Parent and Carers' Update - November 18, 2022

Dear Parents and Carers, 
This week has been a challenging one weather wise - winter is well and truly here! Hopefully things will calm down next week. We had a fantastic series of Children in Need events this week including a fancy dress day on Thursday with some fantastic costumes on show! A huge thanks to our S6 Charity Committee for organising events throughout the week. 

Mr Neil Ewing 
Acting Head Teacher ​

 
Today’s update contains 14 notices 

1. Pupil behaviour down the street 
2. Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) 
3. Family Fridays @KGS 
4. Music Performance Prelims 
5. Senior Phase – Orkney College UHI Parents’ Evening 
6. Parents and carers of pupils who sat SQA exams in spring 2022 
7. National Discussion Scottish Education 
8. E-sgoil Study support for senior pupils 
9. SQA Your National Qualifications 2022-23 booklet 
10. Year Group assemblies 
11.  Senior Tracking 
12. Cost of Living Crisis Support Scotland 
13. Free school meals and clothing allowances 
14. Tracking and Monitoring of pupils’ Health and Wellbeing 

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1. Pupil behaviour down the street We had several complaints last week from some shops and community facilities about disruptive behaviour on Friday afternoons by a small minority of our S1 to S3 pupils. All pupils have been spoken to in assemblies about the importance of respecting our local community but if parents/carers can reinforce that message, we would really appreciate it. 

2. Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) 
These sessions will explain the funding packages available from the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) for those planning to undertake higher education courses(HNC/HND/Degree courses) as well as how and when to apply and  an opportunity to ask any questions. 
These sessions will be online and will take place in the evening during December. Parents and carers can check the available dates and times a and book a place on these talks here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/137287290983 
Once booked, they will receive a booking confirmation with a link that will allow them to access the meeting. 
If you have any questions relating to this offer, please email [email protected] and we will get back to you asap. 


3. Family Fridays @KGS 
Over the course of this session the Parent Council would like to invite parents into KGS on Friday mornings for school visits. The visits would be in small groups and run between 10am and 11am. Each visit would include a tour of the school in action, a chat with the Senior Leadership team over a cup of coffee, and a visit to some classrooms.  The last visit this year will be on Tuesday 6 December and parents can email [email protected] by Friday 2nd December to book a place.  


Securing the Best Outcomes (Joe McCall) 

4. Music Performance Prelims 
If your child is sitting N5 or Higher Music, they will have a performing prelim on either Monday 9, Tuesday 10 or Wednesday 11 January. Students are required to play their entire programme of pieces, with accompaniment/backing tracks as appropriate. These prelims will provide valuable evidence and a chance for students to see how they perform 'under pressure'. You can support your child by reminding them to practise regularly and by listening to them play through their pieces a few times before their prelim. They will be out of class for around 30 minutes each. I realise this will eat into last minute prelim preparation for other subjects but the final SQA performing exams can take place any time from mid-February, so we need to get these prelims done early. Detailed timings are available for students in Teams and are also on the music department noticeboards. If you have any questions, please email me on [email protected]  
Many thanks for your support. 

5.  Senior Phase – Orkney College UHI Parents’ Evening 
Save the date - on Wednesday 30 November, Orkney College UHI from 5.30pm would be delighted to welcome you to the College for their Senior Phase Parents’ Evening, to discuss your child’s progress on the college course(s) they are doing as part of their school timetable, and potential future courses available from the College.  At the same time, you will be able to visit their Festive Foodbank Fayre, organised by pupils and students from the Foundation Apprenticeship in Hospitality and NC in Administration. Details of the times lecturers will be available to speak to parents and carers will be in next week’s bulletin. 

6. To Parents and carers of pupils who sat SQA exams in spring 2022 
SQA is currently carrying out a large-scale evaluation of the 2022 approach to National Qualifications assessment. Part of this includes gathering views from parents and carers on the Appeals 2022 service. They have a panel of parents and carers who take part in occasional surveys for SQA. If you would like to take part, please sign up using this link. 
  www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/96570.html. 
 The survey will be open until Friday 2 December. 

7. National Discussion Scottish Education  
We would encourage as many parents as possible to engage in the national discussion regarding the future of Scottish education. You can find all the resources here: 
https://consult.gov.scot/national-discussion-scottish-education/ 

8. E-sgoil Study support for senior pupils 
A reminder that Webinars are now available in almost all subjects 
Registration for Evening Webinars will be via the link below. 
(Pupils must log on to Glow before accessing the link to the registration form, and should check the timetable carefully before choosing the webinars they wish to attend.) 
https://www.e-sgoil.com/study-support/ 

9. SQA Your National Qualifications 2022-23 booklet 
At senior pupil assemblies this week, pupils have been talked through and issued with a booklet from the SQA with information about the exams process 2022-23. For interested parents/carers, plus any pupil who missed the assembly through absence, here is a link to the booklet. 
https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/Your-National-Qualifications-22-23-school-edition.pdf 
Paper copies are also available to pupils from Mr McCall. 

Promoting Positive Behaviour and Relationships (Mr Harvey) 

10. Year Group assemblies 
We held year group assemblies this week and covered the following: 
Promoting positive behaviour in relationships between pupils regardless of race, gender, nationality, sexuality or other differences and the importance of not labelling fellow pupils 

11. Senior Tracking 
Staff have been busy having learning conversations with S4, S5 and S6 pupils over the last couple of weeks to inform the next Tracking Summary. Data entry for this by teaching staff has now been completed. Summary Reports will be issued to parents/carers on Friday 25th November just before the S4 Parents Evening on Tuesday 1st December. The information contained in the Tracking Summary will be used to support pupils between now and the prelims to help them achieve and attain what they are capable of. 

Securing the Highest Level of Universal Support (Ms Devlin) 

12. Cost of Living Crisis Support Scotland  
A new Scottish Government website has been launched to signpost advice and financial support available to people in Scotland. It includes information about support with increasing energy bills, Scottish and UK social security payments and benefits, support with housing costs, payments for families, as well as where to get further advice, benefit calculators, and wider health and wellbeing information. The website can be accessed at the link below: 
https://costofliving.campaign.gov.scot 

13. Free school meals and clothing allowances 
Orkney Islands Council provides assistance with free school meals and clothing allowances to families on a low income who meet the eligibility criteria.  
The current clothing allowance is £120.00 per eligible primary child and £150.00 per eligible secondary child. More information can be found here: 
https://www.orkney.gov.uk/Service-Directory/S/School-Meals-and-Clothing-Allowances.htm 

14. Tracking and Monitoring of pupils’ Health and Wellbeing  
The tracking and monitoring of how pupils are progressing in their subjects is a very important part of the work that staff here at KGS do. Making sure that we are also aware of how pupils are coping with aspects of their health and well-being is equally important. 
So that we can support any concerns that our pupils may have that we are unaware of, they will be undertaking a simple survey in their PSE lesson, as part of our usual Tracking and Monitoring processes. This will take place over the next two weeks. Following this, we will try to make sure that we are able to offer support to any pupil where there is a concern. Pupils will be sent an e-mail with the link to the survey on it on Monday morning. Please reassure your child that they are not expected to do the survey at home but will get help with it in PSE. 
The survey will ask pupils around 10 questions, based on aspects of their health and well-being. Questions will include topics on how safe they feel, how they feel about their achievements and how included they feel.  Given that the pupils have the survey in their e-mails, feel free to look at it with them at home. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with Ms Devlin or Mrs Firth if you would like further information.