Term 4, Week 4

Dear Parents and Carers

Thank you for your continued support this term. We are incredibly proud of how well our senior pupils are engaging with their national examinations and Mr Ewing has included a few reminders later in this update.

We are also really pleased that the current covid-mitigations allow us to start building back into our school calendar some of those activities that make our school so special. A few of these include:

• Activities days for S1 – S3
• Sports day
• School production
• Transition days for next session’s S1 pupils

We look forward to sharing updates with you about these activities when we can.

Today’s update contains 4 notices:

1. Exam reminders (Mr Ewing)
2. Notice about dress code and PE kit (Mr Harvey and Mrs Watson)
3. Update on Activities days (Ms Devlin)
4. Notice about our upcoming Sports Day (Ms Devlin)

We hope you have a lovely weekend,

Miss Claire Meakin
Head Teacher

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​Exam reminders (Mr Ewing)

SQA Exam Update
We are now at the end of the third week of the SQA exams with English being the biggest day so far. We know pupils are putting a huge amount of work into their exams and we are really proud of their efforts so far.
The information below is a reminder to parents of the protocol should your child be too unwell to sit their exams and an overview of the appeals process

Exceptional Circumstance
The Examination Exceptional Circumstances Consideration Service (EECCS) supports learners who are either:
· unable to attend the exam or prevented from completing the exam due to a personal circumstance outwith their control (such as a medical issue) or
· affected during the exam by a disruption, or other exam circumstance, reported by the chief invigilator
It is available for all exams that appear in the exam timetable. There is no charge for this service.
· Only schools, may submit requests. they have experienced a valid exam exceptional circumstance
· they have completed all the compulsory non-question paper components
· an estimate has been submitted for them
· alternative evidence is available
The service is not available to learners who complete the exam, even if they feel they have underperformed due to a personal circumstance beyond their control. Learners who have underperformed relative to their estimate will be eligible for the 2022 appeals service. If your child is not able to attend an exam, they should contact Mr Ewing neil.ewing@glow.orkneyschools.org.uk as soon as possible on the day of the exam Appeals Service If on results day a pupil feels their result is lower than expected, they may be able to appeal that result. Appeals can be prioritised if pupils have a conditional place at university or college. There is no charge for appeals. Eligibility criteria for Appeals 2022 are in place to support fairness and to ensure that learners are accessing the service on an equitable basis. Therefore, the following criteria must be met:
· Learner’s estimate is greater than their certificated grade. For example, if the learner’s exam result is a grade C but their estimate was a grade B.
· All centres must submit an estimate to SQA for each learner per subject/level. Estimated bands of zero or blank will not be eligible.
· Learners must have taken and/or submitted all coursework and formal assessments including exams.
· At least one component of the course assessment must be marked by SQA. Fully internally assessed courses are not eligible for appeals
The deadlines for submitting a priority appeal are:
· Learner direct - Tuesday 16 August at 11.59 pm
· Centres - Friday 19 August at 5 pm
Results of all priority appeals will be released to centres on Monday 5 September and sent to UCAS on Tuesday 6 September.
The deadlines for submitting all other appeals are:
· Learner direct - Tuesday 30 August at 11.59 pm
· Centres – Friday 2 September at 5 pm
Further details on Exceptional Circumstances and Appeals can be found here: Support services for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher learners (sqa.org.uk) Exam Timetables The Exam timetable, study support and results day resources can be found here. Pupils were issued with personalised timetable in school earlier this week. Exam timetable and learner apps

SQA Results day
This year's results day is Tuesday 9th August. Pupils can sign up to get their results by text and details are in the Your Exams link below Your Exams 2022 (sqa.org.uk) Immersion timetable There will be a series of immersion events during study leave across the school to support pupils in the days leading up to their exams. The immersion timetable has been sent to pupils and is also on the KGS website Studying in school during exam leave When a pupil has finished an exam, they should leave school. S1 to S3 pupils are still working in classes so it is important that disruption is kept to a minimum. We have had quite a few pupils studying in school and pupils are very welcome to do so but can all pupils please:
Wear dress code (top layer) Sign and out of school only at the following times: start of the day, break and lunch time and at the end of the school day. This will be strictly enforced. Be prepared to study and not to socialize

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​Notice about dress code and PE kit (Mr Harvey and Mrs Watson)

We would like to thank parent/carers for their support in encouraging pupils to attend school wearing the correct Dress Code. With the warmer weather pupils often want to take their school hoodie off. So as pupils remain in Dress Code throughout the day it is important that they have a school t-shirt on.

The PE dept would like to remind pupils and parent/carers of their current kit and injury/note policy.  Pupils need a full change of PE kit for lessons.  This includes:

• a change of top e.g. t-shirt, long sleeved top.
• a change of trousers e.g. shorts, leggings or track suit bottoms. Jeans are not appropriate.
• Suitable shoes/trainers

If pupils wear smart shorts, leggings or track suit bottoms to school they should bring a separate change for PE lessons. 

​Where a pupil cannot participate in their PE lesson then a note from a parent or carer to excuse them should be brought in.  During these lessons pupils will be asked to complete differentiated work/tasks which may include time keeping, score keeping and other official roles where appropriate.

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​Update on Activities days (Ms Devlin)

We are delighted that nearly all pupils’ choices have been collated and their activities choices will be confirmed early next week. Staff are really looking forward to being able to offer this relaxed and enjoyable three-day break from our usual timetable with the wide variety of activities on offer – and hopefully a bit of fun for our younger pupils after another challenging year. 

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Notice about our upcoming Sports Day (Ms Devlin)

​The PE department are also delighted to be able to hold a Sports Day again this year. A tentative date has been set for this for Thursday 26th May, but of course, it is always weather permitting!