An online questionnaire to gather the views of local communities on the council’s existing learning estate will go live on Monday (22 February 2021).

Phase 1 of the Learning Estate Review pre-consultation has been designed to offer schools and communities the opportunity to share their opinions on the condition of the existing learning estate. The pre-consultation will also gather views on how well the school estate supports learning.

The questionnaire will run from 22 February – 15 March 2021 on the council’s Consultation Hub, to provide an easy and accessible way for people to participate.

Phase 2 of the process will involve a series of online community engagement workshops, which will run from 10 – 28 May.

The survey is available to view here and will be live for responses from Monday 22 February 2021.

I hope you are all safe and well and your young person is engaging well in the first week of remote learning following the February break. As I said in my letter to you on Tuesday, I am now writing out to you all with our planned return for our senior phase pupils who are following practical subjects at Knox Academy. Full details are available in the letter issued from our Head Teacher on 18 February 2021.

You may have seen recent news reports highlighting the risk of online grooming and radicalisation of young people during the current pandemic lockdown.

More and more pupils are now being home-schooled and spending more time online than normal. Without realising, your child could potentially be the target for online radicalisers and extremists. This is not just relevant to lockdown, but the risk is more prevalent during this time. Full details are available in the letter issued 15 February 2021 from East Lothian Council Prevention Team and Police Scotland.

Course Choice information for Session 2021/2022 is now available on the Course Choice area of our website:

• S2 into S3 – coursing interviews to be held w/b 1 March 2021
• S3 into S4 – coursing interviews to be held w/b 22 February 2021
• S4 into S5 – coursing interviews to be held w/b 8 March 2021
• S5 into S6 – coursing interviews to be held w/b 15 March 2021

The last question on the Google Form asks the pupil to confirm that their parent/carer is aware of the choices being submitted i.e. we will take this as equivalent to a parent/carer signature. Once the form has been submitted, the pupil will receive a copy of the Form as they have submitted it, so that they/ you have a copy.

Any questions relating to coursing should be directed to your young person’s Pupil Support Leader (Guidance Teacher) in the first instance.

David Russell
Depute Head Teacher