Feedback submitted from HT Update week ending on 26/05/23.
| My Question | Comment | Suggestion related to the school this week is: | HT’s Response |
| When do we order zip tops with school logo? Where is it we order them from? | This Friday we have a blazer and half-zip top fitting session for students. That allows students to ‘size’ before you order. In the next couple of days we’ll post a website post with ordering/payment details. We are working with https://www.border-embroideries.co.uk/ as our supplier. |
This concise weekly HT Update is generally published every Friday afternoon. It’s 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 by Monday afternoon on the school website link.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Key events in school next week: on Monday we move forward our timetable; on Tuesday we expect to see students return from Study Leave and will hold our final Parent Council Meeting of the session; on Wednesday we’ll work with our new S6 on their Induction and our Art & Design Team are running the third Jupiter Artland Trip for S2; on Thursday we’ll hold our current P7/new S1 Blazer Fitting session; Friday is our current students Blazer Fitting session
Staffing Update: No particular news other than on-going recruitment, with a number of posts about to go live. I mentioned our Business Manager vacancy last week and it is a crucial appointment. It is a non-traditional school role and as the job title suggests we may appoint someone with a business background not just a school background. My request is that parents with networks, e.g., through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn spread the word. The advert is posted on MyJobScotland and can be accessed via this link, click here. The post closes on Tuesday 6th June.
National Young Musician of the Year Competition: Last Sunday Alister Doig, current S4, represented Midlothian in the young musician of the year competition at the Royal Conservatoire Scotland. Thirty-one students from a range of Local Authorities and independent schools took part. Alister played a super programme to a packed Stevenson Hall audience and 5 eminent adjudicators. Alister gave an outstanding performance that we can all be proud of. Congratulations to the eventual winner, Emily Barron from St Columba’s School, Kilmacolm.
Dress Code Expectations: As indicated last week we have now posted a website story regarding school dress code expectations from next session click here. The changes agreed apply from August. Our existing session 2022/23 expectations still apply. In particular, students should not come to school wearing their PE kit. That option applies from August. Thank you for your anticipated support.
Young Philanthropist Initiative Final: On the afternoon of Thursday 8th June our YPI final will be held in the Assembly Hall supported by our Social Studies staff. All new S3 (current S2) classes will be off timetable to attend this event. Our 8 finalists are aiming to win £3,000 for the local charity they have identified.
New Timetable Update: On Monday we move our timetable forward into the new academic session. Course choice selections have been shared with students and families along with our S1-3 timetables which were distributed in class yesterday. On Tuesday our Senior Phase students return from Study Leave, their timetables should be collected from their House Teams in the Atrium at the beginning of the day. The exception to this are those sitting their Design & Manufacture exam. Their timetables can be collected from Student Support in room 110/111 after the exam on Tuesday. If your child has been absent their timetable can be collected from Student Support when they return.
Recoursing: All timetables have been created using the course choice sheets submitted by students following the course choice process. No recoursing will take place at this time with the exception of any students who believe there to be an administration error (eg. completely the wrong subject on their timetable). Any recoursing for Senior Phase students following exam results will take place in August with additional details shared in due course.
Parent Council: Our last Parent Council Meeting of the session will be held on Tuesday 30th May. The meeting is held in-person from 7.00pm. Details regarding the meeting are on the website 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
Our sixth and final Parent Council Meeting of the session is on Tuesday 30th May. The meeting, in-person, will be held at the school in rooms 114/115 (on the first floor) between 7.00pm and 8.30pm.
As part of the meeting there will be discussion on
All parents/carers are welcome to attend.
Please send in any questions via email to
Or, post a question to the Parent Council Facebook page
All questions should be submitted no later than 1.00pm on Tuesday 30th May.
Ice creams are optional!
We are holding a ‘blazer fitting evening’ on Thursday 1st June at 4pm-6pm for P7 students only. This is an opportunity for P7 students to come along to Lasswade HS and be fitted for a school blazer (non-compulsory item of school uniform). Please do not come any earlier than 4pm as Borders Embroideries (uniform company) will not be set up.
With that in mind, we would like P7 parents/carers to complete the following Google Form to gauge how many families are planning to attend.
Lasswade High School Blazer Fitting 1st June 2023
Our uniform expectation is that all students wear black and white clothing and footwear. In addition to this, an item of clothing with the school badge should be worn at all times in the school building, such as a school tie, a school half zip top, a school blazer or one of our ‘School of Football/School of Rugby’ sweatshirt (or a combination). Please find more information on school uniform in our recent website story: August 2023 Dress Code Finalised Expectations
All P7 students will be issued with a free school tie before/during the June transition days.
On Friday 2nd June, we will be holding another fitting session for the remainder of our students. More information to follow.
No feedback from parents/carers from the HT Update shared on Friday 19th May.
This concise weekly HT Update is generally published every Friday afternoon. It’s 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 by Monday afternoon on the school website link.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Key events in school next week: on Monday we have our final In-service day of the session with school closed to students (other than those doing SQA exams); on Tuesday our STEM Leaders begin visits to associated primary schools; on Wednesday and Thursday our Creative Learning Team will work with targeted students as part of our Study Leave Programme; on Thursday students will attend a Science Club trip to Heriot-Watt University; Friday is our May Dress Down Day and Summer Fete
Staffing Update: On Monday we welcome Claire Crosbie, as our new Principal Teacher in Melville House. Claire will work with Mr McQueen and Mrs Jones within Melville. Welcome also to Sandra Koivurinta who has recently started with us as a school counsellor. Congratulations to Leah Burge who successfully secured the permanent post as Teacher of Wellbeing within our Creative Learning Team. Leah switches from a teaching role within the school in PE.
Business Manager Vacancy: As indicated in previous updates our current Business Manager, Ruth Watson, is leaving us after 19 years of service at the school. The advert to secure her successor is now live. This is a non-traditional school role and as the job title suggests we may appoint someone with a business background not just a school background. My request is that parents with networks, e.g., through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc spread the word. The advert is posted on MyJobScotland and can be accessed via this link, click here. The post closes on Tuesday 6th June.
Lasswade Learning Festival: As part of Monday’s In-service day we’ll hold our annual Learning Festival. We will be joined by colleagues from Lasswade Primary School and Hawthornden Primary School. Our programme lasts all morning with a keynote address from Alice Beveridge, Director and Speaker from Tree of Knowledge. Thereafter, staff will opt into 3 workshops from a selection of over 30.
P7 Family Information Session 2: On Tuesday we held our second P7 Transition Information Evening via Zoom. Thanks to Hana Petrie, Claire Anderson, Fraser Sands, Stella Fotheringham, Robyn Taylor, Caroline Gee, Euan Morrice, Jamie Graham and Mhairi McKenzie for presenting at this ‘My Learning’ session. The feedback we have received has been extremely positive and parents/carers have noted that they especially appreciated hearing from Principal Teachers and Programme Leaders. The final session, ‘My Support’, is taking place on Wednesday 7th June.
Summer Fete: Our LHS Summer Fete is happening on Friday the 26th of May, Periods 3&4. We have over a dozen stalls to date with further details shared with students next week, and with parents/carers via the website
Dress Code Expectations: As indicated last week we have now posted a website story regarding school dress code expectations from August 2023. Please click here to access the story and finalised guidance. Thanks to all who have contributed to our consultation.
Parent Council: Our last Parent Council Meeting of the session will be held on Tuesday 30th May. The meeting is held in-person from 7.00pm. Details regarding the agenda will be posted on the website by the middle of next week.
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
No feedback submitted from our last HY Update, week ending 12//05/23. Apologies for the late post.
Since March we have been gathering views on our school dress code arrangements for session 2023/24. This meant consultation with Student Voice Year Groups, our Parent Council, opportunities for students, parents/carers and staff to comment through a Google Form, with well over 500 responses from that alone.
As we expected there are a range of views on school uniform/dress code and valid points can be made by all those with differing views. The rationale we are adopting is that a school dress code is important for a range of reasons. You’ll see this in our final guidance. We also recognise that school uniform can be expensive for families and therefore are seeking to widen the options available, particularly when there are significant financial pressures on many households. Please note that school also can support with the ‘cost’ of uniform and parents/carers should engage with the appropriate House Team on that.
At the same time we are seeking to balance what is a range of opinion on school uniform/dress codes and our guidance includes more and less ‘traditional’ options. You’ll see we are encouraging a more formal or traditional approach in our Senior Phase.
Our guidance in relation to PE recognises the challenge we are currently facing with a popular and successful part of the school attracting lots of students and challenges we have around too few changing rooms. There is no immediate prospect of additional changing rooms and we are proposing reverting to our ‘Covid-19 approach’ of expecting students to come dressed for PE on the days they have PE. Of course we will retain an option for those who want to change and offer advice on what we’d expect on wet weather days. You’ll see this means black/white clothing themes for PE. This allows us to maintain our overall Dress Code Vision.
In summary our vision is to encourage students to dress in a combination of black/white with at least one item having the LHS logo/badge. This would be one of, or a sensible combination of, a LHS tie, LHS blazer or our new LHS half zip top.
Additional posts on dress code, including in-person fitting opportunities, on-line purchasing options will be published from next week.
Please note no changes will come into effect until August 2023.
To view the finalised August 2023 guidance please click here.
Thank you to the parents, carers and P7 students who were able to join us for our second online session on Tuesday 16th May. The session was well-attended and we received very positive feedback.
If you weren’t able to attend and/or would like to revisit the slides from the presentation, please click here to access them.
Our third and final session, ‘My Support’, is taking place on Wednesday 7th June at 6pm on Zoom. Joining details will be shared with Primary Schools next week.
This concise weekly HT Update is generally published every Friday afternoon. It’s 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 by Monday afternoon on the school website link.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Key events in school next week: on Monday our History Team lead on our S1 Bannockburn Trip; on Tuesday we’ll hold our second P7 Transition session via Zoom, it is our S3 DofE Bronze Extra-Curricular Qualifier on Wednesday and Thursday; on Thursday students will attend a Edinburgh College Drama performance, on Thursday and Friday our Art & Design staff are leading on our S2 Jupiter Artland Trip
Staffing Update: Recruitment continues for next session with notification on the Newly Qualified Teachers we’ve been allocated for next session. This process has been slightly disappointing with under 50% of those we requested not coming through. This is a higher proportion than usual but now allows us to explore alternatives through offering temporary contracts to existing staff who may not have been retained and advertising through the MyJobScotland portal.
Change of Timetable: Our current S1/S2/S3 students will change their timetable and move to S2/S3/S4 on Monday 29th May. We plan to issue new timetables to these students on Thursday 25th May during their Maths lessons to minimise disruption. Our new Senior Phase students, those currently in S4 and S5, will collect their timetables when they return from Study Leave the morning of Tuesday 30th May. We’ll set aside a section in the Atrium to facilitate that.
Free School Meals/Public Holidays: In case you missed it we posted a short website post on this topic last week. Click here to access the information.
Associated Schools Group: This week we formally began the process of planning for work we’ll do next session with our seven associated primary schools. Central to our plan is gaining a shared understanding of what we all believe constitutes excellent learning, teaching and assessment practices. This process will involve an increase in opportunities to share good practice and learning from each other. Our collective aim is to raise the quality of our work in all our schools and through our work develop an greater consistency in our approaches across all our schools. LHS will benefit from increased visits by our staff to our associated schools allowing staff to develop further their approaches to working with students. In September all our plans will be shared in full on the website.
August 2023 Dress Code Expectations: This week a significant number of our S1/S2/S3 students have had the chance to comment on our dress code proposals. The process will now close on Monday. It’s your final opportunity to comment over the weekend, click here. You’ll see from the website post the dates around the consultation are now inaccurate as we’ve extended the opportunity on this significant issue. It does mean we will now share final dress code expectations for August with you on Friday 19th May.
Rosewell Bus Service – Lothian Buses have made us aware that there are service changes that will affect our students who travel from Rosewell that will be in place from 28th May 2023. One of the changes is the rerouting of the Service 49 which will now no longer operate between the Royal Infirmary and Rosewell. Pupils and staff who currently use this to get to school will now be covered by the new Service 46, which will run every 30 minutes throughout the day. Please see the timetable for the new Service 46
Due to the work of our Student Voice team campaigning for a better service for the routes to school, an additional double deck school journey will run between Rosewell and Bonnyrigg departing at 07:57 in the morning Monday-Friday. Another additional double deck journey from Bonnyrigg to Rosewell will depart at 15:31 in the afternoon Monday-Thursday.
Attached is the new route map that relates to Lasswade High School.
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this weeks update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell and Ali Mitchell, Head Teachers