Parent & Carers' Update, September 23rd 2022

Dear Parents and Carers, 

It has been short but very busy week and I hope everyone has an enjoyable and restful weekend. Thank you for your continued support. 

Mr Neil Ewing 
Acting Head Teacher 

Today’s update contains 7 notices 
1. Family Fridays @KGS 
2. Breakfast@KGS 
3. E-sgoil Study support for senior pupils 
4. Maths for S1 Parents 
5. Attendance 
6. S1 Parents’ evening 
7. Senior Phase Tracking reports 
 
1. 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 next visit will be on Friday September 30th and parents can email parent.council@glow.orkneyschools.org.uk by Wednesday 28th September to book a place.  

2. Breakfast@KGS 
Breakfast is available for pupils from 8.20am. The breakfast menu is on the school website and includes toast and cereals with hot food such as filled rolls and scrambled eggs available on demand. 

Securing the Best Outcomes (Joe McCall) 

3. E-sgoil Study support for senior pupils 
There is an opportunity for students to attend additional study support online. Colleagues at E-sgoil have put together a schedule of events as per the link below. A wide variety of topics and SQA levels are supported by these webinars. There are various start dates to note in diaries, with webinars scheduled throughout the autumn and winter.  Pupils are encouraged to engage with all the support available throughout the school year, as they prepare for the Prelim exams in January and the SQA exams scheduled for the spring of 2023. 
Webinars in Maths, English, Social Subjects and Science subjects will start in the week beginning September 26th. More details can be found here 
https://www.e-sgoil.com/media/2745/twitter_study-support-overview-sept-2022-copy.pdf 
All other subject webinars will start in the week beginning October 31st. 
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/ 

4. Maths for S1 Parents  

Roz McMahon, our Acting PT of Maths, launched the first of our Maths information events this week. There were some technical issues with Vscene but the session was recorded and will be available on the KGS website early next week. 
The second online meet will be on Wednesday 5 October 7.30pm to 8.30pm on Vscene and will cover: 
Number and how we teach it 
Join here: 
https://app.vscene.net/r/uYOoVaC7XL 

Promoting Positive Behaviour and Relationships (Mr Harvey) 

​5. Attendance 
As well as regular study both within and out with school, other factors have a direct impact on a pupil’s success in school. Included in this are attendance and timekeeping. As you may be aware, we have mechanisms in school to track both of these in line with OIC guidance.   
The table below outlines the procedure we follow to support young people and families with regular school attendance: 

​We do work hard to ensure that we are aware if there are valid reasons for a pupil being absent or late, and where this is the case, support our pupils to catch up.    
However, there is no doubt that poor attendance may significantly impact on achievement, as does poor timekeeping. We would ask that parents and carers are particularly mindful of this and continue to support us in ensuring that absenteeism is kept to a minimum, where possible, and that pupils are in school on time.   

Securing the Highest Level of Universal Support (Ms Devlin) 

6. S1 Parents’ evening  
We are looking forward to meeting our S1 parents to their first KGS parents’ night next Wednesday. We met many of you at the P7 Parents’ information evening but are pleased to be able to meet you again. The Guidance team and Curriculum Support team will be attending the evening also, and the Senior Leadership Team will be available too, in case you have any queries.  The KGS Parent Council provide refreshments, so do take this opportunity to chat to them and ask any questions. We are grateful to our S6 helpers who have volunteered to help with refreshments too. We hope you enjoy the evening and find it useful. Remember, if you have not had the opportunity to speak to all your child’s teachers at the evening and would like to find out more, please get in touch with their Guidance teacher. S1 Tracking reports will be issued  
Our online booking system remains open until Monday 26 September at 3.30pm.  

​7. Senior Phase Tracking reports 
Senior Tracking reports have been issued to S4, S5 and S6 pupils today. ​