Welcome to winter with this morning’s snowfall.  It always makes it feel more like we are heading towards Christmas when it snows!

It’s been another busy week at Knox Academy with S5/6 prelims now in full swing, our virtual S1 Parents’ Evening and our Parent Council Meeting last night.  It was good to see so many parents and carers at both, supporting both your young people and the school.  Thank you.

Staffing

It was lovely to present Phil Gilholm (a member of our staff team in Pupil Support) with his Bikeability Scotland Instructor of the Year Award yesterday (please see Twitter for photos). Phil has done so much for many young people across ELC and also leads the Bikeability Awards here at Knox Academy. He is passionate about cycling and raising the profile of it as an eco–friendly way of travelling and keeping fit. He is an inspiration to many and so well deserving of this award.

COVID-19

While we continue to ask you to report any positive COVID cases to admin@knox.elcschool.org.uk, there is now a mailbox that should be used by parents to alert us to a positive case out of school hours/weekends/over the Christmas period. The address is covidinschools@eastlothian.gov.uk . 

A reminder that any pupil showing Covid-19 symptoms must not attend school and you can book a test online at www.nhsinform.scot or by telephoning 0800 028 2816. Only if this test is negative should the pupil return to school. If pupils have the common cold, they should still attend school if they feel well enough to do so. 

If your young person is absent from school, Covid-19 related or other, work will be available to access on Google Classroom and also through E-sgoil (Glow user name and password required) and E-sgoil live webinars; Scholar UK (S4-S6), SQA (past papers); SQA (subject content to work through topics) and BBC Bitesize  and at Oak National Academy (some great resources for S1-S3 pupils).

S1 Parents’ Evening

Our second virtual parents’ evening took place on Wednesday 2 December. The vast majority were completed with both teachers and parents/carers feeling pleased that they had an opportunity to discuss their young person’s progress and next steps. We look forward to having more virtual parents’ evenings next term.

Google Classroom: Guardian Summary

As you’ll know, Knox Academy uses Google Classroom to support learning at home and as part of our digital strategy we want to roll out an additional feature of Google Classroom which is designed to help Parents/Carers gain an overview of the set tasks and assignments.

This feature is called Guardian Summaries and it enables Parents/Carers to receive e-mail updates about:

• Missing work—Work not turned in when the summary was sent.
• Upcoming work—Work that’s due today and tomorrow (for daily emails) or that’s due in the upcoming week (for weekly emails).
• Class activities—Announcements, assignments, and questions recently posted by teachers.

As a parent/carer you will be able to control the frequency of these updates or decide to opt-out of receiving them at a later date.   

Setting up Guardian Summaries 

To setup Guardian Summaries use the link: knox.is/guardiansummary which requires your child to log in via edubuzz. This must be done by each child in your household for whom you wish to receive e-mail updates. 

We will use the main contact email we have on record but there will be an option in the form to add a second email address. It is therefore essential that the pupil record is accurate so please contact us if you wish to make any changes to your stored information.  

Please also note that, due to GDPR regulations, your child may choose to opt out of sharing information with you and if they decline permission we will not be able to set up the summaries for you. (by Calum Blair, CL Maths and Numeracy)

Diligence Awards  

These are now at the printing room and we hope to disseminate these next week to pupils. Please discuss these with your young people. The aim is to achieve mentions in all subjects they are following at school as this shows hard work and commitment to their learning on a day to day basis. If subjects are not mentioned, this means that they should apply themselves to a greater degree in these subjects next term to ensure these are listed on the spring term certificates. By applying themselves and working diligently on a day to day basis this will ensure they achieve their potential.  It also links directly with our school value of ‘ambition.’   

Communication

If you have a question to ask about your young person or a question in general about the school, please email your young person’s Pupil Support Leader in the first instance as they will be best placed to help you.  If need be, they will refer any questions on to the House Depute Head Teachers.  The email addresses are as follows:

Ms Adam - ladam1@knox.elcschool.org.uk (Garleton Pupil Support Leader (PSL))

Mr Meekison - smeekison@knox.elcschool.org.uk  (Lammerlaw PSL) 

Mrs Doig - wdoig@knox.elcschool.org.uk  (Traprain)

Dr Lyon - vlyon@knox.elcschool.org.uk (PSL Support for Learning)

Ms Fox - sfox@knox.elcschool.org.uk (PSL for Inclusion)

Attendance

We now have an “Attendance” inbox for parents to email with student absences/appointments. Please email attendance@knox.elcschool.org.uk

School Meals/Free School Meals/Clothing Grants

For those receiving free school meals - The facilities team will deliver free school meals to the homes of pupils who are isolating. Please call or email our school office if this applies to you. Parents/carers with a child who is isolating should not visit the school building to pick these up. Thank you.

Clothing grants are also available and if you would like support with this please contact your young person’s Pupil Support Leader (Ms Adam/Mr Meekison/Mrs Doig).

Free Football

Due to the ongoing restrictions and the limited options on a Friday and Saturday night for the young people in Haddington, it has created the opportunity for a partnership with a number of ELC services to provide ways and options to give our young people something to do - this includes piloting open football sessions on a Saturday night – please just turn up at the venue. Details are:   

Open Football (Under 18s)

Starts: Saturday 7th November

Time: 19:00 – 21:00

Venue: 3G Whittingehame Drive

Cost: Free

Parent Council

Thank you to all the many parents who joined our Parent Council meeting last night. Good to see so many joining in virtually. Our next meeting will take place on Thursday 28 January. If you would like to come along please email Lesley Pirie (Chair) at parentcouncil@ka-net.org.uk so you can be invited along. 

Dates for your diary

22 December – End of term

6 January – Term Starts

Stay safe and well and enjoy the weekend. 

Sue Cook

Please also remember to follow us at: www.ka-net.org.uk @knoxacademy @knoxacademyHT