Dr Vance has emailed all parents / carers this morning with an important update, as below:
I wish you and yours all the best for the festive season- stay warm, stay safe please. I was planning an end of term update but that seems foolhardy at the minute with a rapidly changing picture. Instead what I can say is that from this afternoon I am going to take a break until after Hogmanay but will be back at work ahead of the new term and will confirm arrangements for the coming term via email and the website by 5th January. The only thing that I do want to confirm at this stage is that if schools reopen in January we will be going ahead with our Prelim diet for S4-6 pupils which is due to start on 10th January. All pupils have their timetable and we are currently revising the rooming arrangements in light of the recent guidance so will publish the final version on the first day pupils return to school- Thursday 6th January. We also have a contingency plan in case the return to school is delayed.
Today came very close to being a partial or total school closure and when we were taking a decision about whether to open or in what form I did realise that we have not been very public about how difficult it has been some days with high staff absence. So far there has only been one day when we had to close to S4-6 but if the current predicted levels come to pass in January and the Scottish Government’s commitment to schools being open remains, there will be more days like this in January and February. If we can open for some pupils I will alternate between S1-3 pupils and S4-6 pupils attending and advise parents via email and website the afternoon before. Should this happen during the prelims, pupils scheduled to have an exam will still be allowed to attend.
Please accept my thanks for all your support this session- the return of Parents’ Evenings has been a boost for staff and I believe parents and we look forward to meeting with S3-6 parents over the course of January and February- details will be emailed out in good time.
Dr J Vance