17th-21st September 2018: Wider opportunities

In a recent blog I mentioned the extra curricular open session we had ran for pupils to help raise awareness of all the opportunities which existed in the school.  The subject came up at the recent parent council where we were asked if we could make the list available to parents.

It gives me great pleasure to share with you the list of 48 different clubs and activities currently on offer to pupils here at Harlaw Academy: Extra Curricular 2018

It is the longest list we have had in my time here at Harlaw and a longer list than I have seen in any other school I have worked in.  It is also one of the most varied lists I have seen – Ukulele, Girls coding, Boys coding, Warhammer, Dodgeball to name but a few.

I hope pupils take advantage of the opportunities and I hope parents and pupils appreciate the time staff give up to run these activities.  I also hope that if anyone wants an activity we do not have that they bring it up with their class representatives or with a teacher – we will see if we can find a way to do it.

 

10th – 14th September: Informing and involving our pupils and parents

This week we had out first Pupil Council and the first Parent Council meeting of the session. I see both groups as being extremely important in school improvement and in this blog wish to say a little about each group and the difference they can make.

10 things to know about our Pupil Council:

  1. each class has 4 representatives (council, charities, sports and rights reps).
  2. this is to develop a broader base of class reps and increase pupil voice, influence and participation.
  3. the class reps have a role to represent the views of the ‘Pupil Community’ (all 820 pupils in the school) and to ensure the pupil community play a positive active role in improving their school.
  4. Pupil Council reps meet monthly in a ‘House of Representatives’. They focus on how we can improve the school for People, Learning and Community.
  5. they take views from their classes on what can be improved and they make plans for how to take forward their priorities.
  6. examples include; updating the water fountains, getting a sign at the front of the school, having the extra curricular clubs event, changes to the school uniform, the updated vision statement and the school improvement plan.
  7. they not only discuss important topics they also have money so they are empowered to make changes – last year their £1000 was used to replace the 4 water fountains this year they have £3000 to spend.
  8. the pupil council was led by seniors up until summer but they decided it was best led by S3 reps who not only had less exam pressure but also would be in school longer to benefit from the decisions which they take.
  9. the development of a strong, active and independent pupil council is ensuring that pupils are not only informed but they are also involved, engaged and empowered.
  10. it also ensures that we are recognising and realising key articles of the UN conventions on the Rights of the CHILD (UNCRC) through our day to day work.

10 things to know about our Parent council:

  1. every Parent is a member of the Parent Forum and can attend Parent Council meetings
  2. the Parent Council is a smaller group who represent parent views and support school improvement, it is chaired by a parent Catriona Allan
  3. the Parent council meet around 6 times per year (7.00-8.30 approx) and try to ensure there is time to hear about some aspect of the school and also cover the business of the Parent Council
  4. over this session the Parent Council will work with school leadership to further develop how we inform and involve parents in the life and work of the school
  5. if parents cannot attend a meeting they can raise issues through the parent council or see what has been discussed through the minutes of the meeting
  6. the parent council want to do more to ensure parents not only know the priorities for their school but are actively involved in shaping these priorities and taking them forward
  7. they are particularly keen to reach out to those parents who for whatever reason find it difficult to get to meetings or connect with the school
  8. the parent council make a significant difference to the school – they can offer financial support to the school, they work with school leadership and the pupil council to set and take forward priorities, they support events aimed at involving parents in their school
  9. areas where the Parent Council have made a difference include; changes to the school reports, changes to the booking system for parents night, school uniform exchange, support for a careers event, events to inform/involve parents (quiz night, Numeracy and literacy events)
  10. by keeping a strong focus on people/relationships, learning and community the priorities of the parent council are aligned with those of the pupil council and of the school as a whole

There is a National drive to ‘empower’ schools and to give strength a ‘school led system’. We have taken steps to promote pupil participation and parental engagement and we have a commitment to further develop this work alongside parents and pupils.  If we are to ‘be the best we can be’ we will only do this if staff, pupils and parents work closely together on the same 3 priorities, improving;  people, learning and community.

20th August – 7th September: Welcome back

The first 3 weeks of the new term have flown past and I shall this first blog of the session to summarise the highlights

Staff Changes:

  • In April I was appointed to the role of Convener of General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS) and chair the council of the regulatory body who oversee the 75,000 registered teachers in Scotland.  It is a significant role on top of my main job as Head Teacher of Harlaw Academy and it brings considerable benefit back to the school.
  • In order to ensure that Harlaw Academy was not disadvantaged and to support me in my role the Local Authority agreed to appoint someone to cover for me.  Interviews were held before summer for someone to cover half of the week as Acting Head Teacher.  Mr Graham Blance was the successful applicant and we were delighted to welcome him to his new role when school returned in August.
  • Over the last couple of years Mr Blance has served as a Quality Improvement Officer and had spells as Acting Head Teacher at both Bucksburn Academy and Kincorth Academy.  His considerable experience is already proving to be extremely valuable and I am confident it will benefit Harlaw and be a case of “two Heads being better than one”.
  • Mr Blance is one of our Depute Head Teachers and he will continue to have this role when he is not Acting Head Teacher.  In order to support him we have appointed Miss Angela McLennan to be Acting Depute Head Teacher for half the week.  Miss McLellan is our Head of Technologies and we will be interviewing for someone to fill her post for half a week soon.
  • Other staff who we welcomed to Harlaw in August were Mr Biggart (English), Mrs Taylor (Science) and Mr Smith (Maths).  At present we are in the very fortunate position of being fully staffed but have a couple posts advertised as we know of some changes which are around the corner.
  • I must also mention the arrival of Wispa our guide dog.  Many of you will be aware that Vadar passed away before summer and we were really pleased to hear that Mrs Brodie was to get a new dog and even more pleased at how she has settled into the school.

Head Prefects:  

On our return we conducted group interviews for our Head Prefects.  The 21 applicants took part in a group interview and were assessed by the 3 former Head Prefects along with Mr Blance and myself.  We were very pleased with the standard of applicants but having gone through the selection process we have appointed Weronika as our Head Prefect and she will be assisted by Claire and Luisa as our Depute Head Prefects.  They are in the process of appointing their team of Prefects and have already helped at our Former Pupil Coffee morning, attended assemblies, supported our new S1s and our Health and Well being event.

SQA results and Expectations for this session:  

We were pleased with the SQA results and particularly pleased with how pupils had done in their Highers and Advanced Highers.  We have a bit of work to do to ensure more S4 pupils get at least 6 full qualifications in S4, more S5 pupils get at least 5 full qualifications and S6 pupils get at least 4 full qualifications – at present some fall short of the full qualification or miss out on one completely and we need to demand more of them.  We are setting ever increasing expectations and before pupils returned we sent parents a leaflet to read through with their children.  At the initial assemblies we revisited this along with the expectations on uniform.  Links to both are included here:

Expectations flier August 2018

S1 – S3 Dress code for Harlaw

Praise for our new S1 pupils (and their ‘buddies’):

There was a time when we had a school full of S1 pupils being escorted round the school.  In recent years we have worked to have link events and this year our local pupils had 6 subject link days and 3 transition days prior to arriving in August.  As a result they have settled in more quickly and are already getting on with the work.  I want to pay tribute to them and to the ‘buddies’ who have helped through the visit days and into the early days here.

Pupil empowerment in school improvement

We are a Gold Rights Respecting School, indeed we were the first Secondary in UK to gain the new Gold Award from UNICEF UK.  This means we try to recognise and realise the rights of Children in all that we do.  So when pupils asked us in April to improve the water fountains we got busy and they were installed over the summer holidays.  when pupils asked us to promote extra curricular clubs we ran a ‘sign up’ session in the hall last week.  When we updated the school vision we spoke with around 100 pupils and incorporated their ideas into the new version and when we wrote the school improvement plan we asked pupils what they wanted to see in it.  Pupils in Harlaw Academy should feel valued and empowered to improve their school.  Each class has elected 4 representatives to seek views of their classmates on – improvements, sports, rights and charities and every pupil is a member of the pupil forum.  We have even given pupils £3000 to spend on the priorities they identify.

Other partners:

We had our first meeting with the Head Teachers of our local Primaries last week and part of this was spent finalising the arrangements for an event aimed at helping parents of P6-S2 youngsters.  We had stalls on loads of things including books on teenage issues, cyber security, active schools and lost more

We also had a really well attended Former Pupil Coffee morning which included tours of the school and a chance to look through the FPs growing collection of memorabilia.

Finally, on Thursday 13th September 7.00-8.30 we have the first meeting and AGM of our Parent Council all parents are welcome to attend as members of the Parent Forum and can stand for election onto the council.

If you have reached this far can I thank you as I know it has been a long read.  I hope it was also a very encouraging read as it gives you a flavour of the amount and variety of the work which is going on here at the school.  Whilst my National role is very enjoyable my main focus remains on doing the very best for the children and young people of Harlaw Academy and on supporting their families.  I look forward to meeting you through the session and if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to get in contact with me, one of the year Heads or one of the Guidance staff.  We want to hear from you and we are here to help you.

Harlaw ASG Child Protection & Safeguarding

As a parent or carer, we would like you to know what schools are obliged to do to keep all children and young people safe. You will find our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy on the websites of all of our schools.

 

The most important thing you need to know is that there are specific instructions that all members of school staff need to follow if they have concerns about the safety or wellbeing of a child or young person. Members of staff are not allowed to deviate from these instructions.

 

If we have information that leads us to believe that your child or any other child is at risk, we are instructed to call the Joint Child Protection Unit (JCPU) for advice or to report an issue.  The JCPU will then decide on the appropriate actions to take.

 

You may not be contacted at all regarding a Child Protection Concern because it may be that there is no action required. If action is required it is likely that the JCPU will contact you rather than the school.

 

We know that parents and carers can find this course of action difficult to deal with. School staff are not working against you, but following the very strict guidelines to safeguard all of our children and young people.

 

Further information for parents/carers can be found on the following websites:

Harlaw Academy website     The full policy is available under the Information tab.

 

Aberdeen City Council website

This is child protection information for Parents and Carers – Child Protection Process, Alcohol and Drugs, CSE, Domestic Abuse, Radicalisation, Forced Marriage, FGM, Hate Crimes, On-line Safety Netaware Guide (The NSPCC with O2 have launched a Net Aware Guide as an app to support parents on the go and help them keep their children safe on the move).

http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/social_care_health/social_work/childrens_services/chi_Child_Protection_Information_For_Parents_And_Carers.asp

 

Resources for parents/carers.  In partnership with 02

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-protection-system/scotland/

 

Together we can prevent Child Sex Abuse

https://www.stopitnow.org.uk/scotland.htm

 

Child Exploitation and On-Line Protection – section for parents/carers

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

Back to School Expectations

We look forward to welcoming pupils back on Tuesday 21st August.  Pupils should be at school by 8.25 for the start of form time at 8.30.  Pupils should be in school uniform and are reminded that as part of our security arrangements outdoor jackets are not to be worn within the building.  We have worked over summer to improve the school and get it ready for your arrival.  We hope you will help us keep it clean and in particular look after the 4 new water dispensers which pupils had said was their top priority – you will need a container eg a drinking bottle to fill from the new machines.  We continue to work with pupils and families to set high expectations and attach a summary of these for your information.  It would be really helpful if families could take time to go over these before Tuesday morning as this will allow us all to get off to a positive start to the new school session.

David Innes

Head Teacher

Expectations flier August 2018

 

 

Harlaw Academy Uniform

Harlaw Academy has 2 uniform suppliers – Aitken & Niven on Bridge Street and Tesco UES which is an online service allowing parents to order embroidered Harlaw Academy clothing online (the link below will take you to the website).

https://www.tesco.com/direct/ues/

Please note that Tesco do not supply the school tie and this can only be purchased at Aitken & Niven.

The school also has a large supply of second hand uniform which we are able to donate to families.  If you would like any uniform items please contact your child’s Guidance Teacher.

Full details of our uniform expectation are available on our Uniform page (link below)

Harlaw Academy Uniform

 

 

 

28 May – 1 June 2018: An amazing week at Harlaw Academy

I have had a few weeks off ‘blogging’ and do not want to fill this one to the extent where it is too long a long a read.  It has however been a busy time which I will sum up as an amazing week at Harlaw:

  • Exams – this is the last week of SQA exams and I want to pay tribute to the pupils and to our invigilators for ensuring that things have gone very smoothly this session.  I also wish to highlight the work done by Laura Murray our School Support Manager who puts all of the arrangements in place for the exams.
  • Timetable change – we are due to change timetable on Monday 4th June and over recent months we have been preparing for this date.  I say “we” but once again I have to thank others, particularly Fiona Lawrence one of our Depute Head Teachers (DHT), who ensures everything is in place for the new timetable.
  • S3 Work Experience – we also have 180 pupils from S3 out on Work Experience this week.  My gratitude in this case goes to 3 main groups/individuals; Anne Douglas who is the DHT who co-ordinates everything, staff at the work experience unit in Aberdeen City Council who support us finding placements and the employers who take the pupils for the week.  We learned that the model of S3 placements is likely to change next year which is really disappointing as we feel it helps pupils mature as they move from the junior to senior school.
  • S1/S2 forest walk – on Wednesday we took 360 pupils out to Durris for our annual forest walk.  Angela McLellan another of the DHTs and a group of staff have worked hard to put the arrangements in place for the walk and this year they once again managed to plan it for a dry and sunny day.  Our planning keeps costs down and in recent years we have also taken the sponsorship/fundraising element out of the walk.  This has seen us achieve very high levels of participation in the last two years.  For many of our youngsters it is the only time they will get to have a walk in the woods with their pals from school and the social benefits of doing this are worth highlighting.
  • P7 Transfer – Jennifer Rennie another DHT has been working with Primary Schools to get the P7 pupils identified and into classes for their visit days in June and for their timetable in August.  We work not only with our 4 local primaries but also with almost every other Primary in the City as we have new pupils joining us from all across the city.  It is not easy to please everyone but Jennifer tries her very best to do so.

Each of these activities not only represent considerable amounts of work.  If we get any of them wrong there would be big implications but because those leading the work do such a fantastic job things run smoothly and their efforts can go unnoticed and unacknowledged.  I wish to acknowledge not only the work carried out by my senior leadership team in respect of these activities but also the highly professional manner in which they carry out their work.

I wish to close this blog with two other significant achievements from the week;

Newly qualified staff:  I am pleased to report that three of our trainee teachers, Ruth Batchelor, Eamonn McCurdy and Ben Nelson, have successfully completed their initial teacher education (sometimes known as their probationary period) and will be formally welcomed into the profession as fully qualified teachers.  All 3 have done really well in their year with us and all have secured permanent jobs in August.

Rights Respecting Schools – Gold Award:  On Thursday we held a small event to formally unfurl our Gold Award banner and hand over the Gold Award certificate.  As reported elsewhere we are the first secondary school in UK to gain the Gold Award against the new assessment criteria.  You can see the full report from the Aberdeen City Council Website – https://news.aberdeencity.gov.uk/harlaw-academy-makes-it-a-historic-unicef-golden-double-for-aberdeen-schools/

31/05/18 Coucillor Douglas Lumsden, Aberdeen City Council Co Leader was invited to attend the award ceremony for the UNICEF Gold Award Banner and met Ashleigh Wilson ( Lead co ordinator in Rights Respective Initiative) and Paula Paulima, (16YO S4-Rights Respective Ambassador)