As we enter the final full week next week in School it has been busy with developments and updates at School, Edinburgh and National level.
Some key points to help keep you informed;
Dates – Letter from Council
School will continue until 12 midday on Tuesday 22nd December. Attached (above) is a letter from Cllr Perry who is the Education Convenor for Edinburgh Council outlining this decision. Our priority across our community of Leith will be to continue to be proactive in keeping people safe from infection.
As mentioned last week any isolations from this point onward overlap Christmas Day and we are all working towards keeping those situations to a minimum. Thank you for your support with this.
Pupil lists
In order to avoid contacting Head Teachers and Senior Teams over the Christmas Eve, Day, Boxing Day period, the council has asked pupils in S1-S6 to ‘make a note’ of the children they sit within 2m of in their classes.
This will begin next Wednesday and will continue for Wed / Thu / Fri / Mon / Tue until our last day.
We will issue instructions to pupils over next week, any support you can give at home will help with their organisational skills, suggestions below;
- S4-6 Pupils should use their ‘Notes’ app on their iPad to note date, period, list of names within 2m – for every class.
- S1-3 Pupils should use a ‘Notes’ facility on their device if they have one. If not they can use a school folder / notebook / jotter – it will be easier if it is kept in the one place.
Pupils / Families should keep these notes safe as a reference point over the holiday period in the unlikely event that Health Protection Scotland have to establish who a pupil (with a positive result) was close to for any given days over the last week in School.
As mentioned we will talk the pupils through this as it is a first for us all, we hope it is useful for you to know the steps being taken.
SQA
John Swinney, Deputy First Minister has announced last week that the Higher and Advanced Higher exams will no longer take place and instead all pupils will follow a similar plan to that of National 5. We are now working alongside SQA and Edinburgh Council to plan with pupils the next steps.
Some things have not changed for our young adults;
- Being in lessons is key, every hour matters
- Take on board feedback and ask questions
- Attend some of our wide ranging support sessions at lunch / after school
- Respect the course and give it the attitude / work rate it requires
Assessment Window
This is now concluded and we will continue plans for assessment window 2 in the new year. Thank you to Ms Watson and all staff involved, also to the pupils for their maturity and manner in how they handled ‘a first’ for us across schools.
We are now underway with marking and feeding back to plan for next steps. If you have questions please email us at admin@leith.edin.sch.uk and we can direct you to the best person to help.
Exemption Lanyards
As we know, pupils are asked to wear a face covering when out and about in school (S4-6 in classes also) to help protect everyone in school and themselves. For various reasons some people are unable to wear face coverings and to help identify this we have lanyards available so everyone is aware there is a genuine reason for this.
If you are in the medically exempt group, please go to Mr Hanlon in the medical room who will make up an exemption pass for you.
Our Christmas Card 2020
See below and attached our 2020 card, Merry Christmas to all!
Thank you and well done to Anna in S1, the creator, and to all colleagues who helped pull the graphic version together.
Next week is an important and big week for us as we press on through 2020, a school year like no other.
Have a good weekend.
