From the desk of the Headteacher - Issue 3 Hamilton

Dear Parents

As we prepare to close the working week at Hamilton College, I would like to provide a short update on two specific areas of School Life:

COVID – 19

Whilst the current COVID-19 rates have risen in recent weeks, although they have slowed in the last 48 hours, I wanted to provide some clarity of the impact of this at Hamilton College.

We have had just seven positive cases amongst the learners since our return to School in August and one positive case amongst the staff. Whilst I would prefer to report no cases, the number of positive cases are considerably lower than many Schools in Scotland. Mrs Morton has communicated our link with the Health Protection Team and the approach that they and we are adopting to reports.

I can report that the majority of the cases have been detected outside of Hamilton College and therefore procedures have been followed to ensure there has been restricted impact on our community. I am grateful to parents for being vigilant, following government guidelines and continuing to support the Lateral Flow Testing available.

We have the luxury of ‘space’ within Hamilton College and the use of the space, variations in the timing of the School day and following our procedures are contributing to the care of our learners during this time.

We will be continuing to push our procedures over the coming weeks in an attempt to keep positive cases away from our School. Please can I ask parents to be careful of attendance at sleepovers, large scale gatherings and events. Should your son or daughter attend events such as these, please do ensure they are completing Lateral Flow Tests regularly and follow the Government Guidelines.

Promoting Hamilton College

COVID-19 has presented challenges to all sectors not least those whose venues have not been permitted to have guests visiting. Hamilton College is certainly one of those and it has been my wish to welcome current parents to the School to meet me and my key staff.

This has also impacted how we conduct our Open Days and meeting prospective parents. With this in mind, I am working with Mr McGinness and his team regarding how to meet current parents and when we can, I will look forward to inviting you into School to meet with me.

We will be shortly advertising an Information Evening on Thursday 28 October, which is being held at The Town House Hamilton. We will be inviting prospective parents to this event and I will be inviting some members of our community to support me in promoting the School. Details of this event will be published soon, so please can you share this accordingly.

I would also ask if you do use Twitter and Facebook that you sign up to our accounts to keep up to date with what we are doing and then you will be in a position to share the good news of Hamilton College.

Thank you for supporting all that we do and I send you my very best wishes.

Kind regards

Richard Charman
Headteacher