Dear families,

I hope you all enjoyed a pleasant holiday weekend and, most importantly, that you continue to stay safe and well at this time. I want to ensure we keep you up-to-date with all supports/key information and so I have provided relevant updates under key headers below:

Encouraging Engagement for All

Thanks to all parents/carers for your on-going support in helping young people to engage as best they can at home in our current ‘virtual’/online world. One piece of feedback we have had from parents is that there are many codes for young people to access work online and that it might be helpful to have a reference point that summarises this for families. We have worked hard, therefore, on pulling all of this together and now have a summary directory for all year groups that is available from the ‘Information’ section in this App and from our website via the following link:

https://www.wallacehigh.org.uk/images/Google_Codea_2020-21.pdf

This provides all key class codes for new year groups S2 -S6 (old S1-5). If your child has misplaced codes or you simply want to look into what work is available on your child’s different Google Classrooms then these codes will allow you to support them. We hope that you find this helpful.

A reminder that we also have direct email links to all Pupil Support Leaders. These are available via links in the Covid-19 Support for Families document that appears first in the ‘Information’ section of this app and also on the website via the following link:

https://www.wallacehigh.org.uk/images/Parental_Support_Summary_for_Families_May-June_2020.pdf

If you need any specific support, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

We know that the longer this current period goes on; the greater the potential anxiety for pupils and parents/carers. We are very keen to support engagement to ensure learning and health and wellbeing are prioritised for all pupils. The above should support with this and we are also establishing compulsory ‘registration’ check-ins with Pupil Support Leaders for their respective year groups in the coming couple of weeks.

This will begin on Monday 18th May. We will publish further instructions later in the week but, basically, on Monday 18th May by 11am we would like all pupils to ‘register’ via the following year group links on Google Classroom:

New S2 (Mr Campbell) - i2sk47c
New S3 (Miss Dunsmore) - fjoff3s
New S4 (Mrs Chumley) - n7xmmuu
New S5 (Mr Kerr) - d2nnmvk
New S6 (Ms Curwen – Miss Christie will take over on 8th June) - cvxvjdb

Pupils will register and complete a short questionnaire about engagement and any required supports that we can use to further formulate next steps to support them in the weeks ahead. We will publish further reminders in the week ahead but we would very much appreciate your support in ensuring that all pupils complete this exercise on Monday 18th.

Departing S6 (Class of 2020)

We promised we would provide some updates for our Class of 2020 this week. Firstly, as I think we had all concluded, it is with genuine sadness that I can confirm that the Prom will be cancelled for this session. It is now very clear that it will be some time before events of this size will be able to take place in any hospitality setting. We are arranging refunds for this and, when we have completed the administrative arrangements, our plan is to contact families and arrange refunds by bank transfer. This is a far more convenient way of refunding for families in the current climate.

Regarding Graduation packs – scrolls; gift; year books; and hoodies – we hope to confirm collection/delivery arrangements by the end of the month. Hoodies are not due to be delivered to the school until the end of May and we await government guidance on any change to movement restrictions that may allow pupils to, in a safe and controlled manner, arrange an appointment to empty lockers and collect all of the above from the school. This is clearly not going to happen in the next couple of weeks but we are hopeful that some staged arrangements in June may allow collection or some form of delivery. We will update families with arrangements regarding this at the start of June when we have received hoodies and we know what we can and cannot safely do, according to any government guidelines, at this point.

Primary Transition (New S1)

As well as arrangements for one big year group moving on, we are also very conscious about our new S1 coming in. Mr Murray, Mrs Chumley and the team are in the midst of connecting via our engagement programme with primaries and we are meeting ‘virtually’ as a transition team this week to plan an ‘information drop’ for all P7 parents by next week that updates you on uniform, school handbook information etc. and also some alternative ‘virtual’ links that will support transition in the absence of our normal Induction Days and Parental Information Evening. We will make sure that you are fully informed and that all questions that might be causing some anxiety are answered as fully as possible. In summary, we will ensure that, although things are going to be a bit different for all of us, our P7s are as well-supported as they possibly can be in making their transition to Wallace High.

Foreign Trip Refunds

As communicated by text last week, we are working with the council and trip providers to expedite refunds for families. We will be in touch with families as soon as we have received refunds in order to pass these onto you by bank transfer. I very much appreciate your patience with this just now. I am sure that you are aware that there is considerable pressure on the travel industry at the moment and it is simply taking a bit of time to process the volume of refunds required at this time. Families should be reassured that they will receive full refunds as timeously as possible.

I hope this helps to keep you up-to-date just now. I thank you once again for all your on-going support and positivity in what is a challenging period for many families. We will be in touch throughout the week with any further updates.

Please continue to stay safe and well at this time and don't hesitate to conact us if you need some support.

Best wishes,

Scott Pennock