Gracemount High School.
Severe Weather
Finally,
the winter weather is almost upon us and we are only too aware that Scotland
can experience all seasons in one day but we do have procedures in place in the
event that the weather takes a turn for the worst. The safety of our staff and
students is always at the heart of all our decisions and we will keep parents
and students fully informed about our ability to open during adverse weather on
our website, by text alert and announcements on Radio Forth Travel. Please help us to keep in touch by
ensuring we have up to date contact details, particularly mobile numbers and
email addresses so that we can contact you at all times.
Thank
you
Mr Ross Hunter
