HIGH SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

April 2019

Welcome back We hope you all had a great Easter Break and we welcome all our pupils and staff back for the start of the new term.

Staffing Mr Mounfield left us at the end of last term to take up a new post in Golspie High School. We wish him well in his new post. Until the new timetable begins his classes will be taken by other staff with Mr Keitany and Mr Smart having an overview of work being done. Mrs O’Kane leaves us in May to return to New Zealand. It was a brief stay but we wish her well for her return to her homeland. I am currently in negotiations with Council about our staffing for next session but in the meantime there will be no modern languages on the timetable. You may have seen coverage in the press about Support Staff and the levels of cover we are likely to have next year. Highland Council have no plans to make any staff redundant and until I have a meeting with Additional Support Needs management I will not know what our allocation of PSA’s and Support for Learning Teachers will be for next year. As soon as I know I will inform staff and parents.

SQA Exams & Study Leave Our first exam is on Friday 26th April. We wish all our pupils the best of luck and we hope they achieve the results they want. The arrangements for Study Leave are as follows: Pupils that are leaving school after their exams are entitled to full study leave although they may be asked to come in by a Teacher to finish course work. Their official leaving date will be May 31st. All other pupils are entitled to two days before an exam and the day of the exam as study leave (and are free to go home after the exam), please note that the two days include a Saturday and Sunday so pupils should not take a Thursday/Friday off if their exam is on a Monday. Pupils are welcome to come in to school and study on the two days prior to an exam, if that is preferred, but they should sign in and out on those days and be in class with the Teacher of the subject they are studying for. At all other times pupils are expected to be in school following their timetable, exam study can be done during these times.

Course Choices and New Timetable The new timetable will begin on w/b 3rd June. In spite of our staffing restrictions all pupils have been given their first choice of subjects.

Attendance We will shortly produce a print out of attendance for the last term to allow comparisons to be made with the similar exercise we did in December. Hopefully we will see significant improvements in some pupil’s attendance and I would ask all parents and carers to encourage your sons/daughters to be in school whenever possible.

Highland Indoor Rowing Event S1 pupil Blythe Arcari-Newton convincingly won the 2 minute long S1 Girls race bringing the first trophy and gold medal. S2 pupils Emma Morrison and Eilidh Amos worked extremely hard in the S2 Girls race but unfortunately finished just outside of the medals. In the S3 Boys race Szymon Klodzinski led the 4 minute race from the start and held his lead to win his gold medal and the 2nd trophy for the group. His classmate James Forsyth was in 3rd place towards the end of the race but pushed hard to grab 2nd and his own silver medal. In the S1-3 Team Relay the pupils had to row 1000m in the quickest time. The KLB team consisted of Blythe, Symon and James and S2 pupil Eilidh Amos. As a group they quickly established a lead through James which Eilidh then maintained and built on. Blythe took over at around 450/500m and increased their lead before passing onto Symon for the final 300m. Szymon pushed himself to his limits and despite his foot slipping out of the base he kept the lead and they won the race in 3minutes 37.7, 2 seconds ahead of 2nd place. 6 pupils, 3 trophies and 7 medals in total. Well done to all who took part.

School Uniform Just a reminder that our school uniform consists of our burgundy or navy sweatshirt, plain white or black t-shirt or polo and black trousers or skirt. Leggings or trackie bottoms are not acceptable to wear to school. Football tops or patterned t-shirts can be worn for PE only.

PE Class Attendance For pupils who cannot do PE for a medical/injury reason on a particular day, a note must be brought in and handed to Mrs Paterson at the start of class, or parents can phone/email the office who will pass the message on. This must happen each time unless it is known it will be a long-term issue and a note/email/call stating the expected time out of PE can be given. Kit can be brought in on a Monday and taken home on a Friday so pupils have it ready for their lessons.

Match our Miles As an ASG we are doing Match Our Miles the week beginning 13 May http://theadventuresyndicate.com/match-our-miles We will be logging miles in PE lessons, in school each day, by opening the gym at lunchtimes and logging night time spin hours. Pupils are encouraged to walk/cycle to school that week if possible and tell their teachers about what activity they have done so it can all be logged. More info will go out in a separate letter nearer the time. A live tacking link will be posted on our school Facebook page so pupils and parents can see the daily progress of the ASG alongside the 2 women taking part in the challenge. We may possibly have a visit from one of the leaders of this on 10 May but it is still to be confirmed.

Climbing Wall Five of our pupils have taken the opportunity to access the climbing wall facility in Ullapool. This will happen on Wednesday 1st, 8th and 15th May. They will be instructed by our ASC, Murdoch Jamieson. There may be an opportunity later in the year for any other interested pupils to do the same.

Sutherland Community Partnership Our pupil leadership group met with members of the above in February to discuss the local plan for Kinlochbervie. All those who attended the meeting were very impressed by the well thought out contribution from our pupils.

Valentines Dance Well done to our Head Pupil Team for arranging a really great event. It was so good to see lots of our pupils coming together in such a positive way.

RESPECT

As part of our positive behaviour policy Mrs MacDonald worked with our pupils and staff to put together an acronym for the High School to adopt in order to promote good behaviour and positivity. After some workshops, discussion and voting, at the end of last term we launched our RESPECT Campaign:

Respect Everyone Equality Support Positivity Encouragement Choice Treat Everyone Fairly

We have now got colourful posters designed by Miss Lockhart displayed around the school and in all classrooms to enforce and encourage the message.

Music Trip In January Miss Lockhart took six S1-6 pupils on a week-long Music Trip to Glasgow. The trip included going to see performances at the Celtic Connections festival, including genres from Scottish traditional music to Film Scores. The group also took part in other activities throughout the week, the highlight was a visit to Miss Lockhart’s old school - Linlithgow Academy, and where the group joined in with their Orchestra and made some new friends. Evenings were spent rehearsing at their accommodation, Carronvale House. It was a very successful and enjoyable trip for all involved.

Kenyan Visit On the last week of term we were delighted to welcome four teachers from our Connecting Classrooms Partnership Schools in Kenya. Their visit was funded by the British Council following the visit our teachers had to Kenya in February 2018. Two teachers from Nguzu River Primary school spent time in Durness, Scourie and KLB primaries while two teachers from Sachangwan Secondary School were based in the High School. As well as observing lessons and learning about the Scottish education system, Mr Joseph and Mme Emah taught all S1-3 pupils about Kenya in Geography and Kiswahili in Modern Languages. After school, there were numerous social evenings for our guests to enjoy and experience Highland hospitality at its best – games night in Durness, Scottish country dancing in KLB (with some Kenyan moves thrown in too!) and a local food feast in Scourie. The trip was rounded off with a visit to a sunny Dunrobin Castle on Friday before flying back with a fantastic amount of donated clothes and footwear for pupils in their school and communities. Thank you so much to all those who welcomed our guests and supported their visit through cooking, attending events and donating clothing. It really was an incredible experience for all involved and stay tuned for further plans – the partnership continues!

Fundraising We had a slightly lower turn out at our Comic Relief event this year as some of our pupils took the opportunity to take part in the Climate Change Pupil strike. They did well protesting around the village in the strong wind and bitter cold. For those that were still in school we did some House Challenges from eating lemons to crème egg and spoon races. Good fun was had by all and a total of £69.43 was raised for Comic Relief. The Parent Council will once again be organising the food for the Thursday evening of the Challenge on Thursday 16th May. A letter and spreadsheet was sent out via email before the Easter Break, please send your replies to Paula as soon as is possible. All help will be very gratefully received by the Parent Council as this is always a very successful fund raiser.

Sailing/Rowing Mr Cunningham and Keith Blyth will be running after school sailing or rowing sessions (will depend on the weather as what the activity is) on a Friday afternoon. Consent forms are available from Mr Cunningham.

Art Projects Sandblasting drawings: pupils created line drawings of flora and fauna whilst out on a field trip from Droman to Oldshoremore. The John Muir Trust has selected one of these to have etched permanently into a rock up at Sandwood Bay area….whose will it be??

Mural Masterpiece: S1 & 2 will be taking on the challenge to create a mural in the newly refurbished Kinlochbervie Village Hall. They will be working together to follow a specification for the design which will reflect the local area.

Any donations of partially full tubs of interior emulsion paint would be greatly appreciated for this project. All colours welcome. Please drop tubs off either behind the school at the art room door (nearest the astro turf), or at reception. A good way to clear out your shed!

Youth Clubs Youth club will be starting in Durness the week after the Cape Wrath Challenge on Friday 7-9pm for youths aged 8-17. Kinlochbervie Youth club is on a Thursday 4-6pm.

Highlife Highland summer activities list, trips are as follows: 17th July Paintballing in Tore, 24 July Trip to Landmark and 13 August A day out at Clachtoll making sand sculptures. Booking will be essential and can be done via the Highlife highland schools out link once it is live. In the meantime please contact Cara Cameron for more information.

Holiday & Inset Day Monday 6th May – Holiday Monday 3rd June – Inset Day

Please see the list of dates attached for all other events / activities.

After School Opportunities

Mon: Medicine Ball Workout 5.15pm; Kettle Bell Class in Scourie 6pm

Tues: English Supported Study (30th Apr & 7th May only) 4 – 5pm

Weds: Spin Bike Class 6pm

Thurs: Youth Club 4pm – 6pm in the Ceilidh House; Spin Bike Classes 6pm

As always should you have any queries or concerns please contact me at the school.

Graeme Smart

Head Teacher