HEAD TEACHER'S UPDATE 10 NOVEMBER 2023

Tsung Tsin Christian Academy – Hong Kong

On Monday 27 November we will look forward to hosting the Principal, and Staff Development Officer, from our link school in Hong Kong. They will be observing some classes on their visit as well as speaking to the Senior Leadership Team, Pupil Leadership and Pupil Learning Team and visiting Meadowpark. Over the rest of the week they will be engaging in different lectures/meetings in Edinburgh and then all link schools will come together on Thursday and Friday to share practice.

Learning Support Department 

Pupils in receipt of alternative arrangements for their Prelim exams will receive a letter at the end of next week detailing the supports that will be put in place.  Please check carefully and sign and return the attached slip to Mrs Shorthouse or Mrs Wright. Thank you. 

Young Writer’s Unsolved Competition

A number of our young people entered the Young Writer’s 100 word Unsolved competition. We are pleased to announce that some of the entries were successful and as a result, pupils have had their work published in the collection Tales of Treachery.  Pupils can see their work in print as we have a copy of the book in the English department. Congratulations to all involved!

Book Swap

Do you have unwanted books at home? If the answer is yes, then we want them! To coincide with Book Week Scotland the English Department have organised a book swap on Wednesday 15th November at lunchtime in the Assembly Hall. Pupils should bring any books they no longer want to their English teacher and can exchange for a new book. Parents/Carers can hand books in to the school office. We would appreciate your support in making the first Knox Academy Book Swap a success

Youth and Philanthropy Initiative - UPDATE

The final of our YPI, which involved teams from S5, took place on Wednesday. After brilliant presentations by all of the following groups: Can Do Scotland; Homestart; Simpson’s Special Care Babies and Love Oliver and after much deliberation by the panel of judges, the winning team was Love Oliver. They were awarded £3000 for their charity – which will be put to very good use. We welcomed George McGuire and Therese Laing as part of our judging panel and they were extremely impressed by the passion and presentation skills of all of our groups (as we all were but nice to hear this from visitors to our school). We hope that following the YPI process many of our S5 pupils will continue to engage and support the charities they engaged with.

Veterans’ Coffee Morning

We welcomed our local Veterans on Tuesday and our senior pupils did an absolutely amazing job entertaining them with coffer/tea and cakes. We were all really interested in the stories the recounted of their times in the war and serving in West Germany and Ireland. We also heard about the life and role of a Wren from one of the ladies attending. This Sunday our Pupil Leadership Team will represent the school at the Remembrance Service at St Mary’s and lay a wreath on behalf of our school and our community. We will also have a whole school assembly today to mark Remembrance Day and hold a 2 minutes silence at 11am. 

Lil ReUse Festival

The Lil ReUse Festival will be taking place at Knox Academy on Saturday 18th November from 10am-2pm. In the week leading up to this, a donation lorry will be stationed in the front Knox Academy car park to collect donations. See Lil's socials for exact times (). 

Donation items accepted include: children’s clothes and footwear (no drawstrings that go all the way around necks or tummies); baby stuff; adult clothes & footwear; toys (Please check the CE labels still attached); bikes; gardening equipment/ produce/seeds/plants; tools (no electrical , sorry); homewares and kitchen equipment; soft furnishings (curtains & cushions, throws etc., as long as fire labels still on any cushions with fillings); sports kit; storage jars, food caddies.

Items NOT accepted: electrical items; large furniture; earrings; car seats.  

Anyone interested in volunteering with setting up, running, and clearing the festival should contact Lil by email at hello.lilthings@gmail.com.

Absence Reporting

Parents/carers are reminded that absences should be reported as early as possible, either via the ParentPortal, or through the attendance mailbox attendance@knox.elcschool.org.uk. Phone lines can be extremely busy in the morning, and this ensures that the school is aware of absences and attendance can be updated accordingly. 

School uniform

As the colder months arrive school uniform wearing often slips. We would ask that pupils continue to wear our school uniform and wear a cosy jumper/cardigan or non-hooded fleece over their shirt/ties or polo shirts to keep warm (the school is very well heated).  If your young person has lost their tie these can be purchased on SchoolPay(link is external) and collected from the school office.  We believe that wearing a school uniform promotes a sense of community and also equity. In a time where the cost of living is very high, it stops parents/carers feeling that they have to buy the latest fashions for their young people to wear to school and is clothing that is functional (even though perhaps not fashionable to pupils). It also makes their decision of what to wear every morning an easy one. We also have a fabulous uniform bank of new and preloved clothing should any pupils or parents/carers need any assistance with uniform – just ask their Pupil Support Leader to access any of this. Our aim is to make school as affordable as possible for our families

Clothing Grants and Free School Meals

The thresholds changed in April for Free School Meals and Clothing Grants.  Paper application forms are available from our school office for those parents/carers who are unable to complete online ones and the school office can then assist in emailing these for you freeschoolmeals@eastlothian.gov.uk

 

Study Support

An updated Supported Study Timetable has been published on the website and covers all faculties.

Success Stories

Duke of Edinburgh

We have five of our senior pupils out doing their Silver DofE expedition assessment this weekend. Good luck to them all and hope the weather is kind to you.

Still on DofE, it was brilliant to receive our social value certificate from the awarding body to say that between April 2022 and March 2023 our DofE participants volunteered for 650 hours. Wow! Well done to all of them for giving service back to our community.

Support

Please can parents/carers make an appointment if they wish to speak to a member of Pupil Support or the Senior Leadership Team.  Recently we have had an increasing number of parents/carers turning up, without an appointment, wishing to be seen and although we want to see you, we have been unable to do so as we have been teaching or in pre-arranged meetings. By making an appointment with us via the office, or email, we can ensure a time and date where we can meet to support you and your young person. When arriving at the school please sign in with our office team and wait in the foyer until the member of staff collects you. This is an important aspects of our safety procedures at the school – which also applies before/after school and break and lunchtimes. Thank you.

Please also do not hesitate to contact our Pupil Support Team by emailing your young person’s House Team if you would like to discuss any support for your young person or to arrange an appointment to come in to speak to someone. The House team should be the first port of call for anything you wish to discuss.

 

Dates for your diary:

23 November – S3 Parents’ Evening – 4.30-6.30pm (Knox Academy)

5 December – Parent Council – 6.30-8pm (School library – all welcome)

7 December – S1-S3 Christmas Dance

13 December – S4-S6 Christmas Dance

21 December – Christmas Concert – 7pm

 

Our school calendar is updated regularly and should be used to access all information throughout the year and allows you to plan ahead too.

 

Sue Cook

Parent Council

The Parent Council has requested a footer on my HT’s update that remains there year round and which offers quick links to remote learning resources, course choices, supported study and careers news. Clicking on these headings takes you straight to these pages.

Please also look at our website for lots of other information. Please also follow us on Twitter for up-to-date news on a day to day basis.

Please also remember to follow us at: www.ka-net.org.uk 84CEAEA2   for the latest information and updates.