New School initiatives and COVID update Hamilton

Dear Parents

We hope you are all well and are coping with the current restrictions.

General COVID Update

As you will have heard earlier this week, the Scottish Government has now confirmed that schools and nurseries will not be able to return to a physical setting until "mid-February".  We are constantly reviewing our online learning provision and do a survey with pupils each week.  As an example, results from this week’s survey are:

• I am working well through materials and enjoying live lessons – 67%
• I am working well but not attending live lessons – 3%
• I am struggling with workload but I am managing and attending live lessons – 15%
• I am struggling with workload and unable to keep up – 6%
• I would like more work to do, I do not have enough – 0%
• I am doing ok but would like more Live Sessions – 9%

And we will use this to further refine how we approach our teaching.

Overall, we have had 95% of our pupils engaging in online learning since we resumed, which is fantastic. 

We understand that this situation has its complexities for pupils, parents, and teachers.  We thank you for you support at this time and for working with us.  Please let us know if there are ways we can support you and your child.   The structure of the Guidance and Learning Support functions have also been modified to allow for continued support, guidance and advice as regards additional support for pupils both academically and with their wellbeing.

Junior School

Thank you to those who were able to complete the survey sent out last week to gauge your opinion on the remote learning provision within the Junior School. Having taken on board this really useful feedback, some changes are being made from next week implementing as many of the suggestions as possible while ensuring educational guidance is adhered to as well as the general well-being of our pupils.

You will see some minor changes to the timetables from next week that are designed to provide greater options for you and your families and that will break up the amount of continuous screen time some pupils are exposed to each morning.

Please keep communicating with the class teacher in relation to any aspect of your child's learning and their ability to participate in live lessons, watch recorded lessons and hand in work. We absolutely understand the pressures you as parents are under and are here to help and support you as much as possible. We have no set expectation on you or your children, we understand that you can only do what you can manage with the timetable class teachers have set. 

Recordings of each live lesson is available to view a short time after the lesson has finished. You can access these recordings either in the Chat section (left hand side of the Teams screen) or the link will be located in the Posts page in the General section. Please utilise these recordings as much as possible to relieve any pressure to attend each live lesson on offer.

Your child's wellbeing is of paramount importance to us. On top of our live lessons, teachers will be setting up a meeting with each pupil to catch up with them on an individual basis, checking in with them personally. Across the course of a normal school day, teachers have many opportunities to connect with each child one on one. Remote learning has taken this valuable time away and we do hope this catch up time will help keep the connections real. Please note this is not a lesson, but a time to connect. 

If you have not completed the Junior School survey but would like to, you can find it HERE.

Senior School

All Senior pupils who have not already done so, will have a catch-up session with a member of SLT this coming week.  It's really useful to hear directly from the pupils on the model we are using as well as wider, more general comments.

Please do remind your senior school pupils to complete the registration form each morning. 

Our Senior School Online Learning page (Online Learning | Hamilton College) on the website is updated regularly with the Live Lesson schedule.  Departments have and will continue to engage and survey pupils and parents to continually review what we are doing to support you and your child. 

We know that the Government continue to look at models for returning to school.  None of these have been shared with us in detail and we will update parents as soon as we have further information on this. At the moment, we are working towards a return date of 15th February and as such we are making no alterations at this time to our plans as regards SQA assessments.

SchoolApp and ParentPay

Many of you are already enjoying the benefits of SchoolApp as an easy means of keeping updated with school communications and key pieces of information.

Please note, that from Monday 19 April the majority of communications from Hamilton College will be available to parents only via this platform. Email will only be used as a communication tool for specific messages relating only to your child and some specific information requests. To ensure that you do not miss out on important messages from the School, please download and sign into Parent App as soon as possible. Instructions to download and use Parent App.

Transitus – Development for 21/22

Over the past year School Governors and the Senior Leadership Team have been working on a model of Transitus to enhance educational provision and to improve transitions for our Junior 7 pupils as they prepare for the rigours of Senior School. Following a period of stakeholder consultation, we are delighted to announce that our first Transitus year group will begin in August 2021.

Transitus will be a new experience for our pupils and their first step along their journey in our Middle School. Our current Junior 6 pupils will soon embark on a series of transition events, designed to prepare each pupil for the move ahead. This is an exciting development for Hamilton College and will ensure our pupils are best supported and challenged as they progress through their schooling.

Faculty of Expressive Arts & RME

Many of you will already know that Alan Wilson is retiring later this year.  Alan has taught at the school since its early days and has led the Art department at Hamiton College in many fantastic achievements.  Alan will be hugely missed by the school, his colleagues and of course his pupils.

With this in mind and looking towards how we can replace Alan, it has been decided that we create a new Faculty of Expressive Arts and RME.  This faculty will encompass Art, Music and RME with a whole-school remit.

The position is currently being advertised and we are welcoming applications from within Hamilton College as well as from external candidates who are qualified in any of the three subject areas. 

Financial impact

For those families who are being impacted financially by this latest lock-down, please let our Finance Manager know ([email protected]) to allow any necessary arrangements to be put in place as regards on-going fees.

We hope you have a good weekend and we will be in touch as soon as we hear further as regards educational updates.

Kind regards

Senior Leadership Team
Hamilton College