Category Archives: Weekly blog

I was delighted to learn that Ferryhill Primary School had gained level 1 of the Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA).  RRSA has been developed by UNICEF UK to recognise work done by schools to promote the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC): UNCRC guide for children At Harlaw Academy we are working on becoming a […]

Assemblies – the school chaplains deliver periodic assemblies and this week they were exploring the idea of ‘passion’.  Some time ago when we had been looking at the theme we had planned to speak of the need to work hard at things you are passionate about.  However with recent events around the world we adapted […]

In-service day: Parents and pupils possibly wonder what staff do on in-service days.  On Monday we brought together all of the staff from the Academy and its 4 associated Primary schools.  We spent time together looking at feedback from some surveys into Health and discussing how we could support staff, pupils and families who have concerns over […]

Developing our Young Workforce (DYW): You may have seen in the local newspaper a focus on recruiting apprentices.  This is part of a bigger piece of work, sometimes referred to as DYW, aimed at ensuring that all our school leavers are work ready and can leave for positive and sustained destinations.  It is a National […]

On Monday we had a session for senior pupils called ‘Safe Drive’.  Every school, including Harlaw Academy, has had pupils who have been killed or injured in road traffic incidents involving young drivers. ‘Safe Drive’ is a hard hitting, high impact event aimed at trying to reduce the danger. As the week went on we also had […]

Events this week were dominated by the tragic events at Cults Academy.  We have been in contact with the Head Teacher at Cults to pass on our thoughts to all in their community and to offer any support which may be required.  Such events impact on us all to a greater or lesser extent and anyone in […]

The main ‘event’ this week was our Keeping in Touch (KIT) visit. This is where senior officers come in to speak with us about our exam results and the improvement plans for the session.  It is a mixture of support and challenge ie they are keen to hear what we have been doing well but […]

This week I want to reflect on 4 ‘events’ from the week – the first is a concern the other 3 are all positive: 1) On Wednesday there was a big meeting between Government and the northern local authorities to discuss issues around recruiting and retaining teachers in areas such as Aberdeen.  With the high cost of […]

Parents play a vital role in working with the school to support young people and school improvement.  There are lots of ways parents can help – some are basic things such as making sure children get a good amount of sleep and a decent breakfast before getting to school in good time.  Or things which are helpful are encouraging regular exercise and […]