School update for Parents/Guardians
Dear Parent/Carer
We are all moving quickly towards Easter and then exam time here and I wanted to update you on a number of things that are happening in the school.
Staffing
From Monday 7th March , we are making some small changes to the year group responsibilities for Depute Heads. For the rest of this academic year, Mr Hodgman and myself will share year group responsibility for S3 and Mrs Kerr will take on S6. We have updated our website with all the contact details to reflect this. Pastoral Care responsibilities remain the same and can also be found on the website.
Covid mitigations
You will know that masks are now no longer compulsory in classrooms although they must still be worn in other areas of the school such as corridors and the street area. We are all delighted that year group assemblies are back.
We anticipate at present that all mitigations will be lifted from 21st March. We will be reviewing the one-way system in school and the split break times and lunches at this time also.
Exam support
Through the school
Over 70 Senior pupils enjoyed our study camp in Stirling this weekend where a number of staff gave up their weekend to help with revision, consolidating skills and study habits.
A reminder that supported study is running every week in every subject across the school and Easter School will also be in operation over the coming break. Please encourage your young person to take advantage of all opportunities to improve their learning.
As a result of moving to Scenario 2, The SQA are in the process of publishing Exam support in each subject. We will be sharing the detail with all seniors as it emerges but the headline changes can be found here https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/100366.html
Online
West OS is also a great source of support, organised by a group of local authorities including Glasgow, they offer real time, interactive study support webinars to provide additional support to learners within the Senior Phase, focusing on key learning points from each subject. They can be found here - https://www.westpartnership.co.uk/west-os/live/
Invigilation
Our invigilation team are looking for new members to support the supervision of exams this summer. If you have some time to spare during the day in May and June – or know someone who does - please email Julie Thompson, our school support officer at jthompson@smithycroft-sec.glasgow.sch.uk if you are interested and would like to know more.
Schools Standards
We are rightly proud of our aspiration to have the highest standards across the school. This encompasses all aspects of school life – attendance, timekeeping, behaviour in school and in the local community and effort in class.
Over the coming weeks we will be strengthening our focus on this to ensure that the basic building blocks of success are in place. Thank you for your support with this.
We would also appreciate your continued support in ensuring that all young people are fully organised for coming to learn every day - Full uniform, PE Kit, a charged Ipad.
Attendance
This month sees the launch of our Smithycroft Attendance strategy – this involves a real push on getting all pupils into school all day, every day and on time. As part of this strategy there will be assemblies, PSE input and attendance prize draws. Please support us in helping to improve attendance and as always if there are reasons that are making attendance difficult please contact pastoral care.
Parents Evenings
Many of you will be now have had a ‘virtual’ Parents evening with us. Thank you for your involvement and feedback on the process. S1 parents evening is our final one of the year on 19th May. We anticipate we will be able to welcome you all to the building at this point.
Thanks for all you do to support us in helping your young person. Just get in touch if you’d like to discuss anything with us.
Yours faithfully
Patrick Oberg
Headteacher