Parent Council Meeting 9th November

The next meeting of the Parent Council will be Thursday 9th November at 7.00pm at Harlaw Academy.  This month’s meeting will include 3 sessions from the Maths department; General curriculum information and how parents can support their child, Assessments & National Qualifications and Google classroom and homework.  Each session will take approximately 10 minutes – please email harlawacademy@aberdeencity.gov.uk to book your place.

S3 Parents’ Evening Online booking system Opens Monday 29th January

The online booking system opens on Monday 29th January:

 Instructions

  1. Navigate to the Parents’ Evening Booking System here http://www.parents-booking.co.uk/harlawacademy
  2. Use your personal information to log in. You must use the contact information which the school has on file or you will not be able to log in. If you are having problems, please use the contact information on the login page to contact the school.
  3. Log in by selecting which child you want to make bookings for first. If you have more than one child who requires bookings, you can switch between them once you are logged in.
  4. Once logged in, decide whether you need to make bookings individually, or using our Automated Booking Wizard.  We recommend you use the Automated Booking Wizard.
  5. Once you have selected your preferred booking method and once in the correct parents’ evening, follow the relevant instructions from below:

 

    1. Automated Booking Wizard
  1. Select the teacher you wish to book. You can press ‘Select All’ to select all options
  2. If you have a second child to make bookings for then select their tab and repeat the teacher selecting process
  3. Proceed to the bottom of the page and specify your personal availability, then press Make My Bookings For Me
            1. If the wizard replies that bookings are not feasible, you have not left enough time and need to reduce the number of teachers or increase the amount of time you’re available.
  1. Now see a list of your booking suggestions.
  2. Press Confirm to confirm these appointments as your bookings
  3. Press Print or E-Mail to initiate your confirmation.

 

    1. Individual Bookings:
      1. Scroll down until you see the booking table. Above it are the departments and teachers which are available to you.
      2. Select the department, then teacher, and click on an available time to make a booking. When you selected a time, you’re able to add any issues or comments for the teacher to take note of before the appointment.
      3. Repeat this process, making bookings for all of the teachers you need to.
      4. If you need to cancel or rearrange an appointment, click on the correct department and teacher, then click on the green appointment to change it.
      5. If you need to make bookings for another child, scroll to the top of the page. In the top left corner you should see a ‘Make a Booking for Another Child’ icon. Click this. If there is no icon, the software does not recognise that you have multiple children. This just means that you’ll need to log out and log back in again using the other child’s details.
      6. Once you have made all of your bookings, click on either E-Mail or Print my Appointments. Appointments are saved when they are made, so you don’t have to e-mail or print to ‘save’ them, but doing so will provide a confirmation with further information, possibly including rooms and instructions from the school.

 

Change to school day – week beginning 09th October

We have had a number of fire alarms over the last few days, most of them have been set off within class time. We have reminded pupils and staff that we must continue to treat every alarm seriously. Whilst this has been disruptive, we want to recognise that the majority of pupils have behaved in a safe, sensible, mature way through this inconvenience.

In order to try to minimise the disruption to learning our prefects and staff are supporting extra measures around the corridors and we will shorten our lunchtime. Therefore, afternoon school will run from 1.15pm – 3pm every day this week.

Youngsters who are not where they should be during class time may well be interviewed as witnesses / suspects should an alarm go off.  It would be helpful if you could discuss this with your child, emphasising the dangers and disruption and ensuring your child never gets involved in this sort of thing or gives encouragement to others.  I’m also asking parents to check at home for information that has not been shared with us about who might be responsible so we can take appropriate action.

D Innes

S3 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 8th February 2018 from 4.15pm – 6.45pm

Parents of S3 pupils are invited to attend a consultation evening in the Academy on Thursday 8th February 2018  to meet their child’s teachers and discuss their progress.

Our Guidance Teachers will be available to discuss the overall picture of  each child’s progress and Mrs Lawrence the Year Head for S3 will be present during the evening.  Mr Mitchell our Principal Teacher of Support for Learning will also be available without appointment until 5.15pm.  On the evening we recommend your child accompanies you to take part in the conversations with their teachers and we also ask that you bring your list of appointments with you.

Parents are asked not to park in the school grounds and should use the on street parking available in surrounding streets.

This year we are trialing a new online booking system for parents through our Groupcall Messenger system which we hope will be more convenient as it allows parents to book appointments at times that suit their availability.

In order to make this a success parents need to login using the following information:-

 

The Parent’s title and Parent’s surname must match the information we hold in our MIS and we will send each parent a Groupcall message to let them know the Parent’s title and Parent’s Surname to use when logging in.

Full details of how to book appointments are available on the website homepage and booking opens on Monday 29th January.

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday 8th February from 4.15pm – 6.45pm.

25th – 29th September 2017 – Respect for community

Last week I published the second of 3 blogs looking at the day to day work of Harlaw Academy which is based around 3 simple behaviour statements:
– Respect for People
– Respect for Learning
– Respect for Community
This week my blog will look in more depth at “respect for community’

Under the statement respect for people we have a line which reads:
– we will have a positive impact in school, locally and in the wider world

These are ideas which apply to all our pupils, parents and staff and in simple terms it includes the following behaviours:

For Pupils it is acting in a way which thinks about having a positive impact:
– in school – looking out for others, accepting our school has a diverse population, being tolerant to people of different; age, gender, religion, race, sexual orientation or who exhibit any of the other protected characteristics, appreciating the role adults (parents, teachers, non teachers) have to support you, keeping the school safe and free from litter/damage, enhancing the reputation of your school and of young people
– locally – looking out for others, accepting our part of Aberdeen has a diverse population, being tolerant to people of different; age, gender, religion, race, sexual orientation or who exhibit any of the other protected characteristics, appreciating the role adults in the area have to support you, keeping the local area safe and free from litter/damage, enhancing the reputation of your school and of young people
– wider world – looking out for others, accepting diversity and being tolerant to people of different; age, gender, religion, race, sexual orientation or who exhibit any of the other protected characteristics, appreciating the role adults have to support you, considering sustainability in all you do, enhancing the reputation of your school and of young people

For Parents and teachers it is thinking about:
– helping our youngsters to recognise what it means to be an effective contributor and responsible citizen. to play an active part in their school, locality and wider world. To take a keen interest in local and global issues. To be tolerant of others, celebrate diversity and be accepting of others. To challenge discrimination (particularly by or towards young people) against individuals/groups.

As I write this blog the world seems to be heading towards more troubled and more troubling times. Our leaders seem to be more intolerant and the language they are using seems to be more divisive and intolerant. In such situations the ones who often bear the biggest brunt is children and young people. Recognising this the United Nations developed a Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Harlaw Academy is very proud to be the first (and so far the only) Secondary School in Aberdeen City to gain the Rights Respecting Schools Award from UNICEF UK. This award highlights work we have been doing to promote the rights of children here at Harlaw and around the world.

Respect our Community is about young people feeling they are a valued part of their community able to make a valuable contribution to their community. The vast majority of our 940 young people are a great credit to themselves, their families, school and to young people in general. A small number let the others down through their behaviour in the school, in their community and towards the wider world. We will all continue to work on this small number in a constructive way whilst recognising the efforts of the vast majority of our young people.

18th – 22nd September 2017 – Respect for Learning

Last week I published the first of 3 blogs looking at the day to day work of Harlaw Academy which is based around 3 simple behaviour statements:
– Respect for People
– Respect for Learning
– Respect for Community
This week my blog will look in more depth at “respect for learning’

Under the statement respect for people we have a line which reads:
– we will be on time, on task, trying our best and achieving success

These are ideas which apply to all our pupils, parents and staff and in simple terms it includes the following behaviours:

For Pupils it is acting in a way which thinks about:
– on-time – here every day, in school before 8.25, on time for classes and on time for class deadlines
– on-task – listening to instructions, concentrating, not distracting/being distracted, asking if unsure, staying focussed (especially when the work is more challenging)
– trying your best – putting in maximum effort (best work, first time, on time every time), going the extra mile, practicing until it is perfect, going to catch up/revision classes outwith class time, sticking in (when the going gets tough ….)

For Parents it is thinking about:
– on-time – supporting the school in getting pupils in every day and on time, not taking holidays in term time and making appointments outside school hours, supporting the idea of work being handed in early and deadlines being met
– on-task – highlighting the importance of good behaviour in school, taking an active interest in the work your child is doing (eg on Google classrooms), playing concentration/number/word games at home
– trying your best – supporting all of the activities/actions mentioned above for pupils

For teachers it is about:
on-time – being on time for classes and having clear deadlines
– on-task – setting out learning intentions and success criteria, picking up on behaviour which is distracting others, helping pupils, varying the focus of the lesson and issuing more challenging work
– trying your best – promoting best work, first time, on time every time from all pupils, going the extra mile for their pupils eg offering catch up sessions, encouraging pupils to go beyond their potential and encouraging practice

Teaching/learning is our core business – if we get that right our pupils will be successful. But to get it right for every child we need every child to respect learning, we need every parent to respect learning and we need every teacher to respect learning. The cumulative effect of lots of little things can have a massive impact overall. Over 6 years at school goodness knows how many days would be lost through lateness, low level disruption and re-doing shoddy work. Whilst it would be unrealistic to think we could get rid of this completely I am also very clear that we can make significant progress on all 3 areas.

It is a message we all need to come back to on a regular basis and improving. Respecting learning is of course very closely linked to respecting people because the children who are late, disruptive and handing in shoddy work are not showing respect to their teachers, their classmates or themselves. So improvements in these areas make a difference in both areas and for everyone.

11th-15th September 2017 – Respect for People

The day to day work of Harlaw Academy is based around 3 simple behaviour statements:
– Respect for People
– Respect for Learning
– Respect for Community
Over September I want to look at each of these in a little more detail – starting with “respect for people’

Under the statement respect for people we have a line which reads:
– we will consider the health, safety and well being of ourselves and others

These are ideas which link equally to all our pupils, parents and staff and in simple terms it includes the following:

For Pupils it is acting in a way which thinks about:
health – what we eat/drink, taking exercise, getting rest/sleep, not smoking, anti drugs
safe – child protection, anti knives, no hitting, no pushing/shoving/tripping, crossing roads, being safe on-line, not texting when walking up/down stairs
well being – anti bullying, sexting etc, being resilient, having opportunities to attain and achieve success, pride/belonging

For Parents it is thinking about:
health – not drink driving, not smoking in presence of children, promoting exercise and rest
safe – giving safety advice to children, taking care if dropping children at school, child protection issues
well being – showing respect for other children (eg at side of football pitch), showing respect for council employees (when communicating with the school, building the confidence/resilience of your child (not knocking them down or putting them under undue pressure), giving your children opportunities

For teachers it is about:
health – promoting positive choices for young people and setting them a good example
safe – child protection, risk assessment, intervening when youngsters put themselves at risk
well being – respecting the views of children/parents, developing resilience of young people (encouraging them to take risks and make mistakes as being keys to future success), providing opportunities for youngsters

The world keeps changing and the risks to health, safety and well being are difficult to pin down. So rather than having a long and ever changing list of ‘rules’ we have the 3 simple behaviour statements. We are all old enough to know when we are thinking about other people and when we are acting from our own self interest. We can all recognise when others are not showing respect towards us. So the simple respect for people statement covers us all and it covers a wide range of things.

I hope this particular blog helps show the value of this statement and its scope.

4th – 8th September 2017: Wider life of the school

On Friday I met with the officer bearers of the parent council and part of what we discussed was the wider life of the school. Linked to this was a discussion of how we let parents know what is happening in the school. In this blog I shall say a little bit about each of these areas – starting with the communications issue:

1) Communications: We have the website and I try to complete a weekly blog of school news. We use groupcall to contact parents and hope to resume the weekly update of extracts from the internal school bulletin. There are a number of school twitter feeds at present and we agreed to look at pulling these together in some way. there is also a school youtube channel and we periodically issue news/information through this medium. There are also a number of parent evenings planned for later in the session – details to follow – as well as meetings of the Parent Council (see their section of the website or their facebook page for details). We did discuss an idea, used in many of the primary schools, where each form class has a parent representative. We agreed to look into this idea and discuss it further at the next parent council meeting.

I am very committed to working with parents and if there is ever a point you wish to raise or question you need answered get in contact with the school – by phone, e-mail or in person. We cannot always respond immediately and it is not always best to demand to speak with one individual or another – work commitments often mean one or more of us is unavailable. It is normally best to go to the school office with your name and the name of your child, it is generally helpful to also have the year group and ‘house’ for the youngster and a brief idea of the nature of the issue (as this will help us determine who is best to respond). The main point is that you should never feel isolated or distant we need to work together to get the best for your children and young people.

2) Opportunities: the office staff are in the process of collating a list of extra curricular activities and when this is done we will make sure they are sent out by groupcall and posted widely. Last week is a typical example of how busy we are – the games hall was in use every lunchtime and after school, our computing teacher had a gaming club running two lunchtimes, there was a video editing group running another day, youth workers ran groups a number of days (including our defenders and alliance groups) the Leos also met during the week. Over the week we had a group over at Offshore Europe, a group on a Physics visit, a group off Sailing at Peterhead Lido and an evening exhibition launce at 17 on Belmont Street (the exhibition is running all this month). On Wednesday there were parents in to hear about a trip going to Poland later this month and over this weekend we have groups taking part in their Silver Duke of Edinburgh practice expeditions. I look forward to getting the list out to you soon and will do all we can to keep you informed about what is happening – but these notes give a flavour of the number and variety of opportunities that what we already have underway. Having said that I did undertake at the meeting with the Parent council to look at following through on our promise to look at what will replace the activity week we used to run. We all agree that there is significant benefit from exposing pupils to unfamiliar settings, challenges and in so doing introduce them to different classmates and in many cases lifelong friends and life changing experiences. That sense of awe and wonder is something we all want pupils to experience during their time with us.

28th August-1st September 2017: Settling in

If last week was about ‘getting started’ this week was very much about ‘settling in’. In that respect I want to start this blog with a massive thank you to parents and pupils for their response to our requests to get to school; dressed in school uniform, on time and ready to work.

The number of pupils, parents, staff and members of the public who have commented on how smart our pupils are looking has been fantastic. The youngsters not only look smarter but they are also bringing that smartness to their movement around the school and approach to their work. It might seem very little but it can make a massive cumulative difference over the time a child is at school – as the following basic maths will show:
if a pupil is a minute earlier to each class they will get 6 minutes more learning every day – this equates to 30 extra minutes learning a week. Each term is roughly 8 weeks long and there are 4 x 8 week terms – so that is 30 minutes x 8 weeks x 4 terms = 16 hours a year more learning! That is getting on for 3 extra school days of learning a year, 12 extra school days of over 4 years and 18 extra school days over 6 years. Even with my rushed/rough maths it shows where we are starting to make marginal but significant gains.

Another big thank you goes to our staff and in particular our Guidance staff and DHTs. They do a fantastic job early in a school session ensuring that new pupils have their timetables so they are able to get underway and also manage a fair number of course change requests which come in. We have a clear set of priorities which are applied – new pupils, pupils who have to make a change following results issues and then some who want to change. there was a time this could take us until the September long weekend. However, we have worked hard to ‘smarten up’ our approach and by the end of August I was contacting the parents of the last few so things are mostly settled as we enter September. This has given pupils affected a good two weeks more in their chosen courses.

I have impressed on pupils and staff that we needed to spend time at the start of term re-educating folk about school routines. In that respect we have tended to have a quiet word rather than leap straight to sanctions. As we enter weeks 3 and 4 we expect the routines to be established and we move from an ‘education’ to an ‘enforcement’ frame of mind when it comes to rules. Most pupils know we have only the 3 ‘rules’- respect people, respect learning and respect community. The vast majority of our pupils have shown themselves to be fantastic ambassadors of Harlaw Academy and young people. We will continue to work together to identify those individuals who are not ‘settling in’ as we would want and work with them and their families to improve things. Harlaw Academy is a great school and these first two weeks have shown that we can work together to improve things still further.

Groupcall Attendance

Groupcall Information for Parents

Due to an updated version of our Groupcall messaging system, the information that we provide to parents on pupil absence from school is changing.  From Wednesday 6th September we will send Absence messages to parents twice a day – once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

The message will be sent via our Groupcall system and will be delivered as a text message to the mobile phone of the primary contact for the pupils concerned.  The message will state

“Pupil name is not in his/her current class.  Please call the school immediately if you are not aware of his/her absence from class”

How is this different from the current arrangements?

This is different as the text message you receive will be based on “live” information.  This means that at the time the text message is sent, your child is not in school.

It does not mean that your child has not arrived in school that day.  They may have been present in school during Form Time but have not gone to their Period 1 class or they may have been in school in the morning and not gone to their afternoon class.

The important thing to do is if you are not aware of your child’s absence from school you should call us straight away so that we can investigate where your child is.  This will establish if there is cause for concern.  During our investigation we will liaise closely with you and make sure we keep you updated.

I hope that this will be an improvement on current arrangements.

An additional consequence of the updated Groupcall messaging system is that we can no longer send messages to parents to let them know that their child was late to school on any given date.