Return to school March 2021

Young people in S4-S6 will attend school for the equivalent of one whole week split over the 3 week period. Young people in S1-S3 will attend school for 4 afternoons split over the 3 week period. This is in line with the government’s advice:

‘Young people in S4-S6 who are taking national qualifications will be prioritised for face-to-face lessons once these arrangements commence, but some time in school will also be planned for young people in S1-S3.’

All of this information has been communicated with young people and parents/carers via email.

The key points are:

• Young people will begin to return to school from Monday 15 March. Not every pupil will return on this day. There are details here.

• Young people in S1-S3 will attend for 4 afternoons during the 3 week period.

• Young people in S4-S6 will attend school for one week split over half days during the 3 week period.

• Every young person in S1-S6 will experience some face-to-face learning in school each week.

Our model has two distinct forms of learning:

1. Face-to-face classroom learning following young people’s timetable of subjects.

2. Remote learning, working at home online will continue.

Senior phase young people (S4-S6) will attend school in total for the equivalent of one whole week. This will be spread over one week of mornings and one week of afternoons. BGE young people (S1-S3) will attend school for 4 afternoons over the 3 week period.

Remote learning for those times at home will continue as a range of different activities including online tasks, Google Meets and offline tasks.

Our teaching staff will be teaching 100% of their time, working with groups of young people on face-to-face learning as well as supporting online remote learning.

For the period 15 March - 1 April only, we will revert back to one lunchtime for all young people. Young people should look at the revised school day information further down this page.

Senior class times have been blocked into double and sometimes triple periods in the senior school to maximise time with teachers. The length of our school days will remain as they were before lockdown.

All school transport will run at usual times; 1 metre distancing should be observed on our school bus (unless members of the same household). All young people from Gargunnock and others who rely on school transport will be able to stay in school for the whole day they are due in for face-to-face lessons. They will be able to work in a classroom on their remote learning tasks, doing the same work as their peers, supervised by a member of staff. Young people in this situation can come in early or stay on after their face-to-face lesson.

All young people (unless exempt) must wear face coverings at all times including in classes, in corridors and social spaces.

Young people will have to adhere to 2m social distancing at all times. We understand that this will be very difficult for our pupils but this is for everyone’s safety.

All young people should follow regular hand washing procedures; hand sanitizer is available and use wipes provided to clean their workspace.

Young people are encouraged to bring their own snacks and bottled water.

Lateral Flow Test kits are available for all young people in S4-S6.

Visitors to the school, including parents and carers, will be kept to a minimum and only by prior appointment.

Young people will be in small, socially distanced by 2 metres, classes of a maximum of 12 for non-practical subjects and 8 in practical subjects. Teachers will provide high quality learning and teaching sessions and provide online learning to be completed at home.

We will have a staggered end to the school day with young people in S1-S3 leaving 5 minutes before the end of the school day.

Parents and carers can support their child by ensuring that they are aware of when they should be in school and the enhanced mitigations now in place - 2m distancing at all times and the wearing of masks in classrooms and social spaces (unless exempt). We appreciate and value the support we have received from parents and carers with learning from home. Parents and carers have been

• working in partnership with the school to encourage young people to actively participate in their online learning activities

• supporting their child to follow their normal timetable where possible

• supporting their child to engage in any scheduled interactions by their teachers

• communicating any concerns with their child’s learning at home to their pupil support teacher

  • Douglas House – Vicki Wilson – wilsonv06s@glow.sch.uk

  • Randolph House – Douglas Downie – downied06s@glow.sch.uk

  • Stewart House – Susan Robb – robbs06s@glow.sch.uk

• supporting their child to access online learning platforms and learning tasks

• accessing technical help and resources to support their child with online learning. A Parent’s guide to Google Meet can be found here.

Guardian Summaries will continue - please contact the school if you need to be re-invited

As a school, please be assured that our priority is to fully support all families during this time. Our aim is to:

• offer a warmth of welcome when our young people return to us from Monday 15 March

• keep families updated with all changes relating to Covid-19 - digital school bag

• support parental engagement and understanding of what the remote learning model will look like

• manage and support staff planning and delivery of all learning to all classes at all levels and stages

• continue to promote Guardian Summaries as a way of keeping parents and carers updated: https://www.stirlinghigh.co.uk/curriculum/digital/google-classroom

Young people working from home will be recorded as Home Learning - Attendance and young people working in school (including children of Key Workers and Vulnerable young people) will be recorded as Present.

If your child is unwell, please contact the school in the usual way - stirlinghs@glow.sch.uk - and an authorised absence will be recorded.

EMA payments will continue to be paid throughout this period of blended learning.

College lecturers will be in contact with young people directly about the return to face-to-face learning. In school college courses will be offered in line with the information for all subjects.

Forth Valley College Tier 4 advice

Young people in S6 with online college classes, courses delivered online by other Stirling Council schools or wider achievement periods should stay at home and work online at these times.

Lateral Flow Tests (LFT) are available to all senior phase young people who are in for practical assessment work to further reduce the risks in the school environment.

Please see separate previous communications relating to asymptomatic LFT testing.

We will continue to support and communicate with our staff, pupils and school communities as we implement this programme. Some Frequently Asked Questions can be found in the annex to Mr Cassidy's letter and the consent form can be found here.

Please note the change of lunch time for S4-S6 for March 2021 only.

Mondays and Tuesdays

8:55 Period 1

9:45 Period 2

10:35 Interval for S4, S5 and S6

10:50 Period 3

11:40 Period 4

12.30 End of morning session for senior pupils

1:15 Start of afternoon session, Period 5

2:00 Period 6

2:50 Period 7

3.35 End for S1-S3

3:40 End for S4-S6

Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays

8:55 Period 1

9:45 Period 2

10:35 Interval for S4, S5 and S6

10:50 Period 3

11:40 End of morning session for senior pupils

12:25 Start of afternoon session, Period 4

1:10 Period 5

2:00 Period 6

2:45 End for S1-S3

2:50 End for S4-S6

There are a variety of resources available to support our young people. Our school website contains lots of useful information:

Digital Learning in Stirling High School

Stirling High School Study Skills

Mental Health and Wellbeing in Stirling High

e-Sgoil is continuing their Senior Phase Study Support in the evenings and we recommend this for N5 - AH level study. Instructions for sign up are in year group Google classrooms and more information and the sign up sheet can be found here: e-Sgoil info

Young people in the Senior Phase (S4 - 6) will be very familiar with SCHOLAR: SCHOLAR Login

You can contact the school, in the usual way, by phone or email.

https://www.stirlinghigh.co.uk/about-us/contact-us

Stirling Council recently launched their own dedicated Schools Learning website which offers links to support and resources for families and young people and can be accessed using the link below.

https://sites.google.com/stirlingschools.net/speclearn/home

We understand that it will take young people time to travel to and from school, during ‘lunchtime’ whether walking, by car, bus or any means, and this might make them late for online remote learning. This is not something to worry about. The focus should be on arriving on time for face-to-face lessons. Teachers will be understanding of the reasons that some may be late for online sessions.

We expect all young people to attend school in their uniform, as usual, unless they have PE.

Young people who have PE should come to school wearing their PE kit on that half day. PE activities will be 2m socially distanced and take place outdoors.

We will continue to provide our Hub support for children on key workers and vulnerable children as we have throughout the lockdown. These young people will be able to come into school for the whole day and spend some time with their teachers and the rest of the time working on their remote learning, supervised by staff. This is the same level of learning and teaching as the other young people in their year group. If you are a key worker or your child is vulnerable please read the details at the link here to book a place: https://forms.gle/34SkBvxbAL9ieN367

You can find our updated risk assessment here.