A few words from Mr Morrison

As we draw to the close of another academic year, it is worth noting what has been lost, what has been gained and what we can look forward to a return to next year.

Firstly, we will be losing four of our senior pupils, who will be moving on to life after Falkland House School. We wish Luca, Ryan, Sol and Harris all the best for their future as they consider the world of work, college and independent adult life.

We have also had a change of staffing within our education team as the delivery of Art has been seamlessly handed over from the capable hands of Ms Davie to the equally capable hands of Mrs Stewart.

Even in this testing year we have been able to continue learning in a consistent manner, which has allowed us to submit a substantial amount of pupils for SQA course awards, from National 2 to Adv Higher.

Next year we will be looking to further embed our Outdoor Learning curriculum and Duke of Edinburgh awards. We will also be developing entrepreneurial activities within our Contract Services Company. Congratulations must be given to Thomas and Robbie for both successfully being awarded the position of manager with the company. They will have the joint responsibility of managing their fellow pupils while producing creative ideas for improving the grounds of the school.

It will be buoying in the New Year to be able to return to normal routines within and around the school. The pupils recently enjoyed an excursion to Blair Drummond Safari park. Now that we finally have the green light to visit farther afield, we will be planning more learning experiences out with the school building.

Within the school building we are continuing to look at developments both physical and educational. In the New Year we will be introducing collegiate working groups which will focus, amongst other things, on the development of a social and emotional curriculum, whole school literacy and numeracy and interdisciplinary learning.

For the Education Team, this will involve further investment in technology and improving the aesthetic and functionality of our environment with Autism in mind.

We have reintroduced our Skills Development Scotland worker with a return to face-to-face interviews and group work. We will hopefully have more opportunities to allow our senior pupils to experience college and work experience. Two of the boys have taken advantage of the opportunity to receive work experience in the kitchen. Full thanks should be given to Mr Fearful and Mrs King, our School Cooks, for their help in making this a very positive and fruitful experience.

As we approach the end of term, we look forward to a slightly low-key Celebrating Success Day when compared to previous years. However, there are still lots of academic, whole school and personal awards to be received by pupils.

I finish by recognising that there must be a blanket praise for the fact that our young people have all navigated an uncertain and inconsistent year, which will no doubt impact upon everyone’s collective memory for years to come, but will hopefully highlight the freedoms that we all cherish but sometimes take for granted.