Kinlochbervie High School

Newsletter 3 - December 2009

Vision Statement

Kinlochbervie High School is an inclusive community.  Excellence in education, the welfare, security and happiness of all pupils and staff are our priorities.

Kinlochbervie High School endeavours to take the needs of the individual into account.  We aim to provide pupils and staff with the skills, experiences and qualifications they need to give them choices in their progression through life.

Children In Need

£147 was raised for Children in Need recently when we had a “Kinlochbervie’s Got Talent” show.  Some performances (from one or two of the staff) may have contradicted the title but every pupil involved was a star and it was all very entertaining!

School Transport

There have been several breakdowns recently.  Although the buses are deemed to be safe for pupils, they are not mechanically reliable.  Action is being taken by the Local Transport Officer and Stagecoach is being pressed to provide newer buses – we hope to see an improvement in the New Year.

Getting pupils to wear seatbelts on the school buses is always problematic.  We can insist that seatbelts are worn on school trips – but on the buses, once they are on their way …  Please try to impress on your child they must wear a seatbelt on the Durness and Scourie buses for their own safety and the safety of others.

HMIe

The inspectors visited us recently and their draft report has been discussed within the school and with HMI.  There are many positive aspects of the report but there are more negative comments than expected by the school or indeed by the authority.  This could be for example, because HMI were unable to take fully into account the tiny size of our school.  However, we do recognise there are improvements that can be made and we have already started work to address these.  The report will now be finalised and we will all get copies, probably in late January or early February.

Panto

Once again pupils (and staff and members of the community) put together an astonishingly good Panto.  Over 40% of pupils on the school roll were directly involved – an incredibly high proportion.  Well done to all for the huge effort such a production involves.

Last Day of Term

Wednesday 23 December is the last day of this term.  The church service will be at 12 noon and all parents, family and friends are invited to join us.  In previous years there have been some weather related problems that meant the school closed and school transport was arranged for immediately after the service.  Further information will follow if necessary.

Absences

The latest statistics show our absences as being 5.4%.  This compares very favourably with the national average of 8.8%.  Information from the Scottish government is available on-line at

Parent Council

The minutes of the full last meeting of the council are attached.  There was a closed and confidential meeting on 15 December where, at the request of HMIE, council members were asked to comment in confidence, on the generalities of the draft report on the school as a result of the recent inspection (despite only being given an oral summary of the report by the chairperson). 

Dates

It was very pleasing to see there was a very low absence rate around the October break in 2009.  Parents should continue to make every effort to ensure holidays are not taken during term time.

Parents Evenings

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