No feedback received from HT Update posted on 23/02/24.
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 each Monday on the school website link.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Events next week include: on Monday we’ll do First Aid ‘catch-up’ sessions with some S5/6 students; on Wednesday we’ll hold a Industry Insights-Investments workshop for senior students; on Thursday we have our Balmoral Employer Visit and that evening it’s our S1 Parents’ Evening, via our video platform.
Staffing: Congratulations to Fraser Sands who was successful at interview for our Principal Teacher (PT) Mathematics position. Fraser succeeds Maria Edmond who is retiring after many years of service at Lasswade HS. We thank Maria for her time in our school and the work she has done within Maths and other areas of the school. Next week we welcome Rebecca McCann to the School Office Team and Victoria Hunter to the Nursery Team.
School day Consultation: A reminder that our Midlothian wide consultation on aligning the school day across all 6 secondary schools remains live. Details are available via our website, click here. This week our students had the opportunity to respond through their Personal and Social Education (PSEd) classes. I am recommending that you support the proposal and am asking for as many parent’s carers to respond, click here, as possible. There are only 5 questions to respond to in the feedback/survey. The main changes for us are minimal and the benefits of aligning the secondary school day across all schools are significant and highlighted in the Consultation Paper.
Parent Council 5: Just a reminder of the change of date for our next Parent Council Meeting. It was Tuesday 19th March, we’ve had to move it to the following Tuesday, 26th March. The meeting will be in-person, beginning at 7.00pm.
Midlothian Council: Please click here for information on the proposal to relocate Beeslack Community High School and realign the associated catchment areas. This does affect Lasswade High School. The consultation opened on Monday 19th February and closes on Tuesday 16th April. Midlothian Council are seeking your views.
Senior Phase Coursing: Coursing for session 24/25 is now live and will run until Monday 18th March. Wherever possible staff will meet with students during core classes to minimise disruption to Learning, Teaching and Assessment at this busy time.
Young Musician of the Year Competition: Congratulations to Maggie Goodall who performed admirably in the South of Scotland Final last Sunday at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. Maggie is a phenomenal singer and was ably accompanied by Mr Brown on piano.
AV Refresh: Over Easter all of our current SMARTboards will be replaced with SMART MX Panels. This is good news as it supports the school to ensure we use digital approaches in the classroom in a way that helps engage our students
School Photographs. Coldwells have asked us to share the following click here. ‘Unwanted’ S6 Leavers Sets should have been returned by today with a payment due if they’ve not been. There is also delivery information for those making orders.
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher
Response to feedback submitted from HT Update week ending 09/02/24. Apologies for the slight delay, first day back yesterday was busy!
| My Question | Comment | Suggestion related to the school this week is: | HT’s Response |
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Can acronyms be clearer in the weekly updates pls. I don’t know what LEAPS or BGEd means so no idea if it’s relevant. I’ve thought this before so thought I may as well feedback. Thanks |
This is a fair point. School communication should be as jargon and acronym free as possible. I’ve a bad habit of going to what is familiar to me. I’ll aim to be better.
In this case LEAPS is Lothian Equal Access Programme. It is designed to support those young people who aspire to university but who are traditionally under represented in universities. BGEd is Broad General Education. In secondary schools it means students in First, Second and Third Year. It also applies to those at primary school.
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This Friday (23rd) is our ‘February Dress Down Day’.
As you know, our two chosen charities (as per student vote) are Breast Cancer Awareness and the Sick Children’s Hospital.
This month, our students have chosen to support a charity which is close to the hearts of many people in and around the local community, Sepsis Awareness. With one in every five deaths worldwide being associated with sepsis, our students want to support this fantastic charity to help develop effective treatments and save lives.
Payments can be made on ParentPay or in cash on the way into school on Friday. Our S6 Charities Committee will be collecting cash in buckets at the main entrance and play ground entrance on Friday morning. Please give what you can.
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 each Monday on the school website link. Given the holiday week, we’ll respond on Monday 19th February.
Key messages from this week
February Week Holiday: I’m sure you need no reminder (just as I offer one) that the school breaks up today, with staff and students returning, fully refreshed, on Monday 19th February. I hope you have a lovely week.
Calendar: events on week beginning 19th February include: from Monday we begin the Senior Phase Course Choice process; Tuesday is our POD Parents’ Evening; on Wednesday we’ll hold a S5 Course Choice/LEAPS Assembly, provisionally we also plan to hold a Industry Insights-Investments workshop for senior students (t.b.c.), also on Wednesday we’ll hold our school day consultation drop-in (see below); Friday is our February Dress Down Day.
Staffing: This week we welcomed back Emma Haynes (PE) as she returned from maternity leave. We also have a number of posts live on MyJobScotland as we begin our recruitment for August 2024.
School Day Consultation: A reminder that our Midlothian wide consultation on aligning the school day across all 6 secondary schools is live. Details are available via our website, click here. To support your understanding of the proposal we are holding an informal drop-in session on Wednesday 21st February from 5.00pm to 7.00pm, please come to that if you’d like additional information. I am recommending that you support the proposal and am asking for as many parent’s and carers to respond, click here, as possible. There are only 5 questions to respond to in the feedback/survey. The main changes for us are minimal and the benefits of aligning the secondary school day across all schools are significant and highlighted in the Consultation Paper. Students, through PSEd, will be given the opportunity to respond during w/b 19th February.
Senior Phase Coursing: Senior coursing will begin straight after the February break. We will endeavour to keep disruption to senior exam classes to a minimum.
Parent Council 5: Please note the change of date for our next Parent Council Meeting. It was Tuesday 19th March, we’ve had to move it to the following Tuesday, 26th March. The meeting will be in-person, beginning at 7.00pm.
Midlothian Council: Please find attached information on the proposal to relocate Beeslack Community High School and realign the associated primary catchment areas as well as the secondary catchment areas of Penicuik and Lasswade High Schools. For us the main aspect is that the proposal re-zones Loanhead and Paradykes Primary Schools from Lasswdae to Beeslack. This consultation opens on Monday 19th February and closes on Tuesday 16th April and Midlothian Council are seeking your views. You can find more information, such as the consultation proposal document and online survey, at https://midlothiancouncil.citizenspace.com/education/replacement-beeslack-consultation
This page will go live on Monday 19th February – please do not attempt to access it before this date – and Midlothian Council would welcome your views on these proposals.
S6 Leavers Sets: Our S6 Students were issued with their Leavers Photo Sets from Coldwells this week. If your young person has not received theirs yet they can collect it from Student Reception. To see additional information from Coldwells, click here. If you do not wish to purchase your set please return these to Student Reception.
Young Musician of the Year Competition: Congratulations to Maggie Goodall who achieved first place vocalist in the area final for the Rotary Young Musician of the Year Competition. She will now go on to perform in the South of Scotland Final on Sunday 18th February at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. Maggie impressed judges with an outstanding performance, accompanied by Mr Brown on piano. Well done and good luck in the next phase of the competition. Thank you to Mr Brown for his time in supporting Maggie.
Free School Meals: Information on the holiday arrangements for students in receipt of free school meals are available on the Midlothian website, click here.
BGE Movie Night: Apologies, the ‘save the date’ details around the Junior Movie Night (Thursday 29th February) shared last week don’t now apply. Details will be shared with BGEd students after the February break.
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher
Response to feedback submitted from HT Update week ending 02/02/24. We had a functions enquiry which I’ve passed to our Business Manager. He’ll progress that directly with the relevant parent/carer.
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 each Monday on the school website link.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: next week’s significant events; Student Voice Year Group meetings will take place across the week; on Monday and Tuesday there will be House Assemblies for all S1 and S2 students, on Thursday we’ll issue a Senior Phase Report to parents/carers via email, also on Thursday 30 BGEd students are involved in an ‘Author’s Live’ event; on Friday our Mandarin Team are organising a cultural visit into Edinburgh, also on Friday we break-up for the February Holiday.
Staffing: Congratulations to Claire Hadden, PT Numeracy Development Officer (ASG) who will take up the Acting DHT post at Lasswade Primary School later this month. We also wish Imogen Innes well, she begins her maternity leave a week today.
School day Consultation: Yesterday all parents/carers were texted regarding a Midlothian wide consultation on aligning the school day across all 6 secondary schools. Details are available via our website, click here. The main change for us, is a proposed later start of 8.40am (currently 8.30am) each morning and a later finish on Friday of 12.15pm (currently 12.05pm). There is no proposed change to the finish time, Monday through Thursday of 3.25pm. The other change is a 40 minute lunch for students (currently 50 minutes). We still plan to retain our split lunch and breaks which we believe will still allow students plenty of time to access the school canteen services. The benefits of aligning the secondary school day across all schools are highlighted in the Consultation Paper. I am recommending that you support the proposal and am asking for as many parents/carers as possible to respond, click here. There are 5 questions to respond to in the feedback/survey. The consultation closes on Friday 8th March.
Letter of thanks: Our Charities Committee lead on our school fundraising work. This includes our Dress Down Days. I was delighted recently to receive a letter from the Chief Executive of MYPAS thanking us for our school donation to this charity of over £3,000. He cited our undeniable, ‘strong sense of community and shared commitment to the wellbeing of young people’. MYPAS as you know does outstanding work with young people across Midlothian.
NHS Update: All schools have been asked, by our NHS colleagues, to share the following information on Scarlet Fever. ‘Information on Scarlet Fever can be found at this link. In particular please note, “If your child has scarlet fever, keep them away from nursery or school for at least 24 hours after starting treatment with antibiotics.” Adults with the illness should also stay off work for at least 24 hours after starting treatment. GPs, schools and nurseries are aware of the current high levels of scarlet fever and will inform local health protection teams if they become aware of cases, particularly if more than one child is affected.”’
Neurodiversity and Neurodevelopmental Assessment: NHS Lothian Children’s website now has some useful resources for children, young people and families relating to wellbeing, mental health and neurodivergence. The site signposts to relevant websites and supports relating to a range of needs: click here. Further resources are also available to children and young people at the ‘Wellbeing Hub’ area under Neurodiversity & the ‘Parents & Carers’ page: click here.
Supporting Student Behaviours: SLT and Student Support are meeting weekly to scrutinise and ensure consistency on responses to the Duty Head calls across the school. Duty Head calls are generally made by staff when additional adult interventions are required. We have seen a significant decrease in the number of students involved in Duty Head incidents. Our focus is now on addressing the choices and behaviours of a small, but still influential, group. Our aim in all this work is to help young people to make better decisions and support their learning and the learning of their peers.
S4 Attainment Mentoring: Identified S4 students, as they work towards the May Exam Diet, will begin meeting with S6 mentors next week. The students will meet fortnightly during core class times, i.e., either PE, RE or PSEd classes. Students have also been asked to rotate meeting times so they are not always missing the same core classes. To monitor meetings, S6 Mentors will complete a logbook so staff can track when and where meetings are taking place, and the planned actions and outcomes. We are grateful for the leadership of Miss Russell, PE, on this initiative as we support our students to attain as many qualifications as they can.
Need a calendar? The Lasswade High School 2024 Chinese New Year calendar is now available to buy. S1 pupils have demonstrated their creativity and effort during this project to create fantastic poster designs which feature in the calendar. Calendars cost £5 each and are available to collect from room 317 in the Art & Design department.
BGEd Movie Night: Our School Captains are reorganising the postponed BGEd (S1/2/3) Movie Night. This will take place on Thursday 29th February starting at 5.45pm. This notice should be considered as a ‘save the date’ with details shared with BGEd students soon.
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher
Midlothian Council wants to hear your views on a proposal to have the same start and finish times across all six secondary schools.
Classes would start at 8.40am each day, Monday through Friday, and finish at 3.25pm, Monday through Thursday, and 12.15pm on Fridays. The school timetable for Senior Phase (S4/S5/S6) students will also be aligned across all schools to support the implementation of an improved Midlothian Curriculum offer for all students.
There is a Consultation Paper and we are seeking your feedback on the proposals. There will also be a informal drop-in at Lasswade HS on Wednesday 21 February 2024, between 5.00pm and 7.00pm. That would allow you to find out more about the plan and the educational benefits. Alternatively join virtually via Teams on Tuesday 27 February, email midsecschdaycons@midlothian.gov.uk to register and get the link.
If given the go-ahead, the pupil week in all Midlothian secondary schools would be the same, organised across 32 periods (classes) each lasting 50 minutes.
The changes would start on Monday 3 June, the same day all six schools begin the new 2024/25 school year.
The consultation ends on Friday 8 March. A report on the findings will be considered by the full Council in the spring.
The Consultation Paper and feedback on the proposal is also available directly through Citizen Space via the following link www.midlothian.gov.uk/schoolday.