FREE SCHOOL MEALS UPDATE – INDUSTRIAL ACTION 28/02/23 & 01/03/23

Link to Free School Meals and Clothing Grants

 

Payment	Paid to Bank Accounts	Notes/Comments
School closures due to Industrial Action 28/02/2023 & 01/03/2023	Tuesday 28th February 2023	£4.20 per Primary School pupil £4.60 per Secondary School pupil

 

HT Update Week Ending 24th February 2023

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: Key events in the school next week: on Monday it’s our S3 Student Voice Year Council; as alerted the next phase of scheduled industrial action takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday with the school closed to all students on both days; on Thursday we have a S4 DofE Training Day, our S1 and S2 Student Voice Year Council meetings and also our virtual S1 Parents’ Evening is on Thursday between 4.30pm – 7.00pm, held via video conferencing; on Friday we’ll hold our S4 Student Voice Year Council.

Staffing Update: This week we offer our congratulations to Sophie Histead (Science/Biology) and family on the birth of baby Innes. Mum and baby are both doing well.     

Midlothian Budget:  On Tuesday of this week Midlothian established their budget plans.  The catastrophic element of the proposals was removed but an impact will be felt. The most significant impact will be a 1% budget reduction in all schools next session.  We expect to receive the full implications of the impact on us over the next few weeks as central staff work up the details for each school.  As you’d expect we have been doing some contingency planning and this allows us to progress most of our work for next session.  If you have time, please follow the link to watch our School Captain, Mollie Gilmore, give an impassioned speech to the Elected Members before their meeting on Tuesday.  We are extremely proud of Mollie.   The other speaker, Callum,  is from Newbattle CHS, with representation in the chamber from almost all secondary schools.  View Mollie, and Callum, from section 4.1 click here

Student/Staff Success: We are proud that our colleague and students have been involved in impacting the future of women in business as a result of the work that Ms Gee has been involved in with the Scottish Government. Their thoughts and contributions are captured in this publication click here

QR Code Update: Following consultation between our Student Parliament and SLT it has been agreed to withdraw the requirement for S5 and S6 students to use the QR code when leaving class.  Following analysis of the data it has been confirmed that S5/S6 students out of class are not causing a major issue.  They are also wishing acknowledgement of being part of the school adult population and we are sure they can be trusted to conduct themselves appropriately and prioritise their studies in class. We will continue to use the system for all S1-S4 students from Monday 27th February.

Senior Phase Course Choice:  Course choice will take place for all S3,S4 and S5 students from now until 20/03/23. Students will attend a scheduled course choice meeting with their Student Support teacher or a member of SLT over this period. Students should discuss any questions they have about next year with their teachers and our website also holds a huge amount of information.  This week Miss Petrie also led on a series of Year Assemblies.   Please ask your child how this process is progressing and do not hesitate to contact their Student Support teacher if you have any questions around the process. 

Easthouses Education Consultation – Please follow the link below to access information on the proposal to establish a new primary school and its associated catchment area within the land at Easthouses.  This also will involve a realignment of the catchment areas of Lasswade High School, Dalkeith High School and Newbattle High School.  The consultation opens on Monday 27th February and closes on Sunday 23rd April 2023.  Midlothian Council are seeking your views should you wish to offer them.  You can find more information, such as the consultation proposal document and online survey, at click here  Please note the page will go live on Monday 27th February but we are obligated to inform you before it goes live.

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 21/02/23

Feedback submitted from HT Update week ending on 10/02/23.  Apologies, the holiday week has delayed our response.

My Question | Comment | Suggestion related to the school this week is:	HT’s Response
The dress down day on Friday isn’t just a regular dress down day – it’s Purple Friday. Why is there no mentioning of this in the update? Surely we should be promoting this event no?	In the HT Update we routinely just ‘advertise’ the calendar events as Dress Down Day and don’t go into detail.  That keeps the length of the update down.  It also means that an additional website post for parents/carers and Year Group Classroom posts for students are part of our publicity as we work towards events like Purple Friday.

Dress Down Day – Friday 24th February 2023

Dress down day on Friday 24th February – WEAR IT PURPLE!!

Please give what you can.

Money raised will be donated to LGBT Youth Scotland.

Payments can be made on ParentPay or in cash on the way into school on Friday.

S1 Parents’ Evening 2023 – Reminder

Our staff are looking forward to meeting with S1 parents/carers for the S1 Parents’ Evening on Thursday 2nd March 2023 between 4.30pm and 7pm.

The booking system opens at 9am on Monday 20th February and will close at 3.30pm on Tuesday 28th February. Please ensure that you are aware of all your booked appointments. We recommend that families enter their appointments into personal calendars to avoid missing out. 

All of our Parents’ Evenings are now fully online (video call), so please read the Parent/Carer User Guide ahead of the evening or watch this useful video Video Meetings Demo, with Troubleshooting.

Please also check all of your system requirements ahead of time, including that your speakers and microphone work effectively.

If you can no longer attend the Parents’ Evening or a specific appointment, please cancel it online as this will free up appointments for other students and families.

HT Update Week Ending 10th February

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: Holiday next and we return on Monday 20th February, key events that week include:  Senior  Phase Course Choice begins on Monday; there is a S3 Course Choice Assembly on Tuesday; S3 DofE Curricular Bronze Training Day is on Wednesday as is S5 Course Choice/LEAPS Assemblies;  on Thursday we’ll issue the Senior Phase Report; S4 Course Choice Assembly are also on Thursday; Friday 24th February is a Dress Down Day

Staffing Update: This week we offer our best wishes to Emma Haynes, P.E. who starts her maternity leave after the February break; we wish her good health and enjoy the rest before the baby arrives.  Matt Solomons, POD Youth Worker leaves us today to start his career in the police force.  We thank him for his work with the school and wish him all the best in this new chapter.                                                                                                                                                                                 

Planned Industrial Action:  Please click here to access a letter regarding upcoming Industrial Action.  If the action goes ahead it means schools will be closed on Tuesday 28th February and Wednesday 1st March.    

SCQF Ambassador Programme: As part of our work we have been approached by SCQF to participate in a short film about our curriculum/learner pathways, to showcase our work and journey towards our Silver Award which we are almost ready to submit the evidence for.  Congratulations to the School Ambassadors and Angela Wallerstein for their hard work on this. We’ll let you know when the film is ready to be premiered. 

Midlothian Council Budget:  Further to the main budget setting Council meeting on 21 February our School Captains have requested a Deputation.  This is an in-person ‘audience’ just prior to the Budget Meeting with Elected Members.  The students are concerned about some of the options that remain under consideration.   This includes a possible reduction in teacher staffing of over 170 full-time equivalents over the next five years.  

Midlothian CLLE:  Please click here to access a message regarding looking to switch careers or indeed just start a new hobby or volunteer                                                                                                                                                              

If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below,  we’ll respond on Monday 20th February

Feedback here

Take Care and enjoy the February Break if you’re off work, or if not love your work

Campbell Hornell and Ali Mitchell,  Head Teachers

SQA – Appeals Process 2023

The SQA have announced the appeals process for this year’s exams. It will be significantly different to last year’s process, and bears more resemblance to the way in which appeals were decided pre-Covid.

The Process

This year any student will be able to request an appeal, if they believe their grade is incorrect. However, no in-class assessments, or prelims will be sent to the SQA as alternative evidence. Instead the SQA will review SQA marked exams and coursework to ensure the marking is in line with national standards.

A appeal can be requested by a student, or by the school on a student’s behalf. In addition, the process will be free this year.

A priority appeals service will be available to students who require an urgent appeal for entry into a college or university course.

Does my evidence matter then?

Your evidence will still be used if you require the SQA’s Exceptional Circumstances Consideration Service. This service is for students who, for exceptional reasons, find themselves unable to sit an exam. In this case we would provide your assessment evidence to the SQA to enable them to derive your final grade.

Perhaps most importantly, your assessment evidence will be used by you and your teacher to plan your next steps in learning. Regular feedback is vital for improvement and formal opportunities for you to practice your skills under exam conditions are important to show how you are progressing with key course skills and knowledge.

More detail can be found here on the SQA website.

FREE SCHOOL MEALS UPDATE – FEBRUARY BREAK 2023

Link to Free School Meals and Clothing Grants

 

Payment	Paid to Bank Accounts	Notes/Comments
February Break 2023	Tuesday 14th February	£10.50 per Primary School pupil £11.50 per Secondary School pupil

Feedback Form Responses 070223

No feedback gathered from the HT Update Week-ending 03/02/23.

S1 Parents’ Evening 2023

On Thursday 2nd March 2023 between 4.30pm and 7pm, the online S1 Parents’ Evening will be taking place. The system that we use for S1-S6 Parents’ Evenings is called ‘ParentBooking.com’ (see website https://www.parents-booking.co.uk/lasswade).

The booking system opens at 9am on Monday 20th February and will close at 3.30pm on Tuesday 28th February.

All of our Parents’ Evenings are now fully online (video call), so if you have not taken part in an online Parents’ Evening at Lasswade HS before, please read the Parent/Carer User Guide ahead of the evening or watch this useful video Video Meetings Demo, with Troubleshooting.

Each student can book a maximum of 10 appointments. Each appointment lasts for 4 minutes (on screen timer) with a minute in between consecutive appointments.