Term 2, Week 6

Dear Parents and Carers

Thank you for your continued help and support during another busy but hugely successful week. Pupils have been working hard, both in lessons and beyond, and the atmosphere across the school is a hugely positive one. We have loved seeing so many senior phase (S4, 5 and 6) parents over the last 2 weeks during our parents’ evenings. If there are any teachers you haven’t managed to speak with yet, please contact your child’s Guidance Teacher who will be happy to support you.
 
Securing the Best Outcomes for all Pupils (Mr Ewing) – KGS Prelims
We are continuing to plan for prelims to take place for S4, S5 and S6 pupils from Monday 17 to Friday 28 January. S5 and S6 pupils will have study leave while S4 pupils follow their normal timetable. However, no new course content will be covered and S4 pupils will have the opportunity to study in their classes when they aren’t sitting an assessment. Prelim timetables for pupils are being worked on at the moment and will be issued to pupils before we break up for Christmas. We would recommend all pupils to sign up to e-Sgoil to support their revision: https://www.e-sgoil.com/study-support/
 
Universal Support (Ms Devlin) - Support for university applicants
KGS is delighted to have David Allen in school this week, supporting our UCAS pupils as they finalise their Personal Statements. David is the Director of Univisits Ltd. and is a very highly regarded professional within the UCAS world.  He offers his expertise on university applications to schools across the globe. We feel very lucky to have him volunteer his services at KGS. He has become a regular in our yearly calendar, and we are delighted that he is prepared to share so much of his time and expert knowledge with us.
 
Positive Relationships and Behaviour (Mr Harvey) – Timekeeping
We are working hard with our pupils to support and enable them to achieve the very best outcomes they are capable of. Morning registration is a key part of every pupil’s school day. It is important that all pupils are present in order to register attendance, hear important messages in the Daily Bulletin and have a gentle organised start to the day to prepare for learning.
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.
We have mechanisms in school to track both of these, and 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. At KGS we understand that poor timekeeping may significantly impact on achievement.
We would ask for your support in reinforcing this matter with children at home.
 
Finally, we’d like to draw S5 and S6 parents’ attention to the mentorship programme available to pupils through BBC Radio Orkney and the John Schofield Trust. This programme hasn’t been available to pupils in Scotland before and we think it is an opportunity not to be missed. The launch took place this week and a section of that video call is available below.  Pupils should see Mr Ewing asap to sign up. 

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend,
 
Miss Claire Meakin
Head Teacher