I hope you and your family are safe and well. We have had another very productive week in school with a number of our senior phase pupils attending for practical tasks to support their SQA qualifications. Staff are continuing to be creative in how they are approaching remote learning to aim to maintain high engagement. However, hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel in regards to remote learning, with the First Minister’s announcement on Tuesday, where she has implemented a phased return to learning for all S1-S6 pupils from 15 March – 1 April, with priority being given to Senior Phase pupils to support them with their SQA qualifications. Our Senior Leadership Team is currently working on a timetable for these three weeks and will update you on this next week.  For these three weeks blended learning will be used (a mixture of in-school face/face learning and remote learning), with a full-time return to school, expected for all S1-S6 pupils, on 20 April. It is fantastic to finally see things progressing in this direction and very much welcomed by us all.

Our Senior Leadership Team and Curriculum Leaders have really enjoyed phoning some parents/carers and pupils this week to speak to them about progress and anything more we could be doing to support the home/school links (so please do answer if you see a withheld number as it could be one of us).  As well as parents being appreciative of these calls it was really useful to hear what has been working well for you and your young people and how we can tweak things to improve the remote learning experience.

Staffing

Following successful interviews yesterday, we have appointed three new teachers at Meadowpark. This is subject to the usual pre-employment checks and I will be able to update you with staff names once these have been completed.

Pupil News

Poppy Scotland Annual Gathering

Heather Mackinnon and myself, along with Mr Flood, attended the Poppyscotland Annual Gathering on Saturday 27 February. This was held virtually this year where they shared some of their hopes and ambitions for this year‘s Poppyscotland appeal. They detailed their huge success in donations last year. Despite all the challenges that they faced they managed to still collect some money on the streets and turned to online banking to gather money as well. They are hoping to be even more successful this year and raise lots of money in many different ways. We were lucky enough to hear from some people that benefit from your donations and the impact that Poppyscotland has had on their lives and it is incredible. (by Bethany Ross, S5)

World Book Day

Working from home hasn't stopped the English department from celebrating World Book Day 2021. All junior pupils were invited to take part in a live Kahoot quiz hosted by Mrs Reynolds and Miss Kavak. Both pupils and staff had lots of fun. As well as this, pupils turned into detectives in order to ‘Guess The Teacher Behind The Book’ and we hope pupils found this fun and entertaining! All pupils have also received an e-voucher to use towards a book from participating shops...get reading! (by Ms Machen, CL Communications).

Lateral Flow Test Devices for S4-S6

The latest information on this testing can be accessed by staff, senior pupils and families here. The testing only applies to the small number of pupils in S4-S6 attending school for practical tasks. However it will be applicable to all in S4-S6 as school resumes on a larger scale from 15 March. All pupils (S4-S6) and staff who attended school this week have been offered the chance to be part of the testing programme and been given consent forms and kits if they wished to participate. Testing is voluntary but recommended and many of our young people who have attended for practical subjects over the last few weeks have engaged in this.

S5 Learner Pathways

A reminder that S5 into S6 will have their coursing interviews w/b 8 March. Pupils should ensure they are checking their emails regularly as PSLs will be in touch with details as to when their interview will take place.

S4/5/6 Reporting

There will be no S4/5/6 reports issued at this point in the session and these will be issued early/mid-June instead. Teachers will be having learner conversations with all S4-S6 pupils during the weeks of 15 -26 March where they will discuss progress and next steps with them in each of their subject areas.  More detail about this will follow in a letter next week.

In School Learning – all pupils

Parents/carers who are key workers are able to make an application to East Lothian Council to request a space in the in-school provision for P4-S3 pupils only. Priority will be given to those key workers in category 1 and category 2 where both parent/carers are key workers or where there is a single parent who is a key worker. Wherever possible, parents/carers should make use of informal young person care arrangements in line with the Scottish Government Guidance. As always, health and safety of our school community comes first. In order to ensure the risk of transmission remains low, there is a need to limit the number of pupils working in school with a focus on supporting those in the most need. When in school, all pupils will be working in defined ‘bubbles’ (including at break and lunchtimes), asked to ensure hand sanitising on entry/exit to the building, asked to wear face coverings) and asked to maintain 2M physical distancing at all times.

COVID-19

Positive Cases: Please continue to report any positive cases to covidinschools@eastlothian.gov.uk or telephone 01875 613921.

Please note: If your young person is attending school (or in-school provision), please do not send them if they, or anyone in your household has tested positive or has Covid-19 symptoms.  Please self-isolate and book a test. If they are in S4-S6 and attending school for a practical subject(s) and they test positive using the lateral flow device testing kit, they should also self-isolate and book a PCR test.

Support for pupils

If you or your young person requires any advice or support please contact their House Team in the first instance:

Ms Adam/Mrs Falconer (Garleton) garleton@knox.elcschool.org.uk(link sends e-mail);

Mr Meekison/Mr Russell (Lammerlaw) lammerlaw@knox.elcschool.org.uk(link sends e-mail);

Mrs Doig/Mr Illingworth (Traprain) traprain@knox.elcschool.org.uk(link sends e-mail) 

Have a lovely weekend and stay safe.

Sue Cook

Please also remember to follow us at: www.ka-net.org.uk @knoxacademy @knoxacademyHT for the latest information and updates