At the end of last week, two positive cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in school. Parents of those pupils who have been identified as close contacts have been informed and the pupils concerned are isolating for a period of 10 days.
Please see the the letter below from NHS Highland for more details.
Staff in school have produced a guide to revision and study skills that may prove useful in helping students prepare for future assessments. The guide below features advice about:
The Scottish Government has confirmed that all pupils will return to school after the Easter Break, from Monday 19th April. Please see the letter below from Dr Vance with details about what this means for pupils.
Do you know a young person interested in becoming a Member of the Scottish Youth Parliamemt for Highland?
Are you a young person interested in becoming a MSYP
The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) represents Scotland’s young people. SYP has democratically elected members, aged 14-25 who listen to and recognise the issues that are most important to young people, ensuring that their voices are heard by decision makers. SYP encourage all of Scotland’s young people to play their part in achieving their vision and provide a national platform for their participation in democracy.
In Highland, there is the opportunity for 6 young people who are 14-25 years old to stand as MSYPs:
Nominations officially open TODAY, 1st April 2021. Candidate Expressions of Interest must be received by 30th June 2021.
Please see the link below for more information.
Anyone aged 16 or over is able to vote in the Scottish Parliament Elections on 6th May 2021. You must register before you can vote and the deadline for this is 19th April. This can be done online. You must also be either a British citizen, an Irish citizen or a citizen of another country living in Scotland who has permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who does not need permission. Please see the slides on the link below or watch the short video explaining how elections to the Scottish Parliament work.
Like all Scottish secondary schools, we are using the alternative certification model to deliver results for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses this session. Our teachers will use assessments that pupils have taken part in over the course of the year as evidence to decide the grades that our pupils should be awarded. Unlike last session, all grades will be awarded based on a young person’s demonstrated attainment. It was always our intention to carry out further assessments towards the end of the year and give our pupils the opportunity to be assessed when they had completed their learning. Please see the link below for details of our plans for carrying out these assessments and a calendar of when they will take place.
Dr. Vance invited questions from parents / carers and pupils about the re-opening on 15th March. Please see the link below for answers to the questions we have received.
From Monday 15 March, pupils in S4 to S6 who are taking national qualifications will begin their return to school and will have priority for face-to-face lessons. Learning and teaching, whether in school or through remote learning, will continue to enable both teachers and pupils to review and consolidate all learning, before moving on to focus on completing assessment evidence.
The number of assessments which pupils will undertake for qualifications purposes may vary across their subjects. This is due to the nature of individual subjects and how they are taught. Pupils should talk to their teachers if they have any questions about what work will count towards assessment evidence.
With the SQA exams being cancelled this year, teachers will use their professional judgement to decide results at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher based on the marked evidence from pupils’ assessments. These will remain provisional results until all quality assurance checks have been carried out.
To ensure provisional results are fair and credible across the whole of Scotland, quality assurance processes will be applied in two phases:
Schools will submit provisional results to SQA by 25 June.
SQA will not adjust provisional results. It will check for administrative errors that might have happened when schools were sending the quality assured results to SQA. When that check is completed, provisional results will become final.
Pupils will receive their results by post on Tuesday 10 August 2021. They will also receive their results by text and/or email if they decided to sign up for this service at www.mysqa.org.uk.
SQA has created an information booklet outlining ‘What you need to know for 2021 – National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher’ qualifications. This includes further details on how results will be arrived at and about the quality assurance process for this year.
The booklet is available to download from the SQA website and will be posted directly to your child w/c 15 March.
You can stay up to date on the 2021 National Qualifications by visiting sqa.org.uk/NQ2021.
Our plans for the re-opening of our school for all pupils from 15th March onwards are now final. The letter below from Dr Vance covers these arrangements in detail. Pupils have been given a copy of this letter in their PSE classrooms today, where they will also find details of the Groups they have been allocated to. Each group will attend one day per week. Please contact your child’s Guidance Teacher if you have any queries about these arrangements.
I’m sorry we are not going to get to see you next week but if infection rates and the R-number keep moving in the right direction, I fully expect to see you all- though not necessarily all at the same time- in March. We miss how it feels when you are all in the building and look forward to the speedy return of that ‘busy building’ feeling.
We have a better picture now of what needs to happen to get you your qualifications. Soon after the announcement of 2nd March we will share details of how assessment will be organised and what will be assessed after the Easter break and to that end we are working on the next version of the assessment calendar that we previously shared with you. For now, however, my message remains the same as the one I have been giving and SQA have been giving since January: these days are about covering the course, learning skills for assessment activities, making mistakes and learning even more from them. Nothing is decided yet but your every effort puts you in a better place and every activity you undertake gives you more knowledge and more skills for the post Easter assessment phase.
In March we will be writing an update report for you which will both help you with Choice of Course and help focus study/revision over and after Easter.
I know only too well how dull and monotonous this way of living and learning is and so innovate yes, find treats and rewards, yes but please don’t lose sight of the fact that at some point we need to get together and show what you know as part of the process of recognising your learning.
Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey- it is clear that you are less fond of following the timetable less than the younger pupils. Please be assured that I have reflected on these messages. My concern that I will deal with is that the interaction between you and the teacher needs to be as strong as possible to make maximum progress and teachers are not available for direct interaction beyond class time. What I will do this week is talk with PTs about what successful adaptations they have made to their senior class delivery which still allows direct teacher-pupil engagement (essential to prepare you for the assessment phase) but better reflects the complicated lives you are living and pressures you are dealing with. I’ll also meet with some pupil representative groups to better understand the feedback. Evolution rather than revolution of our approach is my ambition.
Stay focused, stay busy and stay safe. When any or all of them become difficult to do, talk to teachers, talk to Guidance and if needed we have people who can talk to you and help you.
All the best,
Dr J Vance
