An open message to the staff and leadership of Broughton High School – thank you

To the leadership and teachers of Broughton High School – an open message

As parents we thought it was important to take a moment to reflect on everything Broughton High School has done for our young people.

We realise that the start of this term must be one of the strangest for school leaders and teachers.  We know there are many questions still to be answered, particularly around assessment methods,  and the possibility of teaching both face to face and virtually in the event of a local outbreak.  We appreciate how difficult it is to manage where advice from government and council will inevitable change.  We know that as many of you are both teachers and parents you share our concerns.

You of course have concerns about how these decisions impact you personally.  You will be questioning how safe you feel as you come out of lock down.  You will be considering how you can remain socially distant in a busy classroom.  

We all now know that this year is likely to remain unsettled. Might there be changes to assessment methods? Might school need to turn on and off virtual teaching? What might change if we had a local outbreak of COVID-19?

Amidst all of this, you are called upon to react to the difficult situation regarding this year’s SQA moderation.  We recognise the hard work all teachers did gathering, marking, moderating, and applying their professional judgement to assess all our children who were entered for exams.  And we can only imagine the disappointment and frustration seeing so much change made at a national level.

The role of a parent body in the school is often about asking questions, raising areas for improvement, and giving feedback on what could be better.  But at the start of this term we want to say one thing. 

Thank you.

To every teacher who spent hours working out how to deliver the curriculum virtually during lock down, thank you.

To every teacher who spotted a student struggling with practical, social or emotional aspects of lock down and stepped in to help, thank you.

To every teacher who thought creatively about how to engage children differently, thank you.

To every teacher who pored over assessments, marked and remarked work, checked for consistency, and ensured they had strong evidence on which to submit grades, thank you.

To everyone involved in re-thinking school, re-timetabling, and working out new ways of working to enable Broughton to operate differently, thank you.

To every teacher facing a mound of appeals, and facing them positively for the good of our children, thank you.

We know this year is likely to be one of the most challenging we have all faced.  Thank you for rising to the challenge so far, and we know you will do everything possible to help our children and our school thrive and build resilience. We will continue to support you throughout the year.

From many parents including our parent council.