Staying Safe!

We have been asked to share the following information with our school community.  Good advice about young people staying safe around water.

Water Safety Leaflet

S2-S3 Course Choice Information

Thank you to all parents/carers that attended our recent course choice evening (Monday 28th of November). We hope you found the evening helpful and informative, if you were unable to attend please use the links below to access the course choice information video and the FAQs from the evening. 

The course choice process will begin early in the New Year on the 5th of January. To support students through the process there will be time in PSE to discuss options with their teacher, this will be based on their knowledge of the student and coursing advice from teachers. Students will then bring this information home and if you feel changes need to be made you can do so at this point. 

For further information please see the course choice section on our website where you can access our curriculum map and get more detailed information on all of the courses available. 

S3 Course Choice – Curriculum Map

Course Choice Video Link

S2 into S3 parent-carer questions – 2022_23.docx – Google Docs

 

 

 

 

Christmas Holiday Support

1. Midlothian Foodbank

1. A reminder that a full list of warm spaces in Midlothian is available on the Council website here and a full list of other supports here.

2. Laundry Service: Midlothian Council has opened a small grants round for organisations to work in partnership with others to provide free access to local wash and dry laundry facilities for low income households. Pilots will commence in January to the end of March 23. There is £33,000 available to cover the full pilot under the Midlothian Cares approach, which also includes a tendered quotes aspect for a pick up and drop off wash and dry facility.  The aim is to support 200 people with one wash and dry per week for 3 months.  Depending on the level of tenders and grant applications the fund will be split proportionately to responses. If you are interested in applying  please use the form attached and return to CLL@midlothian.gov.uk  by 15th December 2022. Please note you must download the application to your own device before you fill it in otherwise the next person who opens it will see your details.    APPLICATION

Feedback Form Responses 191222

No questions raised in last week’s update.  Just a kind message regarding our recent panto, Snow White.

S3 Parents’ Evening 2022: Parent/Carer Feedback

Thank you to all parents/carers who booked and attended virtual appointments for our S3 Parents’ Evening (Tuesday 13th of December ). We hope you all had a very positive experience and look forward to communicating with you again in the near future:

• Course Choice Evening (Virtual) – Tuesday 24th January 2023 18:00 – 19:30
• S3 Full Report –  Thursday 16th March 2023

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:

• We have moved from a telephone to virtual system
• Appointment times were reduced from 5 minutes to 4 minutes to allow families and staff time to prepare for their next appointment and/or step away from the screen briefly.

Given that there are 300 students in the S3 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 S3 Parents Evening Feedback Form Google Form by Friday 30th December .

Midlothian Holiday Period

HT Update: Week Ending 16th December 2022

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:  a series of Christmas Assemblies for all year groups on Monday,  please also note we break up on Tuesday with school finishing at it’s normal time 3.25pm,  Students return to school on Thursday 5th January 2023.  

Staffing Update: Congratulations to Jeff Meechan on his successful appointment as Teacher of History.  Mr Meechan has been with us for a few weeks on a temporary basis but is now a permanent member of our staff.  

S1/2 Disco:  Unfortunately this event, scheduled for Monday 19th December,  has been cancelled.

Chromebooks: We have carried out an audit of all chromebooks in school and updated our internal school procedures.  The key thing for all students is that they are expected to bring their Chromebook, fully charged, every day. We ask that parents/carers encourage this practice to become an established habit.  

Communities Lifelong Learning & Employability (CLLE):  Please click here to access a list of the courses that will be starting in the New Year and facilitated through CLLE.  In addition, ‘Making Work Work – for Midlothian Mums’  is a course that aims to support mums in Midlothian looking to step back into the workplace or progress in work following a career break. If you would like more information about this  programme it can be found here: https://www.makingworkwork.scot/midlothian    The sign up link is here: https://www.makingworkwork.scot/events

SQA 2023:  SQA have reviewed the 2023 Exam Timetable to take account of the public holiday marking the King’s coronation on 8 May. The revised version of the 2023 timetable is now available here on the SQA website. They’ve moved the exams that were scheduled for this date to alternative dates.  This affects German and Design and Manufacture exams at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher. Please note we produce our Lasswade SQA 2023 Timetable which is issued to students.  Exams dates will not change but timings sometimes do to accommodate school transport.

School Panto:  A sincere thank you to all parents/carers and friends of the school who attended our Christmas Panto, Snow White, on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th December.   The students and staff involved produced outstanding evenings of entertainment.  Their dedication and commitment, never mind their talent,  was a treat to witness.  Congratulations.  We cannot wait to see Sunshine on Leith in the Summer Term.    

Season’s Greetings: This is the final HT Weekly update of 2022.  Best wishes to all of you from all of us at Lasswade for the Christmas and New Year Period.  Thank you to all parents/carers for your support over this year.  It’s hugely appreciated.   Enjoy your break and as always, Be Good.

If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below

Feedback here

Take Care

Campbell Hornell and Ali Mitchell,  Head Teachers

Feedback Form Responses 121222

No questions from our updated posted on 09/12/22.  A few thank you messages relating to our Christmas Concert and best wishes message for Mr MacWhirter.

HT Update: Week Ending 9th December 2022

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:  S4 students involved in First Aid Training, Monday through Thursday; Student Voice Year Councils for all year groups are being held across the week;  on Tuesday we’ll hold our S3 Virtual  Parents’ Evening;  on Wednesday there are P7 students visiting in the afternoon to be part of our audience for our school pantomime, Snow White,  with public performances on Wednesday and Thursday Evening beginning at 7.00pm;  next Friday is our last Dress Down Day of 2022 and our now annual Santa Dash organised by our PE Team.

Staffing Update:  Coinciding with Suzanne Yule’s return as DHT in January (intimated last week) Jonny MacWhirter, who has been part of our Senior Team since January, is returning to his substantive DHT role at Beeslack CHS.  Jonny has been a popular and effective member of our school with both staff and students.  We thank him for his work with us and wish him well on his return to Beeslack.  He will finish with us at the end of term.  

Podcast: You can listen to the latest episode of our Lasswade Life Podcast here about our successes and achievements and improvement agenda for this session. Thanks to those involved for their input.

Winter Warmer:  The Parental Employability Support Team within Midlothian Council, are working in partnership with English for Speakers of Other Languages (Midlothian Council), Napier University, Edinburgh College and Skills Development Scotland on an event, please click here for details.  They are looking to connect with anyone who does not have English as their first language, it does not matter if they have been living in Midlothian for a long time or a short time, all are welcome.  Children are also welcome if they are at home with young ones.  It is taking place in Dalkeith Arts Centre on Thursday 15^th December between 2pm and 4pm.  It is a drop in so anyone can pop in between those times, feel free to share with anyone else you think may have an interest in this event.

Christmas Concert: A huge congratulations and thank you to all the Performing Arts students, staff, instrumental teachers, technical support and wider team for a fantastic concert on Wednesday evening. It was brilliant to see and hear such talented students performing for a packed audience of family and friends. 

School Photographs:  Coldwells Art, who undertake our school photographs of students, have asked us to share the following information.   They have delivered everything ordered to date but please, if there are any queries click here.  Parents/carers should now go directly to Coldwells and not to our School Office.  This notice also confirms, there is a provision for digital orders only, before Christmas.  

Digital Learning, Parent/Carer Webinars:   Please find below details of some upcoming webinars for families. You are encouraged, as parents and carers, to register and attend an online session.  There are four webinars that will focus on what parents/carers can do to help keep your child safe online and how you can support your child to get the most out of his/her device.  Each webinar,  we’ve included the primary and secondary sessions, is held from 7.00pm , for an hour, on the following dates:

• Tuesday 24 January- Digital Safety (ELC/Primary) Click here to register
• Wednesday 25 January- Digital Safety (Secondary) Click here to register
• Tuesday 7 February- Supporting Your Child With Their Device (Primary) Click here to register
• Wednesday 8 February- Supporting Your Child With Their Device (Secondary) Click here to register

Industrial Action: Please note that the two main teacher unions, the EIS and SSTA, have announced further days of industrial action in January 2023.  The two days that have been announced are Wednesday 11th January (EIS and SSTA) and Thursday 26th January (EIS).   SSTA plan to announce additional date(s) shortly.  Our hope of course is that there is a resolution to the dispute and these planned dates do not transpire.  However, early notice will alert parents/carers to possible childcare issues.  As always we’ll confirm exact arrangements when we can as we follow Midlothian wide discussion and decision making.  

School Panto:  A reminder that our Christmas Panto, Snow White will be held, in-person, on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th December.    Tickets are available via ParentPay.  

Mission Christmas & Food Bank Donations: From Monday 28th November to Friday 9th December, we have been collecting food bank donations and children’s’ gifts for Mission Christmas. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.  We have had a fabulous response and will share details next week.  

If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below

Feedback here

Take Care

Campbell Hornell and Ali Mitchell,  Head Teachers

Free School Meals, Scottish Child Payment & Dalkeith Storehouse

Help with school meals during school holidays | Free school meals and clothing grants | Midlothian Council

Free School Meals – Tuesday 10th & Wednesday 11th January

Payment	Paid to Bank Accounts	Notes/Comments
School closures due to Industrial Action 10/01/2023	Tuesday 10th January 2023	£2.10 per Primary School pupil (except Saltersgate)
School closures due to Industrial Action 11/01/2023	Wednesday 11th January 2023	£2.30 per Secondary pupil (except Saltersgate)

 

 

Free School Meals – Christmas Holidays

Please click on the link for more information about Free School Meal payments during the holidays: Help with school meals during the holidays

Scottish Child Payment
Changes to Scottish Child Payment took effect on 14 November 2022. From 14 November it is available for eligible children under the age of 16 and is increased in value to £25 a week for each child.

You will need to take action to apply for the Scottish Child Payment even if you currently receive Bridging Payments. Bridging Payments are coming to an end, with the final payment due in December 2022. No further Bridging Payments will be made once these awards have been made. If you are eligible for a Bridging Payment in December, you will still receive it whether or not you have applied for Scottish Child Payment.

If you are eligible, and have responsibility for one or more children aged 6 to 15, you need to take action after 14 November 2022 to ensure you receive the support you are entitled to. Please click on the link for more information about this payment: Scottish Child Payment

Dalkeith Storehouse
From 9th January 2023, requests for food parcels can be made to Dalkeith Storehouse. Please get in touch if you would like us to share the referral details with you.