COMPASSION DETERMINATION HONESTY SELF-BELIEF RESILIENCE RESPECT SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2018 A message from our Headteacher I hope you find this newsletter not only informative, but also that you are pleased with the continued efforts being made by staff and pupils alike to attain and achieve. The newsletter will reflect the range of opportunities young people enjoy and their success. It will also reflect that the staff continue to offer and deliver a range of opportunities to young people which are second to none. The SQA exam diet for 2018 is complete and once again all of our young people have demonstrated the capacities of curriculum for excellence, in the responsible, confident and effective way they have conducted themselves throughout the exam period. Our SQA invigilators congratulated the pupils for their exemplary behaviour, both the exam candidates and the junior pupils who ensured their conduct was such that the conditions for sitting exams were excellent. For those who sat SQA exams, time will tell if you have demonstrated that you are also successful learners. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our team of invigilators who provide a consistent level of excellence to Castle Douglas High School. When the results are released in August there will be staff in school on Wednesday 8th August, from 10am – 2pm, to answer queries and to help young people make decisions about their learning pathways should they feel their subject choices have to change based on their results. It is not often that a school wins a national competition, especially a competition where the number of entries and the quality of those entries is so high. However, Castle Douglas High School pupils have not only won the national final of the schools public speaking competition run by the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service, but this year’s team have retained the trophy for the second year running. 119 teams featuring 240 pupils from 72 schools across Scotland entered the competition and in the final Tessa Hall (S3) and Jessica Quigley (S2) were declared the winners. My congratulations to Tessa and Jessica I am sure the whole school community is very proud of your achievement. Thank you also to Mr Butler and Mrs Robson who were excellent coaches and mentors to the National winners. On Wednesday 6th June the school sports took place and once again our young people demonstrated excellent behaviour and attitude by competing fiercely on the day and by supporting one another as spectators. The weather on the day was excellent for those of us spectating but I am sure it was a little too hot for the competitors. However, competitors from Solway house rose to the challenge and were rewarded with the accolade of champion house for session 2017-18. Well done Solway house. Thank you to all staff for participating in the sports day event in a range of duties and to our PE staff for organising this successful event. st rd The weekend of the 21 – 23 June saw Castle Douglas High School drama group take over the Fullerton Theatre to present us with three performances of ‘Daisy pulls it off’. If you managed to get along to the theatre to see the show I am sure you will have been impressed not only by the excellence of the performance but also by the dedication of the young people involved to achieve such outstanding entertainment. Thank you to all the young people who gave of their time and grasped this opportunity to showcase their talents. I also extend my thanks to Mr Butler and Mrs Robson for leading this group and to the Fullerton Theatre for giving us the opportunity to make use of their facilities. Throughout the year our young people have taken part in a wide and varied range of opportunities and are to be congratulated for their successes. Successes have been achieved in a wide range of activities such as sailing, netball, football, rugby, on horseback, in music, drama, kayaking, dance, cross country running, basketball, hockey, Duke of Edinburgh Award and in raising a substantial amount of money to support our chosen charities. Schools are about learning and teaching but the achievements of our young people demonstrates that Castle Douglas High School also supports the development of the whole person and our young people must be congratulated for the way they respond and take part in the opportunities available. On 31st May we had a very successful broad general education (S1-S3) awards event. We were fortunate to have a commonwealth gold medal winner and former pupil of Castle Douglas High School, Mr. David McMath to present the awards. David spoke passionately about his time at Castle Douglas and how he set himself on the path to being a gold medal winner. He talked about the importance of setting achievable goals, of looking ahead to what you want to achieve and then breaking down the pathway to that overarching goal into small chunks that you can work towards. David talked about the importance of hard work, determination and the willingness to sacrifice short term pleasure to ensure that you achieve your overall goal. His next target is an Olympic gold medal and we wish him well on his pursuit of this goal and thank him for his contribution to our awards event. On the 26th of June, our Senior Awards Ceremony took place and once again congratulations to all winners. Our guest speaker was Sam Gallagher who is estate manager for Dumfries and Galloway branch of the National Trust. After telling us a bit about himself he then went onto talk about a future partnership between the Threave Estate and Castle Douglas High School which all involved are very excited about. I would also like to pay tribute to Mr. John King who has very successfully chaired our parent council over the last four sessions. Mr. King has been a great supporter of the school and has played an important part in helping the school through a few difficult years. I wish Mr. King well as he takes his leave from the position of chairperson and hope that he can look back on his time as chair of the parent council with fond memories. I am sure Mr. King will continue to support the school and that he would agree with me that it would be really good to see many more parents, with as many different skills and knowledge as possible, willing to be involved in the parent council helping to steer this school forward over the coming sessions. We are now a few weeks into our new school timetable and it is going well. Classes now start at 9:00am and there is a noticeable reduction in the number of pupils who are coming late to school. Please keep this standard up when the new sessions starts in August. The school has started a data gathering process to help us to start a consultation about school uniform and this will continue into the new session. However, at the moment there have been no changes made to the school policy on uniform and we ask for your support to ensure that your child is leaving home in the morning dressed appropriately for school. Finally I would like to extend my personal thanks to all staff and parents of Castle Douglas High School who have made me feel very welcome and have made it easier for me to step into the role of Head Teacher. I am looking forward to continuing to work with you and your young people aiming to achieve the vision that we have clearly stated in our vision and values statement that will result in all of the young people achieving the highest goals. I hope that you enjoy your summer and as always, if I can be of help in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me. James Smith Information Uniform Consultation We are currently undergoing a Uniform Consultation and have at this point received over 300 returns from staff, parents and pupils. The consultation is still ongoing and will not be completed until into the new session so the expectation on return will still be white shirt / polo shirt, black trousers / skirt, black shoes or trainers and a tie. Although the consultation is still ongoing one change that we are happy to enforce now is the introduction of black dress shorts. Shorts that would be worn in PE are not acceptable. We ask for your support in ensuring that pupils attend school wearing uniform. Nails Some members of staff have highlighted that the length of some pupils acrylic nails are causing issues within the learning environment of school. Nails have been so long in some instances that pupils have struggled to hold pencils and there are Health and Safety concerns in some practical areas. We ask for your support in this matter to ensure that nails are kept to a safe and reasonable length. Tesco Bags of Help Scheme The school has been fortunate enough to be included in the Tesco Bags of Help scheme during July and August to support Breakfast Club. We would be grateful if you could help us during the school holidays by asking for a token when you are buying any items and placing it in our box. Key Dates Friday 29 th June – School closes for the Summer holidays Tuesday 7th August – SQA results are issued. SLT will be in school between 10am and 2pm. Tuesday 21st August – Pupils return to school S1-S3 BGE Awards Ceremony The S1-S3 BGE awards were held on Thursday the 31st of May.