Term 3, Week 3

Dear Parents and Carers

Thank you for your continued support.  We are missing the opportunities to meet with you face-to-face and we do hope that covid-restrictions allow us to return to these activities very soon.  For now though, thank you for continuing to communicate with us via emails and phone calls - we always appreciate the contact!

Today's update contains 4 notices from the senior leadership team:

Prelims and revision

Options

Punctuality

Police opportunity

If you have any questions about these topics, or anything else, please don't hesitate to contact us.

​We hope you have a lovely weekend,
Claire Meakin (Head Teacher)

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Prelims and revision for senior pupils (Mr Ewing)
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S4 Prelim arrangements Monday 24h to Friday 28th: For S4 there will be no study leave and pupils are expected in school as normal. However, when in classes, National 5 S4 pupil will be given the opportunity to study, and National 4 pupils may work on internal assessment, added value units etc. Pupils should, if they have no exam, go to College as normal. 

S5 and S6 exam arrangements: S5/6 study leave continues until Friday 28th January and pupils will only be required to be in school if they have an exam, or they choose to study here. Pupils will be welcome to study in school during study leave but we ask that they wear dress code and sign in and out of school at normal times i.e. at the start of the day, break and lunch.  This is important as we need to know who is in the building for safety purposes.

Study support: Pupils that they can access live webinars and a whole range of resources to support their revision on: https://e-sgoil.com/study-support/ E-sgoil have recently published their ‘Easter Study Support School’ too which is definitely worth investigating.

Your exams booklet: We’ve uploaded a copy of this to the home page of our website.  It lets pupils know what to expect in their exams.  Page 9 also has a useful reminder about items that would be prohibited in the exam hall.

Covid Mitigations for prelims: We have identified week beginning 31 January as a catch-up week when any pupil who have missed a prelim due to Covid will have the opportunity to sit their assessments. Pupils will be asked to wear masks during their prelims and to hand sanitise on their way in and way out of their venue. Pupils should be aware that the prelim venues will be well ventilated and should wear suitable clothing. 

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Our options programme for S2 - S5 pupils (Mr Ewing)

S2 into S3 Options: S2 into S3 options materials are now live on the KGS Website under the options 2022 link on the right-hand side of the homepage. There will be an online options information evening for S2 on Tuesday 25th January 6pm – 7pm. To join go to: https://app.vscene.net/r/EFJnqsG1NI

S3 into S4, S4 into S5 and S5 into S6 Options: Options for our senior phase pupils will begin on 1 February and close on 4 March and more information for parents and pupils will follow shortly

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Our drive towards perfect punctuality (Mr Harvey and Mrs Watson)

​Punctuality in the morning continues to be an improving picture. There are now very few pupils arriving in school late. Staff continue to share with pupils the importance of being punctual and this week we have started issuing detentions to pupils who have been late twice. Thank you to all parents/carers for supporting this message at home.
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We’ve been focusing on punctuality throughout the day too and have been closely monitoring the electronic registers each lesson period.  We’re asking pupils to arrive promptly at each lesson, ready to learn.  In the small number of cases where pupils haven’t met this expectation, a detention has been issued.

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An opportunity for 13 - 16 year olds (Ms Devlin)

​Police Scotland is looking to rebuild the Police Scotland Youth Volunteer (PSYV) unit in Kirkwall by recruiting a number of Youth Volunteers (between 13 and 16 years).  PSYV provides an opportunity to find out how Emergency Services work within the community.  Volunteers can work at events within the community such as the County Show, music festivals and emergency service exercises.  The PSYV scheme is good for building confidence, team working and has been recognised as very helpful on applications for employment, college and university. If you think that your son/daughter would be interested, please ask them to let their Guidance Teacher know.​

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