On Wednesday 26th October our Higher and National 5 Media classes were invited to the Sky television studios in Livingston to work with professionals in the industry, along with state of the art equipment, to plan, create, film, star in, and edit their own film trailers.
This concise weekly HT Update will be published every Friday afternoon with a simple opportunity for you to also feedback/ask questions via the link at the bottom of each Update. Feedback received, where appropriate, will be responded to and published on Monday afternoons on the school website link.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Next week’s key events include; Student Voice Year Councils, on all week, the second round of our involvement in PISA assessments on Tuesday as part of the international study that compares the learning of students across a range of countries, on Wednesday Art & Design and French will run a trip, on Thursday we’ll issue the our first Alert Report of the session for those students in the Senior Phase.
Staffing Updates: Today we said goodbye to Mick O’Gorman our PT Complex Needs and Eilidh MacLeod, Teacher of Social Studies. Both of these colleagues have made a huge impact on our school, we thank them and wish them well in their new schools. We welcome, on Monday 31st October, Beverley Dobbie who joins the Art & Design Team. From next week, we also welcome Sue Anderson who will be joining us as our new DYW coordinator on a part-time basis.
Shared HT Role update: Further to previous updates, it has been agreed that the current arrangements will be slightly extended. Ms Mitchell as full-time HT while I continue my short-term project with Midlothian. This arrangement will now remain in place until Friday 18th November. This will allow for the additional piece of work I am currently working on to be fully concluded.
In-service day: On Tuesday of this week staff worked on matters relating to Learning Teaching & Assessment, school trips training and on Wellbeing.
P7 Open Evening: Our P7 Open Evening was held on Wednesday. This is our first formal engagement with pupils and their parents/carers who are currently in P7 to support primary/secondary school transition. Over 60 staff led 52 workshops across the school. We welcomed nearly 600 guests into the building – our biggest ever event! The ‘on the spot’ feedback was generally hugely positive. Please have a look on our social media for some of the footage.
S1 Hallowe’en Disco: On Thursday we welcomed well over 140 students to our Hallowe’en Disco. The event was expertly organised by a group of our S6 students and supported by staff. Our thanks to these students and staff. Many of our S1 students really pushed the boat out regarding their costumes. In addition, their attitude and behaviour on the evening was excellent. Please have a look on our social media for some of the footage.
Review of Qualifications and Assessment: Phase 2 of an independent review of Senior Phase Qualifications and Assessment has recently opened with a closing date of Friday 16th December 2022. This consultation is part of wider education reforms being undertaken and should in the fullness of time result in potentially significant changes around how students secure qualifications in school. We are finalising the details of a parental event to be held in November and will provide details on that next week. That event will be designed to inform parents but also to gather their views to inform our school response. Individuals are also able to respond. Details are available via the following link click here
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell and Ali Mitchell, Head Teachers
The SQA will provide schools with the results of all appeals on Monday 31st October. Students who are in school should speak to their previous class teacher, or the Principal Teacher of the faculty, to find out the result of their appeal. Ms Struthers will also be available to assist with any queries. Additionally, our SQA dedicated email address, lasswadehs-sqa@midlothian.education, is also open for queries.
Former students will be notified by email.
Please be aware that whilst some grades will have gone up, a number will remain unchanged. The SQA have prepared a document to explain their process to students and parents and this is provided for you below.
As this is the SQA’s final stage in the exam process, please be aware that:
SQA will issue new certificates from 11th November.
AppealOutcomes2022_InformationForParentsCarersLearners_final (3) (1)
With the October break it’s a slight longer time between the HT Weekly update and our response to issues raised.
| My Question | Comment | Suggestion related to the school this week is: | HT’s Response |
|
Do you have a date yet for S1 parents evening? |
Our S1 Parents Evening will be held on Thursday 2nd March 2023. |
| Will this be virtual or face to face? | Virtual. It will be held via our video conference platform. All our Parents Evenings are held this way this session. We’ll review it through our Parent Council later in the session. |
There is lots of great work going on around Celebrating Wider Achievement at Lasswade High School. Please check out our first Wider Achievement newsletter below:
This concise weekly HT Update will be published every Friday afternoon with a simple opportunity for you to also feedback/ask questions via the link at the bottom of each Update. Feedback received, where appropriate, will be responded to and published on Monday afternoons on the school website link.
Key messages from this week
October Break: A reminder that next week is our October break and that all Midlothian schools will remain closed on Monday 24 October as a replacement for Monday 19 September 2022. The staff only In-service day will now take place on Tuesday 25 October and students should return to school on Wednesday 26 October.
Calendar: On our first week back key events include Active Girls Day for our Senior Phase on Wednesday. Our P7/S1 Transition begins with our first in-person P7 Information Evening since 2019 on Wednesday. Finally, a selection of students will undertake PISA assessments on Thursday as part of the international study that compares the learning of students across a range of countries.
Bonnyrigg & District Community Council: The first meeting of this new group, following the merging of two local community councils, was held this week. The school, as a central part of the community, will look to engage with the newly elected Office Bearers to plan and implement work to support our community. We look forward to this opportunity.
Parent Council: Thank you to all who were able to attend our meeting on Monday. Sara Adam was confirmed as the new sole Chair of the Parent Council. John French has stepped down as co-Chair after 12 years service. Thank you to John for all his work. There are still some roles available on the Parent Council for anyone able to support. This includes Treasurer, 200 Club and also an opportunity to share the Chair role with Sara. Please contact Sara via email, lasswade_hs@midlothian.gov.uk if you are able to help.
S2 Parents’ Evening: Our first Video Parents’ Evening was held on Tuesday of this week. We are keen to hear from those parents/carers who ‘attended’ via a short survey. This allows us to learn for future evenings. Please click here to submit your feedback.
Senior Phase Assessment Calendar: Information relating to our Assessment Calendar is now live on our website and will be of interest to parents/carers of our S4/5/6 students. To access information please click here
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care and enjoy the October Break
Campbell Hornell and Ali Mitchell, Head Teachers
The Senior Phase Assessment Calendar from October to December is now available. Students will be able to access this through the Google Calendar app on their Chromebooks. Below you will also find a short video on how to use Google Calendar, to ensure students find it as easy as possible.
This year we have also asked that staff alert all students to their class’s assessments so that they can add them to their personal Google Calendars – this way each student will be able to create a personalised assessment calendar. Students have received an assembly about this, the PowerPoint slides are also attached here for reference.
For any students who do not have the ‘link’ to the assessment calendar, it has been posted in their year group Google Classrooms. By clicking on the link it’ll ask them to add the calendar, they should then be able to view it in the app. If anyone is having difficulty, a member of staff should be able to support them with this.
A ‘schedule view’ of all October to December’ assessments is provided below too – if preferred. Updates will be made to the calendar prior to the Christmas holidays at this point assessments for January – April will be finalised.
Assessment Calendar PowerPoint Slides 22
Thank you to all parents/carers who booked and attended virtual appointments for our S2 Parents’ Evening (Wednesday 11th October). We hope you all had a very positive experience and look forward to communicating with you again in the near future:
We would like to take this opportunity to gather your feedback, as this is the first Parents’ Evening of the school year and we have made some changes from last year:
Given that there are 300 students in the S2 cohort, we recognise that it is very challenging to suit every circumstance. However, we value parent/carer feedback and use it to evaluate your experiences and implement change. We would appreciate it if you could complete this short S2 Parent/Carer Feedback Google Form by Friday 28th October.
| My Question | Comment | Suggestion related to the school this week is: | HT’s Response |
|
I’ve only just found out about the Headteacher’s Update. I’m sure I’m not alone in not noticing it. Please can you make it more prominent on the website home page. |
A link sits at the bottom of the homepage in the Yellow section. Will discuss a more prominent link with our website partner.
|
| Mr Hornell also mentioned a Thursday communication. I didn’t receive this communication. How was it shared? | Via Groupcall which goes to what our system defines as the ‘Main Contact’ of each student. Apologies. Have checked this morning, it was sent on Wednesday not Thursday. |
This concise weekly HT Update will be published every Friday afternoon with a simple opportunity for you to also feedback/ask questions via the link at the bottom of each Update. Feedback received, where appropriate, will be responded to and published on Monday afternoons on the school website link.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Upcoming significant events next week include our second Parent Council Meeting on Monday (additional details below), our first video based Parents Evening this session for the parent/carers of S2 on Tuesday, Junior Active Girls Day (periods 1 & 2 for BGEd students) and our S6 Trip to Blackpool both on Wednesday.
Quality Assurance Visit: On Monday of this week we were visited by three colleagues from Midlothian Council. The visit is part of a programme the council puts in place to support and challenge all schools. Last week I visited, with others, Kings Park PS. Our visitors had a school tour led by Ms Mitchell and two S6 students. This allowed us to share school information in context from a staff and student perspective. Our discussion themes focussed on how we approach the leadership of change and improvement as well as the associated impact of our work. This discussion involved a significant input from two of our School Captains who outlined their role in the review and refresh of our school values undertaken last session.
SQA Appeals 2022: Within the next few weeks, SQA will have concluded all appeal review activity. Today we have been informed by SQA that the outcome of appeals will be issued to schools on Monday 31 October 2022. Staff will share that with students as soon as possible thereafter. Updated certificates will be posted to students from Friday 11 November 2022.
Additional Holiday: Just in case you missed our communication on Thursday! At Wednesday’s Midlothian Council meeting it was agreed that all Midlothian schools will remain closed on Monday 24 October as a replacement for Monday 19 September 2022; the staff only In-service day will now take place on Tuesday 25 October instead of Monday 24 October; and students should return to school on Wednesday 26 October. It is recognised that the additional school closure day may have childcare implications for some families, therefore we have communicated this decision at the soonest opportunity with reminders as appropriate.
Parent Council: As highlighted above our next meeting will be held on Monday 10th October from 7.00pm. This is an in-person meeting. Details of the agenda are on our website click here. You’ll see we’ll share the outcomes from SQA 2022 and the process of reflection we’ve gone through. We’ll also share an updated draft on our communication practices with parents/carers. To remind you of our communication strategy please see our website click here As always we’ll seek the support and advice from our Parent Council on both issues to inform our next steps.
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell and Ali Mitchell, Head Teachers