The School Today Year In View: Heads & Deputies

Year in View: Heads and Deputies

During the challenges of lockdown, our pupils have shown immense reliance, maintaining the ability to connect with friends despite the physical distance.

Additionally, through lockdown we as pupils were able to reevaluate our learning styles and demonstrate adaptability to alter this towards a more virtual environment. As a result, many improvements have been made to our learning since we have returned to school, such as utilising our iPads more by the use of Microsoft Teams and mainly becoming paperless through scanning our work on our iPads, which we see as a big positive. This unique online learning opportunity was made successful by the whole High School community getting involved in many different departments. Activities such as a virtual Sports Day, Baking Challenges and the introduction of Quarantimes; a pupil led online newspaper with lockdown stories and events. Quarantimes, in turn, fostered creativity and created an opportunity for more pupils to continue to show their talents during lockdown. A new HSD Instagram page also became very successful, bringing parents, teachers, pupils and former pupils together to compete in challenges set by the PE department. Everyone enjoyed watching peers compete in anything from spinning challenges to the limbo. If you want to see what we all got up to, you can visit the page here: bit.ly/34xwSZt.

With many of the post-exam programmes cancelled, pupils in the senior years seized the opportunity to get ahead with the next stage of their learning, not letting the lockdown period burden our academic learning. The school community has shown great initiative in this respect and has continued to have a proactive approach to classes since returning to school. Over the summer, the Senior Years’ pupils received the first ever set of results for exams we did not get to sit. As expected, this created a lot of mixed feelings and definitely emphasised the importance of prelims! The HSD community spirit was essential in helping pupils during the stress of exam results but also in celebrating the many, many successes to come from these results.

The return to school created great excitement mixed with nerves. Pupils and teachers were eager to see the HSD family again after a long period of limited interaction with each other. Uncertainty of the unknown of a new school life has been quickly put to rest as everyone got involved in their new curriculum. The school day has been drastically changed with the normal eight periods being split into two four period classes. These longer lessons are very different to all of us, but already teachers have found innovative and exciting ways to keep the longer classes just as engaging and compelling. The Royal Exchange Building has become a temporary addition to the High School with Junior Years and the Music Department using this space, an exciting opportunity to utilise a fresh, new learning area. Co-curricular activities have also had a very welcome return. House Hockey and Rugby taking place on Saturday mornings have helped to bring the school together and make it feel like we are a step closer to normality in these uncertain times. The hope of future performances in the Caird Hall and sporting fixtures are keeping everyone enthusiastic and excited for what’s to come. At first this coming school year did look shaky and unusual but so far everyone has worked extremely hard to keep the school safe. We, as Heads and Deputies of the School, believe the resilience already shown by the HSD community will bode us well for the future, despite its current uncertainties.

Heads of School: Laurence Petty & Callum Todd

Deputy Heads of School: Christina Kennedy & Angus Neville