It’s been a week of watching, listening and learning for me. I started by visiting the S1 pupils in the Communication and Literacy Faculty. I visited a couple of French classes and thanks to a memory game in one I now know my “feutre” from my “stylo” and my “bic”. Thanks to my table who made me feel welcome and Mollie in particular for marking my listening test. I then made my way to some English classes where I heard pupils talk about what was important to them (I shall be going back to hear the rest of Mr Halliday’s talk on Karate) and I got to read a chapter of “The Recruit” with Mr McGeehan’s class – I can thoroughly recommend it, and it was great to hear the pupils reading out loud to the rest of the class.
On Tuesday I had the privilege of interviewing candidates from around the Authority for the post of Acting Depute Head Teacher. It is always interesting to hear other people’s views on education and to get new ideas on how to do things. The preferred candidate is Mr Robert Flood, who is Principal Teacher (Curriculum) of Social Subjects already at the school, and he will take up the post as soon as all the relevant checks have been completed. He will be responsible for Lammerlaw House.
I am now in the throes of organising a consultation on Dress Code. I feel that it has got away from us a bit over the last session with pupils stretching their interpretation of the rules. At the moment shoes are a bit of an issue and youngsters are arriving with footwear of all shades, hues and designs. I know that many parents and carers will have bought shoes to last for a while and that I cannot ask you to go out and buy new ones, but pupils should be wearing all-black shoes with no designs or colours on them. If this is going to be an issue, can you please write to the school so that your child does not constantly receive demerits. After Christmas, I suspect that we will be insisting on all-black footwear, so please keep this in mind when out shopping.
The S6 have been doing well this week. They looked very impressive in their yeargroup photo. They are organising themselves well and are getting updates and reminders through the Twitter Feed (@KnoxAcademyS6). Young Enterprise groups are hard at work trying to raise funds to start their businesses and the pupils in general are starting to think about life after S6 with University Open Days, Work Experience and Careers’ interviews. Time passes very quickly, so I urge them all to take what opportunities come their way and make sure that they are organised and focused on their work in school.
