Kinlochleven launches joint education campus
Kinlochleven enjoyed the official launch of its joint three to 18 campus last week.
This has involved combining Kinlochleven nursery, primary and high school after months of work and will see the schools amalgamated under head teacher Rebecca Machin.
Pupils and staff from both schools were joined by Highland Council quality improvement manager Don Esson and primary school parent council chairwoman Pauline Byers for the official unveiling.
Central to the work over the last year has been the creation of an environment based upon core values and what is known as an RRS approach: Responsible; Respected; Safe.
Both primary secondary pupils consulted on which and were words they felt best exemplified what school was and should be, before voting for their top five. The survey was mainly conducted by young people from the primary school, who catalogued the survey results. The winning five values were: Kind, Ambitious, Honest, Confident, Included.
These core values were then illustrated by an S3 art class under the guidance of teacher Eilidh Stewart before being launched at a special assembly for the entire school from the nursery to S6. The values are now displayed throughout the school building serving as reminders and a steer for all members of the school community.
Mrs Machin said: ‘As we said in the presentation quoting Jay Asher, ‘You Can’t Stop the Future’. We have worked hard to ensure that nursery, primary and secondary pupils have equity in their provision and so the schools will always have a depute at either end of the building and, knowing that these sector experts are in place, opens up the possibility of professional growth for any staff coming in in the future. However, the only way to make a success of a three-18 model like this one is to make sure that all of the young people are consulted in the coming alterations and are encouraged to embrace its potential.
‘We knew that we would need to be proactive and work hard to make sure that the young people were at the centre of all that we do.
‘I feel they have done that and I can’t stress how proud I am of the way they are taking to becoming one school. I’m so pleased to be working with our amazing young people and love the work they put into producing their core values. It truly points to a bright future for all of us.’