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: October next week, how did that happen?: on Monday and Tuesday we enable the NHS flu vaccination process; on Tuesday we’ll run our Senior Maths Challenge; Wednesday sees our DYW Roadshow Trip for Senior Phase students to Edinburgh; on Thursday we’ll email S3 Alert Reports to parents/carers.
Staffing: Congratulations to Emma Whittingham who was successful at the 0.5fte DHT interview last week. Emma will join our Senior Team on a temporary basis after the October break through to the end of the session. We would like to say thank you and good luck to Ian Carpenter who leaves LHS today to start his new post at St Georges. Congratulations also to Angela Bowman who will assume an Administrative Support role working across SLT and Student Support after the October break.
Midlothian Council Quality Assurance Visit: This week we had a highly successful ‘virtual visit’ with a focus on our work to ensure we continue to improve our practices in relation to learning, teaching and assessment approaches, wider achievements and moderation. This ‘visit’ supports and challenges the work we do across our teams.
Digital Safeguarding: We have asked all our staff to be vigilant when students are using their Chromebooks in class. There are increasing concerns that some students are setting up proxies to seek access to sites which would otherwise be blocked by our filtering/security software. This contravenes our responsible use policies and places young people at risk. The parents/carers of students identified are/will be informed with resulting disciplinary action.
Senior Phase Awards Ceremony – Catch Up: For students who couldn’t attend the ceremony on 13th September, we will be holding a shorter ceremony on Thursday 5th October. Mrs Brown is coordinating this work.
Students Out of Class: Our systems are telling us that there are an unusually high number of students continuing to be out of class throughout the day during class time, sometimes in a coordinated manner. Student Support are picking these students up and involving parents/carers where needed. We’ve asked our teachers not to release students out of class to get water. Water bottles should be filled at break and lunch times only.
School Photographs: Coldwells have asked us to inform parents/carers that if they have not received a proof by now they can go online login and request their child’s unique ID. This allows them to see all relevant photographs. We have agreed with Coldwells that any issues/questions/concerns that parents or carers have should be directed to them and not the school. There are two pieces of relevant information, click here and here.
S2 Parents Evening Thursday 10th October – By Video Call: Thank you to the families who have already booked their video call appointments for the upcoming Parents Evening. Please note that the booking system closes on Monday 2nd October at 3.30pm. Parents’ Evening – Parent Details Login (parents-booking.co.uk) If anyone is having any issues logging in please contact lasswadehsoffice@midlothian.education
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher
On Tuesday 24th October 6pm-7.30pm, we will be hosting our annual P7 Open Evening. The event will be held in the school building and we look forward to meeting as many families as possible.
Aims
The P7 Open Evening aims to support P7 students and families in a number of ways:
Format
We understand that families are extremely busy and have many commitments, therefore we are making the evening as flexible as possible. At 6pm, there will be a 15-minute presentation (presentation 1) in the Assembly Hall from the Head Teacher and the P7/S1 Transition Team. This presentation will be repeated again at 6.45pm (presentation 2). Once we reach capacity in the Assembly Hall for presentation 1, families will be asked to join presentation 2 at 6.45pm.
This means that families will have the remainder of the evening to explore the school and visit workshops. Staff will lead all of our workshops and you will have the chance to get involved in experiments, games and activities as well as ask subject-specific questions.
We suggest that you arrive at Lasswade High School for 5.45pm/5.50pm as this is one of the busiest events in our school calendar. There will be refreshments and music for you to enjoy in the Atrium. Staff and Senior Students will be on hand to guide you around the school and you will receive a programme on your arrival.
RSVP
In order to make the evening as comfortable as possible, we are asking that all families complete our brief RSVP. Link to RSVP: https://forms.gle/ULw55pKvjdw1eU4Q7
Out of Catchment
If you live outside of our school catchment area, there is no guarantee of securing a place in S1, even if your child currently attends one of our associated primary schools. You are more than welcome to attend our P7 Open Evening to get a better feel for our school, should you decide to pursue a placing request (via Midlothian Council).
Communication
Please follow us on Twitter and Instagram as well as our Parent Council Facebook page and school website for news and updates.
Response to feedback submitted from HT Update week ending 22/09/23.
| My Question | Comment | Suggestion related to the school this week is: | HT’s Response |
|
I know the parent appt portal opens at 9am Monday morning for s2s – I wondered if there were potential for this to be on a Sunday evening going forward, as a suggestion. Most parents are working on a Monday at 9am, I work in a school and it’s extremely difficult to be available at 9am as children arrive. Basically if you don’t book appts first thing there are none left later in the day. There is perhaps a reason it needs to be 9am but I just thought I’d mention. 😃 |
We open it at 9.00am as we are concerned about our ability to respond over a weekend if there are issues with the system, e.g., if IT crashes. Unfortunately, it’s too late for this one but we’ll discuss at our senior meeting around the logistics of whether we could try this suggestion. I appreciate our mitigations of things like 4 minute consultations and limiting the maximum number of appointments only go so far. If any parent has concerns re their child they should contact the relevant Student Support House Team. That includes if they are worried about progress in learning. |
| Can you advise when Nat 5 prelims take place, thanks. | This session we will operate an Assessment Calendar. This will involve three Assessment Windows in November, January and March. These are when our teams will set significant assessments for students. These assessments will take place in class time under the supervision of the class teacher. We’ll publish details via the HT Update prior to the October holiday. |
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.
With the holiday last weekend it has been a fortnight since the last update.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Next week: Monday through Friday is our DofE Gold Qualifier; on Friday our N5 Media students are at Sky Academy and it is also our September Dress Down Day.
Staffing: We recently said farewell and thanks to Mairi McTighe, Teacher of Music, She has taken up a new teaching post in Edinburgh. We have appointed Mairi’s successor but as yet have no confirmed start date. Congratulations to Ross Paterson who was successful following a competitive interview process and was appointed on a permanent basis as PT BGEd in PE. Congratulations to Stella Fotheringham who was successful in securing the PT BGEd Creative Design fixed term post. This post begins after the October break and runs through until June 2024. Congratulations also to Nicola Hogan who was successful in securing a permanent post at LHS as a Teacher of Biology. This transition is seamless as Nicola has been with us on a temporary capacity.
Relationships to Support Learning: We have continued our focus on Praise Postcards. As of the September Weekend we have sent over 500 since returning to school. This has had a positive impact on these students and continues to be recognised by parents and carers.
SQA 2024: In recent weeks I advised parents/carers on the dates of exams then live on the SQA website. The original timetable was withdrawn. It has now been updated on the SQA website click here Much nearer the time students will be issued with their individual timetable.
Senior Phase Awards Ceremony: A huge thank you to all students, staff and parents/carers who made the ceremony such a success. Over the course of the evening, we celebrated the achievements of over 120 young people, past and present. Our School and House Captains hosted and presented the entire evening. Our student photographers were present and busy throughout. The Captains and Photographers were clear, engaging and professional in their ‘work’. We enjoyed an inspirational speech from our guest speaker, Ben Smith. The musical performers were outstanding. Osmond, Eilidh, Maggie and Alex really stepped up to the mark and played beautiful pieces. Lastly, the Senior Drama performance was one of the most memorable performances I have ever seen. What a joy to see our students celebrating the importance of equality and kindness and sharing their own personal messages.
Strike Action: Please note that staff in Midlothian Schools are not taking part in the strike action next week. Midlothian is one of 6 local authorities where non-teaching colleagues in schools are not striking. The challenge could be if our staff are indirectly affected by school and nursery closures in other local authorities. We are currently assessing the potential impact of this if any of our staff are unable to make alternative childcare arrangements.
Lost Property: We hold/have a large amount of lost property at Student Reception, most of which had been left in the PE department. Students are welcome to check through this at break and/or lunch during the school day, between now and the October break. Parents and carers can come in during the school day and ask at reception. After the October break this current lost property will be disposed of in a responsible and sustainable manner. Our advice is to encourage parents/carers to ensure names are on students’ ziptops and blazers, this will enable us to return these items to students directly.
Loanhead Travel Cards: All students who use home to school coach transport from Loanhead have now been issued with their travel cards. Students must travel on the coach they have been allocated by the Travel Team, if there are any questions regarding home to school transport they should be directed to travelteam@midlothian.gov.uk
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher
On Tuesday 10th October 2023 between 4.30pm and 7pm, the online S2 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 25th September and will close at 3.30pm on Monday 2nd October.
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.
If more than one parent/carer wishes to join the video call, the identified ‘main carer’ (person who makes the appointments) must be the person to share the joining details with the other parent/carer.
Response to feedback submitted from HT Update week ending 08/09/23. No questions raised but we’ll progress the note of interest in helping with the Parent Council Secretary/Clerk role.
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: A reminder that our ‘Whole School – Lasswade High School’ calendar is now visible on the school website. Click here to view it. Next week: on Monday our S4/5 London Trip departs with a Thursday return; on Monday and Tuesday we’ll hold House Assemblies; on Wednesday it’s our Senior Phase Award Ceremony; on Thursday we’ll conduct our annual school travel ‘Hands Up Survey’ with students; next weekend is the September Weekend, this means school is closed for students on Friday 15th and Monday 18th September.
Staffing: On Monday we welcomed Callum Boyd, Teacher of History, to our school. We offer our congratulations to Matthew Kennedy (Mathematics) and his wife who welcomed a baby boy earlier this week. We would like to wish Ian Keith (Creative Design) all the best as he moves onto his new post in East Lothian. Ian finished today and has been a valuable part of our team making a big impact in his 5+ years with us. Thank you Ian.
SQA Appeals: The results from priority appeals were released this week – we submitted 6 ‘priority’ appeals. These are generally for last years ‘leavers’ who have appealed with college/university offers in mind. The school will contact these former students. All other appeals have now been submitted to the SQA for consideration. In total we have submitted 154 appeals. We should know the outcome of these appeals in October – no date has, as yet, been provided by the SQA. I’ll keep you up to date on this.
SQA 2024: Last week I advised parents/carers on the dates of exams then live on the SQA website. This week all schools been informed by SQA that the 2024 exam timetable has been taken off the website while they make some updates. Amongst other actions SQA are reviewing exam dates towards the end of the timetable. They apologise for any inconvenience that this may have caused. SQA expect to publish the updated version of the timetable by next Friday, 15 September. A reminder that much nearer the time students will be issued with their individual timetable.
Free School Meals: Midlothian Council have asked us to direct parents/carers whose children are in receipt of free school meals to their website. The post gives details on the payment schedule around the September Weekend, click here for details
Parent Council: A huge thank you to those parents able to attend our first Parent Council meeting of the session on Tuesday of this week. We have two requests for parents/carers from the meeting
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
Response to feedback submitted from HT Update week ending 01/09/23.
| My Question | Comment | Suggestion related to the school this week is: | HT’s Response |
| Could you please confirm if it is true that there was an adult intruder in the school building and surrounding area yesterday? Allegedly offering vapes, condoms & cuddles to the students. If this is the case, some reassurance to the students & their families would be welcome. I’m also interested to know if a police report was issued. As I’m aware there was an unusual police presence in the area yesterday. |
There was an incident on Thursday during our BGE lunchtime. SLT responded promptly with three of our senior team directly involved in the area at the front of the school. One of our DHTs called Police Scotland and they were involved in supporting the member of the community. The person did not enter the building.
We work closely with Police Scotland on incidents like these that ‘involve’ our students. Our ‘Campus Cop’ spoke with the parents/carers of three of our students who had been approached. The person involved in the incident has been charged and released with bail conditions that they do not enter, nor seek to enter, the grounds of Lasswade HS. Thankfully these incidents are rare occurrences. |
|
When do Duke of Edinburgh (bronze) activities/info start for S3? |
Sign-up only closed last Thursday. I’d expect it’ll take some time to process and organise. I’m afraid I can’t be certain at this stage, but we’ll communicate through the DoE Google Classroom. Applicants should keep an eye on that. |
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: A reminder that our ‘Whole School – Lasswade High School’ calendar is now visible on the school website. Click here to view it. Next week: on Monday a number of our S2 students will visit Bannockburn, also on Monday afternoon all S2 will take part in a substance misuse workshop as part of their Personal and Social Education programme (apologies, got ahead of myself last week on this one); our first Parent Council Meeting of the session is on Tuesday at 7.00pm (see below); across the week we’ll hold Student Voice Year Council meetings.
Senior Leadership Team: On Wednesday of this week we announced to staff and students that Ali Mitchell will be leaving us at the October break. She has secured the Head Teacher position at Balwearie HS in Fife. Her appointment is thoroughly deserved as Ali is an outstanding leader who in her almost 4 years with us has made a huge impact on our school. Ali and I shared HT duties last session and will continue to until her departure. She has been excellent in that role and will be missed by many in our school community. It has been great to see so many staff and students congratulating her on her new appointment. We are delighted for her and wish her great success in her new role. In terms of Lasswade HS this means that from Monday 23rd October Lynsey Struthers, currently DHT, and I will share the Head Teacher role. This will last until the end of June 2024. I will return to full-time HT duties at our school from August 2024. In addition, Hana Petrie will step-up to a full-time DHT role within our SLT on an acting basis. Our plan is to advertise for a permanent replacement for Ali in the spring/summer of 2024.
Staffing: On Monday the 4th we welcome Callum Boyd, Teacher of History to our school. We are pleased to confirm that Amanda Montague will step up from her existing role to take on the Acting PTC Creative Design role from Monday 23rd October. This is related to Hana Petrie picking up the full time Acting DHT role from this date
S4 Work Experience November 2023: Our S4 Work Experience ‘slot’ is from 6th-10th November 2023. Last week I made a plea for support and we’ll keep this in our update for a little while longer. We are seeking through our parent/carer community, and their contacts/connections, any businesses that may be willing to offer a work experience placement to one of our students, please let us know through the feedback form at the bottom of this update and I’ll pass details onto Mrs Sharp.
Academy of Performing Arts: Congratulations to Maisie Walker (S3) who represented us brilliantly whilst singing at the opening ceremony of the UCI World Cycling Championships in Glasgow at the start of August. What an achievement and a great opportunity for one of our APA pathway students.
SQA 2024: We’ve added the SQA 2024 Exam Diet Dates to the school calendar. You can see this on the website. In addition, if you wish to see the dates of exams then visit the SQA website click here. Although the dates of exams will not change, sometimes we move the start/end times for logistical reasons relating to the school. Much nearer the time students will be issued with their individual timetable.
Parent Council: Our first Parent Council meeting of the session will be held in-person on Tuesday 5th September, at 7.00pm in room 114. The agenda will include discussion on Parent Council plans for the year, a focus on how we engage with and involve parents/carers, a section on what’s happening nationally, our main plans for the school year and an introduction to our School Captain Team. All parents/carers are welcome and it would be great to see as many S1 Parents as possible. Our Parent Council Chair is Sara Adam, she can be contacted via email the Parent Council Facebook page click here
First Aid Mop Up: Posts have been placed in S4, S5 and S6 Year Group Google Classrooms regarding how students, who’ve missed the opportunity to complete a First Aid qualification can be ‘mopped-up’. Students who’ve missed out on the first round of training are asked to complete a Google Form by Friday 8th September.
Fair Trade: In June we received official confirmation we achieved the FairActive Award. As part of our feedback we were encouraged to go for the highest award as well, which we did. I’m delighted to inform you we have achieved the FairAchiever Award as a school. This work has been led by Miss Conlan and students within Geography, particularly last session’s S3. Our aim is to build on this achievement and ensure we continue to include Fairtrade in our curriculum and as part of our school community where possible.
Cost Of Living Support: Midlothian Council have asked us to share this with our school community. If you have a child or young person in your family in P6 and above then you may be eligible for free school meals and clothing grants, depending on your income. Find out more and apply at www.midlothian.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher