Please see the letter from the Headteacher regarding pupils return. This letter has been emailed to parents today.
Pupils should check relevant subjects over the next few days for their specific dates and times.
All updates regarding pupil return can be found under the Covid-19 Menu at the top of our website.
Family learning at Hamilton Grammar is continuing during lockdown – this time the Science department are missing the lab, so we have decided to bring the experiments to your home.
Participants will conduct five different experiments during the five-week program. From making your own crazy goo to blowing out candles using the magic of science; you will do it all. Each week you will learn the science behind your experiments before getting stuck in and doing it for yourself!
Everything you need for the experiments will be provided in your pack free of charge, along with the instructions and the link to the virtual google classroom, which will be distributed week commencing 22nd February 2021.
These free packs are limited so please contact Mrs Brown on gw07brownclaire@glow.sch.uk to arrange your free pack.
Sign up and come and have fun with science!
Children’s Mental Health Week is taking place on 1-7 February 2021.This year’s theme is Express Yourself.
SLC Education Resources are working in partnership with HeadStrong Scotland to create mental health and wellbeing video sessions to support the needs of learners and their parents/ carers
RECORDED VIDEO FOR PARENTS/ CARERS
SLC Parents, Carers & Families Mental health Session – YouTube
With a focus on teaching coping strategies, this video – designed for an audience of parents and carers – educates adults about mental health and how to understand their child’s emotions and behaviour better in these difficult circumstances.
UPCOMING YOUTUBE LIVE FOR FAMILIES
Wednesday 3rd February at 6.30pm (access the live session by clicking the link below)
SLC Family Mental Health Session – YouTube
Designed to be responsive to the needs of our families during remote learning and lockdown, HeadStrong discusses the practical coping strategies required to support everyone in the household. This session – though designed for parents and carers – is suited for whole family viewing.
In these exceptional circumstances, Education Resources is being asked to provide a limited emergency childcare service for the children of key workers whose parents are critical to supporting the front line Covid-19 response during Monday 8th February – Wednesday 10th February. We have therefore reviewed the key worker criteria for this short holiday period.
As places will be limited we expect that most parents will use annual leave or make alternative childcare arrangements.
Only key workers who cannot fulfil these critical functions when working remotely from home may qualify for emergency childcare provision. If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be. Both parents must be classed as keyworkers as defined below.
These emergency childcare hubs will operate from a number of locations throughout South Lanarkshire between 9:00am until 3:30pm. A hot lunch will be available either paid as normal or via free school meals if eligible. Transport will not be provided.
Those requiring a place must complete the on-line application form by Monday, 1st February, 9.30am. Places will be prioritised and those granted a space will be notified via email by close of business on Thursday, 4 February.
We will do our best to match the allocated childcare place to the location you specified, but this may not always be possible.
Please do not fill in the form if your child already attends a Standalone nursery as they remain open.
Details of prioritised key workers during this period are provided below:
– Health and Care workers directly supporting the COVID-19 response, and associated staff; Health and Care workers supporting life threatening emergency work, as well as critical primary and community care provision.
– Other Health and Care workers, and wider public sector workers providing emergency/critical welfare services (e.g. Police, care at home/home care workers)
If eligible and have no alternative childcare, an application should be submitted using the link attached:
Children and young people should NOT attend if they have underlying health conditions or are currently self-isolating. Those attending will be required and supported to follow social distancing and hygiene rules.
Emergency childcare will revert to normal following the schools’ return on Thursday, 11th February 2021.
Below are details of the emergency childcare hub locations.
Childcare locations for families who have a school age child/children (Primary 1 to S2)
Childcare locations for families who have a child/children of nursery age (3-5 years not yet attending primary school).
As schools across Scotland are closed to most pupils, Skills Development Scotland Careers Advisers will continue to provide careers information and advice by phone and digitally.
If you are thinking about leaving school now or at the end of the school year, or would like to talk about your future career plans, you can contact your school Careers Advisers, Vivienne McKillop & Donna Benedetti for career information, advice and guidance at
vivienne.mckillop@sds.co.uk or donna.benedetti@sds.co.uk.
Careers Advisers may also be calling pupils to offer support throughout the next few weeks.
You can also join their Google Classroom code: q57tigi
You’ll also find lots of helpful tools and information to help with subject choices, on the careers service website, My World of Work. Visit www.myworldofwork.co.uk/subjectchoices
Please be aware that career information and advice is available online for anyone who needs it at My World of Work. You can also contact your local centre to speak to an adviser or call the SDS helpline on 0800 917 8000.
The S3 into S4 Options process has now started. Materials to support this transition are available on the Learner Pathways Information page of this website and in the S3 Year Group Google Classroom. As part of this process Mrs Cassidy has created a Virtual Assembly for pupils to watch. They will be directed to this by their PSE Teacher this week.
The S2 into S3 Options process has now started. Materials to support this transition are available on the Learner Pathways Information page of this website and in the S2 Year Group Google Classroom.
You will now be aware that the Scottish Government have extended our period of Remote Learning until Monday 15th February. With this in mind we will be making a change to the online learning model that is currently running for our S1 – S3 pupils.
The Learning Schedule, which identifies the day of the week that each subject uploads their work, will remain in place. Pupils and parents alike have told us that having the work spread out across the whole week is very helpful and allows pupils to manage their time.
The feedback from our live PSE lessons last week was amazing. Staff found the pupils to be more than willing to join in on Google Meet and share how they found week one of the lockdown. We have therefore decided to extend the use of Google Meet within our Broad General Education (BGE).
From Monday 25th January all S1 – S3 pupils will have the opportunity to participate in live check-in sessions with their class teachers. These sessions, lasting for around 15 mins, will take place during one of the periods in the week when the pupils would normally have each of their subjects and will provide an opportunity for live Q and A / trouble-shooting.
Once the Google Meet time for a class has been arranged, it will become the regular time for that class, so everyone will know when they need to join in. The learning Schedule within each Year Group Google Classroom has been updated to show the subjects that will be posting work and those who will be hosting live check-ins over the next week.
The engagement over the last week and a half has been tremendous, and we believe that taking this next step towards live lessons can only encourage pupil participation further.
To support everyone with the digital interface we have already added an ‘Online Learning’ tab within the banner of our website. It is our intention to continue to add key information, help sheets and videos over the coming weeks. Nevertheless if you still encounter issues, please contact your child’s Year Head or Pupil Support Teacher and they will endeavour to find a solution.
Mrs Goring, Miss Brien, Mr Fullarton and Mrs Cassidy
PSE class codes are now available via the ‘Online Learning’ tab on the school website. The majority of pupils have already joined their classes (or have received an invitation to join). There will be weekly lesson/catch-up sessions for each class in S1-S3. The S4-S6 classes will used to provide pupils with information and support.
The regular S4 PSE classes have pupils from a mixture of registration classes but the PSE Google Classrooms are based on our registration classes so that Pupil Support teachers can be in touch with their own pupils.
Our new Google Classroom Trouble Shooting Guide is now available on the Online Learning section of our website.
It can be found alongside our pupil help sheets here:
