January 2012
A Happy New Year to everyone, and welcome to our rejuvenated website.
We have now successfully returned the website to “in-house” editorial management and over the course of the next few weeks will bring the website up to date in terms of the information which it provides and set up procedures to allow this to be done on an ongoing basis.
After getting to this position, we will then look at how we develop and improve the website and the facilities it provides.
As a part of our regular updates, I will use the website to provide news, information and advice in relation to life of the school, the work that we are doing to provide a service for you and your families and improvements that we are planning in relation this. This will happen on a monthly basis.
The following is the first of these updates.
- Christmas Dances
I am delighted to say that the Christmas Dances at the Academy were an overwhelming success this year, with the commitment shown by the student body absolutely first class.
In particular, the manner in which the young people attending the Senior Dance presented and conducted themselves was exemplary.
I have already expressed my thanks to the students for the efforts made here and I would also like to thank the parents and carers for their “behind the scenes” support of the events too. I am absolutely sure that this unseen aspect of the organisation and running of the events was fundamental to their success.
We have already had a debrief from staff, looking towards next year’s events and how we can improve them.
I would welcome the views of the wider school community, in relation to this session’s events and potential improvements for next session. Website & Fundraising
As mentioned previously, we have finally overcome the technical challenges of returning management of the website to an “in-house” facility.
This will make regular and meaningful communication with our community much easier.
We look forward to communicating regularly with parents/carers via the website and to using the facility to engage the wider school community in improving outcomes for young people.
As you should already know, we are using a website called “Easyfundraiser”, as a means of generating a regular (if currently small) income to the school fund.
I would like to encourage you to use this facility, which raises funds for the school, at no cost to yourselves.
As well as supporting the many extra-curricular activities which go on, I would like the school fund to get to the stage where it can meaningfully enhance the life of the school and in particular subsidise involvement in activities which require an additional cost.
The principle behind the use of the school fund is something which I would envisage being monitored by the various representative groups within our school community. E.g. Student Council and Parent Council.
Consultation on Aims, Values, Attitudes & Behaviours
Since arriving at the Academy just over two years ago, I have not taken time with staff, or the wider school community to step back and discuss what we as a school see as our core aims and values, and consider if and how these impact on our attitudes and behaviours.
To this end, I have initiated a consultation process which will consider these, agreeing what these are/should be and refocusing on how these should impact on our day-to-day work and on the outcomes for young people.
The first stage of this process takes place on Thursday 19 th January, when a Whole School Development slot has been dedicated to a workshop session to develop the staff view.
I would then intend to consult with the parent and student body using the same workshop model.
New detention Process
As of the week beginning 9 th January, a new detention system was instituted to support improvements in attendance and punctuality.
The system has three tiers:
- House Detention which runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, and is run by SMT and Pastoral staff
- Central Detention which runs on Fridays after school and is run by SMT
- Parental interview and follow up detention
A young person is escalated through the tiers, if they do not cooperate with the requirements of the system.
The parental interview closes the loop, so that the students see that there is no “get out” clause.
A letter explaining the system was sent to parents/carers the week prior to the initiation of the system, to ensure that that they are well informed and supportive of the system and Assemblies were held on Friday 6 th January to inform the student body.
We will be monitoring attendance and punctuality in order to evaluate the impact of the system.
This is part of a programmed plan to develop more effective integrated working within school and with our external support services, this being a key aspect of the Pastoral Faculty Improvement plan for Session 2011-2012 and which includes:
- Developing a new attendance policy
- Further development of close working relationships with partner agencies
- Development of a more streamlined School Support Forum
- Feb/May staff training will also see partner agencies working with staff in the school
- Closer work with Better Behaviour Better Learning Group and Pastoral staff and utilising link with subject departments in supporting young people.
- Participation
The participation sub-group of the Learning & Teaching group are developing a draft participation strategy covering the contribution which pupils, parents and the wider community can make to improving the life and work of the school.
The aim is to publicise the strategy once finalised and develop the parental side of things with the support of the Parent Council. We will be hoping for parents to offer volunteer support, in terms of skills, experience or abilities which could support the teaching & learning in the school.
We would hope to have some information evenings/open evenings to discuss this with parents along with promoting their responsibilities to assist their own children with their education as will be outlined in the strategy.
In addition to this Mr Anderson is carrying out a comparative study with the Borders General Hospital looking at how stakeholders are involved in improvement in the NHS.
Questionnaires have been e-mailed to all the e-mail addresses we have for parents within Seemis and Mr Anderson intends to carry out some interviews with parents in the near future.
Once results have been collated and analysed, recommendations will be put forward in relation to how we develop parental involvement in the improvement agenda of the school.
- Timetable and Option Choice Processes
Last term Mr Angus attended all subject department meetings to discuss plans for our S1 to S3 and senior phase curricula.
Mrs. Mitchell also attended these meetings to help in discussing literacy and departmental responsibilities in relation to this. At these meetings Mr Angus issued a pack of materials for departments to work on over the coming months. The materials covered a number of areas including Course Content, Assessment & Reporting, Literacy, Numeracy and Health & Wellbeing.
Completed materials are due to be returned by the end of January.
Mr Angus and Mr McKay have also now met with all Faculty Heads and agreed period/course allocation for next session.
This allowed the production of a draft course choice sheet for S2 pupils and during the holiday period Mr Angus was able to draw up a timetable for S3 to S6 based on the ‘assumed’ figures.
Departments are currently working on producing course descriptors for their new S3 ‘core’ and ‘specialism’ courses which will be collated into a booklet for pupils and parents.
Within the framework of the 8 Curriculum areas, it has been possible to develop a good amount of choice and this is supplemented by the two columns allocated to “specialisms”.
During the course of the Winter term, we are engaging with local employers to gain their input into our curriculum content and this will lead to the Galashiels Academy Third Year Baccalaureate with associated specialisms and, hopefully, local employer endorsement of this as a “qualification” for the young people of Galashiels Academy.
- New Appointment
I am delighted to say Lewis Bertram was appointed as a teacher of Physical education at the Academy. I am confident that Lewis will prove to be an excellent servant of the young people of Galashiels Academy in the years to come.
I hope that you’ve found the update informative and useful.
I will issue another update via the website around the end of February.
Kenny McKay
Head Teacher
Galashiels Academy
January 2012
