Dear Parent/Carer,

As always I hope this email finds you and your family safe and well.

I am writing my weekly update cognizant that as lockdown goes into week 4, many of you will be facing a number of pressures. Please rest assured that whilst we may not be able to resolve every matter, we can listen, offer advice and as always, be an anchor point for you. Just lift up the phone or drop us an email and we’ll endeavour to get back to you as quick as we can. Finally, in case you don’t have this to hand, I’ve included the link from our website to indicate what support is available in the Southwest of Edinburgh.

Support for Families South West Edinburgh Winter Edition | Wester Hailes Education Centre (whec.edin.sch.uk)

Remote (online) learning

S3 pupils

On Tuesday 19^th January, we issued 1-1 devices to our S3 pupils to support their learning . This will enable class teachers to set up class Teams, contact  your son/daughter directly via their 1-1 device and start to deliver live lessons. This process is already working for our S4,S5 and S6 pupils and is supporting their learning in a more personalised manner.

S1 and S2 pupils

From today we will contact all the S1 and S2 families who have reported to us that they have no 1-1 device in their home and issue a 1-1 device to them.

On Wednesday 20^th, we placed an order for more ipads and we’re confident, with the City of Edinburgh council’s support, we will have the majority of S1 and S2 pupils with 1-1 school managed devices. This is, of course, if our supply chain is not interrupted by COVID.

Finally for all S1 and S2 pupils please be aware that S1 and S2 live lessons begin wb 25^th January. Look out for the website update and revised timetable.

Parental engagement 

Wb 1^st Feb, I intend to host a series of online ZOOM meetings where parents from each year group can join me online and I can share with you where we are and more importantly, I can listen to you directly,

We will send a groupcall/text message to you informing you what you need to do and post information on the website in next week to alert how to join.

I do hope you can make these and look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes and of course, stay safe.

David Young

Headteacher