January 19
Dear Parent/Carer
Welcome
to the first Head Teacher blog of 2019. I hope you find the information below
useful and as always I would welcome any feedback on matters below or in
general. Please use the email address provided to make contact or alternatively
contact the school on 0131 664 7440.
For
those that may be new to the Head Teacher blog, we highlight key areas using
five key headings that link directly to the school improvement priorities.
1. 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 /support/relationships
and key pupil information.
· 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.
As indicated in the last blog, our L&T policy is in draft form and
we have placed this on the school website. I will be consulting with the Parent
Council on this at the next meeting on Wednesday 23rd January, 6.30pm in the
school library. All parents/carers are invited to attend and any feedback can
be provided through the admin account email address provided above.
2. 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. 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.
For the reminder of the session we are focussing on the use of Rights Respecting
language. This includes how we speak to each other and we are asking our school
community to be more aware of the language we use and the impact of this.
We are continuing to focusing on:-
1. Efforts to celebrate success
in and out of school and the introduction our Ambition pledge awards for S1
pupils. This was launched with S1 pupils on Monday 14th January and we look
forward to seeing this develop across the school.
2. Introducing awards for behaviour,
effort and attendance based on information from tracking reports for all
pupils. Many of our pupils will have received these awards and I am delighted
that we are celebrating the success of more pupils across the school.
3. Introduce profiling for pupils in S1 pupils to recognise and celebrate
achievements within and out with the school. Profiling lessons are beginning in
January with S1. Profiles will be in digital format and our pupils will be able
to share these with parents/carers. Watch this space for more information.
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. This
is progressing well and many more pupils are involving themselves in the life
of the school. We are making progress towards embedding this approach and will
continue to make this a priority.
6.
A trial system of positive texts home received positive feedback and we
are looking at how we can further establish this across the school. More news
will follow on this approach in due course.
3. Pupil Support
A very warm welcome to Mr Alan Doak who has taken over from Mrs
O’Connell as Head of Tiree House. As
most of you are aware Mrs O’Connell is currently on Maternity leave and is now
the proud mum of a beautiful baby daughter.
Our Relationships for Learning (Behaviour) policy is under review due to
staffing changes and all parents/carers were updated in December when I wrote
home. We are currently working with staff and taking feedback regarding the
interim measures and this will help us to shape any changes we make in due
course.
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 and well established. 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
where we discuss supports for our young people.
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. Dates to follow in due course.
4. Curriculum
We recently held out Options Evening event for all pupils, parents and
carers of S2-5 pupils. Important information was shared regarding course choice
for next session and key documents can be found on the front page of the school
website.
All parents/carers are asked to work with their young person on this
important process and liaise with school should they need any advice. All
pupils will be given a 1:1 interview with their guidance teacher to discuss the
choices they make.
We have also recently launched a consultation on the S1 and S2
curriculum with a view of giving more time towards English and Maths and
reducing class sizes in these areas. This is in line with our priority to
improve attainment in literacy and numeracy. I will be directly consulting with
the parent council on this matter and all parents/carers will be asked to
submit their views. A letter will come home via school bag mail outlining the
proposal.
5. Self-Evaluation
In October 2018 the school was visited by a team of staff from the local
authority looking at key areas of school and national improvement. The team met
with staff, pupils and parents/carers to gather a wide range of views.
The school received some very positive feedback as well as some areas to
consider for improvement. We will share this document in due course will all
parents/carers.
Staffing
Update
Congratulations to Mr Foley who was appointed to replace Ms Gordon and
Curriculum Leader of English. As a result, we are in the process of recruiting
a teacher of English. At this time, Mr McGarvey is working on a supply basis in
the school to fill this vacancy.
The school currently has 3 which we have been unable to fill:
Business Education (1 FTE)
Home Economics (0.8 FTE)
Drama (0.2 FTE)
Work is on-going with regards to these vacancies.
Interviews for the post of Administration Officer will take place on
Thursday 17th and Friday 18th January.
Mrs Hurd, our behaviour Support Officer left us in December to take up a
new post in another school. We wish Mrs Hurd all the very best.
Mrs Hamilton, PSA left us in December to take up another job. We wish
Mrs Hamilton all the very best.
Both roles were closely associated to the schools Relationships for
Learning policy and no decision, as yet, has been taken to replace these posts.
Further information will follow.
Important
Dates – January and February
23 January – Parent Council Meeting – 6.30pm,
School Library.
28 January – Formal assessment weeks 2 and 3
(Higher and National 5 students)
1 February – S2 tracking report (2) issued
11 February – School Holiday
18 February – Pupils return to school
19 February – Expressive Arts Show
And finally…… we are looking for a parent/carer to
join Mr Hunter and Mr Whyte on a visit to Rugby school in later February, early
March with a view to supporting identified pupils to access the Arnold
Foundation, see the link below. This is an outstanding opportunity and we would
appreciate the input from an interested parent/carer. It would involve an overnight
stay at the Rugby school, all expenses paid with a view of presenting to the
parent council and other interested parents.
If you would like to be considered for this
opportunity, please contact the school by Friday 25th January.
Kind
Regards
Ross Hunter
Head Teacher
