HALLOWEEN PARTY

I think everyone will agree that the Halloween party on Thursday night was an outstanding success.  It was great to see so many pupils there enjoying all the fun & games and spooky snacks.  There were some fantastic costumes and amazing pumpkins.  As always, parents and staff worked hard to make the night such a success and nearly £200 was raised towards school funds.  A special note of thanks to Lorna Forsyth and George Campbell, whose skills made the night!

 

New Inspections and Parents

Find below a copy of the  DRAFT Minutes of  the East Lothian Association of Parent Council Member Meeting which was held on 7 September, 2011.    together with a copy of the Agenda for the next Association meeting which is due to be held on Wednesday 2 November, at Preston Lodge High School, from 7pm/9pm.

 Minutes_Draft_7_Sept_2011 (2)

Agenda 2 Nov 2011

 

Also attached is a copy of the Shared Services Project Briefing, for your information, which was an action point from the meeting on 7t September, 2011.

 Project Briefing 2 (31.8.11)

Phil Dennings, District Inspector, Education Scotland,  will be delivering a  full presentation on The Role of the Parent Council in the New School Inspection Process and there will  also be the opportunity for questions.    There have been major changes in the way in which a school will now be inspected and,  as usual, two members of your Parent Council are invited to attend the meeting.    

It is strongly recommended that the Parent Council is represented at this meeting given the importance of the role of parents in the inspection process.

New National Qualifications – Support and information for Parents

New National Qualifications – Support and information for Parents

Update from the Scottish Qualifications Authority

The Scottish Qualifications Authority has a number of resources for parents to help you understand the changes to Scotland’s qualifications.

The parent and carer section of our websiteexplains how and why Scottish qualifications are changing and what the changes mean for young people and their families.

Our new video introduction explains the changes and outlines the information available on our website.

Our Mythbustervideos answer common questions about the new qualifications to help parents understand what’s happening – these new clips are now available.  We also have videos explaining our development process and the groups working with us to develop the new qualifications.

We have a leafletespecially for parents and carers which can also be downloaded from our website or is available from schools.

We’re publishing draft documents on our website between now and April 2012 which show each stage of our thinking and plans.  We are looking for feedbackat each stage of the development.

On 31 August 2011 we published Unit Specifications for National 4 and National 5, Course Rationales and Summaries for Access 2, Course Rationales and Summaries for Access 3, and Course Specifications for Higher.

The documents are quite technical and are aimed at teachers and education specialists but are also available for parents to comment on.

Comments on these documents can be made by 31 October 2011 using our website’s Have Your Say facility.  A summary of feedback we have received so far is also on our website.

Keep visiting www.sqa.org.uk/curriculumforexcellencefor all you need to know about the new qualifications.  Sign up for MyAlertsto receive e-mail updates.