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Engineering Career Information for 23 Jan

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For Jan 25 community bulletin ESAS Parent Carer Survey

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Head Teacher's Message - January 2026

Dear Parents & Carers,

In the blink of an eye we find ourselves in the 4th week of term 3 with the festive period but a distant memory. This term is traditionally one of the busiest in the session, with important milestones for learners across all year groups, and this bulletin gives a sense of the range of activity underway.

We continue to see strong levels of participation and achievement across learning and in wider opportunities. In the Creative Arts, learners are preparing new work and entering national competitions, including the Rotary Young Artist and Photographer awards, while our Art & Design clubs and classes remain very well attended. In Music and Drama, recent achievements have included Grade 8 success and high-profile performances with the Dundee Schools Pipe Band whilst a number of our learners travelled to Wurzburg to participate the in the StraMU Festival, further strengthening our tradition of performance at local, national and international events. In PE, we are celebrating learners who have achieved their National Pool Lifeguard Qualification and those recognised as “Learners of the Month” for effort and commitment to our school values. Our Modern Languages and international links also continue to grow, with learners involved in projects such as Language Explorers Scotland and the Dundee–Orléans partnership, which highlight the value of languages for future pathways.

Term 3 places a particular emphasis on course choice and future planning, and we are very aware of how important these decisions are for our learners and their families. Over the coming weeks, there will be a series of key events and processes to support this. These include S2 Tracking Reports being issued in early February, followed by our S4/5 Pathways Course Choice Evening on 4 February, where we will outline routes into the senior phase and beyond. Later in the term, S5 course choice interviews and the S4 targeted parents’ evening on 23 February will provide more individualised guidance, alongside the issue of S5/6 reports, S1 reports, and the S3 Parents’ Evening on 17 March. All of this is designed to ensure that learners and families have clear, timely information to support well-informed choices.

Alongside this, we continue to strengthen our work on Developing the Young Workforce. Learners are being signposted to a wide range of opportunities, including engineering apprenticeship routes with local and national partners, and other pathways highlighted through our careers and guidance teams. This complements the academic course choice process by helping young people see the links between subjects, skills and future destinations.

You will also be aware that we are continuing our consultation on mobile phone use in school. This conversation is not unique to us with schools across Scotland and beyond reflecting on the role of mobile phones in young people’s lives, balancing the benefits of connectivity and access to information with concerns about distraction, online safety and wellbeing. Our aim is to develop an approach that is clear, fair and workable, and which supports positive relationships and high-quality learning in every classroom. We are grateful to all parents and carers who shared their views with us and we are working on the finer detail of our new policy which is planned to take effect from our change of timetable on 22nd May.

Finally, you may also see references in this bulletin to wider work we are involved in with partners such as Planet Youth Dundee and the University of Glasgow’s Equally Safe at School evaluation team. These initiatives help us to use local data and parent/carer feedback to improve how we support young people’s health, safety and sense of belonging, both in school and in the wider community.

Thank you, as always, for your continued partnership with us. We look forward to working together over what will undoubtedly be a very busy and important term for all of our learners.

Yours Faithfully,
Tim Woodcock
Head Teacher

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Last session the Grove Academy Teaching & Learning Community (TLC) designed our new Framework for Teaching & Leaning - the Grove Academy Learning Pathway. the Grove TLC worked with learners, staff and parents/carers in our community - as well as looking across Scotland for best practice to design and implement our new Learning Pathway to ensure we are preparing every leaner, in every lesson for a successful future.

Please view the attached video created by our Learner GALP Ambassadors.

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Dundee Science Centre x DJCAD

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Following feedback from our learners, teachers and parents we have launched a new non-digital bullying reporting form. This can be found at all guidance offices and at the main reception. We have also updated our QR codes on our posters, so please don't hesitate to report bullying behaviour in a safe and discrete way.

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Computing Dec 25

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YE December 2025

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L-R: Mrs Cunningham (DHT Orchar), Mrs Barbour (DHT Reres), Mr Robertson (DHT Gillies), Mr Woodcock (HT), Mrs Larkworthy (DHT Dawson), Mrs Preston (Business Manager)

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Term 3 – Key Dates

S2 Tracking Reports issued w/b 02/02/2026

S4/5 Pathways Course Choice Evening 04/02/2026

Holiday 13/02/2026

Holiday 16/02/2026

In-Service Day (4) – staff only 17/02/2026

S5 Course Choice Interview 23/02/2026

S4 Targetted Evening 23/02/2026

S5/6 Report issued w/b 18/02/2026

S1 Report issued w/b 09/03/2026

S3 Parents' Evening 17/03/2026

Last day of term 02/04/2026