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 on Monday on the school website.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Significant events next week; Our Battlefields Trip staff and students are away all next week, on Monday and Tuesday Tree of Knowledge will work with our S2 Students; on Thursday we have our first Parent Council Meeting of the session, see below.
Staffing: We are aiming to interview for our Home School Practitioner, shared post with Burnbrae PS, next Friday.
Parent Council 1: Our first Parent Council meeting of the session will be held on Thursday 5th September beginning at 7.00pm. Please see our website post for details, click here.
School Uniform: Our Senior Leadership Team and Student Support have been ‘picking up’ students not complying with our dress code expectations at the front door each morning. We are down to a core 40-50 students who are persistently not uniform compliant. This is approximately 3% of our school roll. The support and challenge of these students is ongoing. The next stage, beginning next week, of our dress code interventions will be visiting classes. This allows us to keep the profile of our expectations high and gives us good information when working with families. Please rest assured that all our actions in this area are consistent with our school values; creativity, effort, kindness and respect. Our aim is to work positively with our students and their parents/carers to secure our dress code expectations.
Google Guardian: In the coming weeks we will be enabling a new feature of Google Classroom. This feature, ‘Google Guardian’, will provide parents and carers with a weekly automated report of their child’s due assignments and class notices. To begin with, we will trial this new feature with our S4 year group only. This testing should allow us to fix any issues and support staff with any training requirements. We expect to begin this in September/October with S4 and, all going well, move to include other year groups after Christmas.
NHS Flu Vaccination – Whole School: Students have this week been issued with their Flu Vaccination Consent forms. All students were reminded today to collect their form before they left if they had not received it in class. Consent forms should be completed and returned to Student Reception by Monday 2nd September. Our Flu Vaccinations are scheduled to take place early December, however the nursing team requires the forms in advance to allow them to triage these.
Breakfast Club: Lasswade High School has a Breakfast Club that runs every morning from 8.00am in Room 205. Students are welcome and can pop in and grab something to eat/drink before they start their day. Our Breakfast Club is open to everyone within the school and there is no cost for students. Any questions or dietary requirements please speak to Ross MacPherson in Creative Learning.
Glasgow Motivation and Wellbeing Profile Survey: Next week all students will be asked to complete the Glasgow Motivation and Wellbeing Profile in PSEd. This is a 20 item questionnaire that explores motivation and sense of wellbeing in the learning context. It encourages young people to reflect on views of themselves and their emotions and gives them an opportunity to reflect on their feelings and current experiences. It also encourages them to consider how they can increase their own determination, motivation and sense of wellbeing.
If any students are absent next week, they will be expected to complete the ‘Lasswade Wellbeing Survey September 2024’ assignment on their PSE google classroom by Friday 13th September. This allows as many students as possible to have their opportunity to share their experiences. As a result it improves our ability to respond and/or adapt our practices as required.
Seesaw: We are pleased to announce that this school session we will continue to use Seesaw as a digital learning tool within our Complex Needs Provision/Pod. Seesaw allows our students to complete activities, share learning and receive feedback from teachers. It also provides a platform for parents and carers to stay connected with their child’s progress and see updates from the classroom. We are encouraging our ‘Pod Families’ to be involved by looking at some useful links:
Miss Lotockyj is our lead and is looking forward to working with students and families to make Seesaw a valuable part of the learning experience for 2024 – 2025. If you do not already have Seesaw set up, please contact Miss Lotockyj.
S2 Tree of Knowledge Workshops: On Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd September our S2 students will complete a 2 period session in the Assembly Hall. For your information Tree of Knowledge has a great website. Please visit it regarding the content of the workshop. Our S2 will follow the Planet of the Chimps course, click here.
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher
Our first Parent Council Meeting of the session will be held on Thursday 5th September, 2024. The meeting will be held in-person at the school in room 114. It begins at 7.00pm and should last just over an hour, and certainly finish no later than 8.30pm.
At the meeting we plan discussions on
All parents/carers are welcome to ‘attend’. As stated, we’d love to see some new folk!
Please send in any questions, via email and with ‘FAO Parent Council’ at the top of message by lunchtime on Wednesday 4th September, to
Or, post a question to the Parent Council Facebook page
Response to feedback submitted from HT Update week ending 23/08/24.
| My Question | Comment | Suggestion related to the school this week is: | HT’s Response |
| I fully agree with the wearing of school uniform and support the wearing of it, however I feel that there hasn’t been thought given to girls options and the difference in body shapes. The quarter zip and the T-shirt/polo shirt are shaped for boys and not comfortable for girls to wear for PE. Can additional options for girls sports tops be added with school badge. | We’ll raise with our supplier and then explore with our Student Voice Year Councils. |
| Is the parent council open to any parents and is it in person or online? | Yes, all welcome. The first meeting is in-person at LHS and begins at 7.00pm on Thursday 5th September. At that we’ll discuss the format for the rest of the session and I’m sure consult on our thinking through the update. The second meeting is not until the end of October so that gives us time. |
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 on Monday on the school website.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Significant events next week; on Monday and Tuesday our school photographer is in; on Wednesday and Thursday Tree of Knowledge will work with our S1 Students; Friday is a Dress Down Day
Staffing: We have a number of vacancies currently live on myjobscotland: Teacher of Creative Design closing 04/09/24; x2 Learning Assistants (Creative Learning) closing 04/09/24; Learning Assistant (The Pod) closing 02/09/24; Home School Practitioner (shared post with Burnbrae PS) closing 28/08/24
Bus Times: We continue to monitor the arrival time of our school buses. They should arrive at school each morning no earlier than 8.20am. Midlothian Council’s website does have information on times for each route, click here
School Uniform: We have noticed a significant improvement in the compliance with our uniform expectations. As a reminder these are to have a school badge or school tie on display when in the school building. From next week, SLT will follow up on this through class visits to check uniform compliance. Student Support will then be in contact with parents/carers to seek further support or intervention for those who are not suitably dressed. Thank you for the ongoing support with this.
Contacting the School: When you call the school and select option 1 (Student Absences and Appointments) or option 5 (All other Enquiries) you are in effect calling the School Office. Our aim is that staff in the main School Office will answer calls in the morning from 8.00am, each school day. Please note that on Wednesdays, to allow a Team Meeting, the School Office phones will be answered from 8.15am. Staff ‘clock-off’ at 4.00pm Monday through Thursday and at 1.00pm on Friday. At all times other times the Options 1 and 5 will divert to our answer machine. In addition, at times due to the volume of calls and/or staff availability the answer machine will ‘kick-in’ during the school day.
Dress Down Day: Friday 30th August is our first Dress Down day since our return after the holiday. We relax our regular dress code expectations for the day and ask students and staff to donate what they can. Senior students are stationed at entrances to the school with buckets for any coins or notes given over. Two thirds of next Friday’s donations are going to be given to the Anthony Nolan Charity and Fire Scotland. The other third goes to our general school fund. Anthony Nolan connects people who are willing to donate their stem cells, to patients with blood cancer and blood disorders in desperate need of a lifesaving transplant. The Anthony Nolan charity urgently needs donors aged 16-30 from as many different ethnic backgrounds as possible, to give everyone the best chance of survival. The drive to sign up to join the register and become a donor is on Wednesday 11th September in Lasswade High School for people aged 16 and above. Your stem cells hold limitless potential. By donating your cells, you have the power to give someone with blood cancer or a blood disorder another chance to live. Please give what you can on Friday 30th. Please note parents/carers can also donate through Parent Pay.
Student Volunteering: Our expectation is that all S5 and S6 students volunteer within and out with our school community. Miss McCurdy and Mr MacPherson spoke about this at recent assemblies and students are expected to sign up through their Year Group Google Classroom. Students will hear soon regarding where they will be volunteering. Students log their volunteering hours through Saltire Awards – click here. Our aim is to surpass last year’s incredible school total of over 3,200 hours of volunteering.
NEC Cards: We have had a few enquiries this week regarding NEC Cards. The first port of call for all students should be getyournec.scot. We’ll be sending out forms in September for S1 pupils only who have not already applied for a card themselves, please be aware however this process is much slower than going online or using your local library.
NHS Flu Vaccination – Whole School: Students will be issued with their Flu Vaccination Consent forms over the coming week. If your child misses the issue of these in class they can be collected from Student Reception. Consent forms should be completed and returned to Student Reception by Monday 2nd September. Our Flu Vaccinations are scheduled to take place early December, however the nursing team requires the forms in advance to allow them to triage these.
Photographers Monday 26th & Tuesday 27th August: Coldwells will be in school on Monday and Tuesday next week to take individual photographs as well as our S6 year group photo. Click here to view our planned schedule. As always it is subject to change on the day. Click here to access additional information from Coldwells around purchasing photographs.
S1 Tree of Knowledge Workshops: On Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th August our S1 students will complete a 2 period session in the Assembly Hall. For your information Tree of Knowledge has a great website. Please visit it regarding the content of the workshop. Our S1 are great and will follow the S2 Planet of the Chimps course, click here.
Parent Council: We have finalised Parent Council dates for the session. We have five ‘dotted’ throughout the year. We have also confirmed the date of our Parent Council led Christmas Fair. The dates are as follows, and also on the calendar on the website;
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher
No questions raised from HT Update week-ending 16/08/24. Thank you
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 on Monday on the school website. Please note there was no feedback gathered from the last HT update posted on Friday 28th June.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Significant events next week; on Monday through Thursday we’ll hold a series of special Student Voice Year Group Meetings (all year groups except S1 as they are not yet established, but will be soon). These meetings will allow us to prepare for the Midlothian Learner Conference on 5th September and to establish each year groups improvement priority. On Friday of next week we expect to have completed Senior Phase re-coursing requests. Please visit our website to see the Whole School calendar for 2024/25, click here
Staffing: On Monday of this week we welcomed a number of new staff to the school. Hanna Dodds and Steven Turnbull as Teacher and Learning Assistant, respectively, within our Complex Needs Team/ The Pod. Andrew Douglas as a Teacher in Computing. Claudia Mitchell as a Teacher in English. Liz Duncan and Kirsten Reade as Teachers in Mathematics. Matt Dryden as a Principal Teacher in Mathematics. Catherine Kroeske as a Teacher in Biology. Raakshaana Gnanamurali as a Teacher in Business. Nicole Newbiggin as a Teacher in History. Gavin Fort is our Active Travel Officer and will join us on a full-time basis next week.
Return to School: We welcomed over 1600 young people into school on Wednesday of this week and held a series of Year Assemblies with students. There were some bespoke messages, depending on the year group, but the consistent messages we shared with all groups are highlighted in the following slides, click here.
Child Protection and Safeguarding: A reminder that our designated Member of Staff for Child Protection is Mr Suzanne Yule. For further details please visit our website, click here
School Improvement Plan: Please note that we have agreed the two main school improvement priorities for this session
I appreciate the above is in ‘teacher speak’. Please be reassured that we’ve a bit more work to do on the full document and I will share additional details over the next few weeks.
Senior Phase Awards Ceremony: Save the Date. Our Awards Ceremony will take place Wednesday 11th September and is designed to celebrate the achievements of our current S5 and S6, as well as the S6 who left in the summer term. Our principal speaker/VIP is Gillian Hamilton, Chief Executive, Education Scotland.
School Photographers: Photographers will be in school on Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th August for whole school individual photos, and the S6 Year Group. Schedule to follow.
S6 School Captains: Our School Captains have been active on social media over the Summer. They have asked me to share two School Captain accounts you may wish to follow; Instagram click here and Tiktok click here
School Uniform: Thank you for your support regarding our school dress code expectations. These are clear on our website, click here. We will work actively over the next few weeks to strengthen our expectation that students are clearly identified as LHS students. This means they must either have the school tie and/or blazer and/or a top with the school badge on it. This expectation helps us keep everyone safe.
SQA: As a school we are delighted with the exam results achieved by students when results were shared at the beginning of the month. In broad terms, and in key measures our results have improved when compared to previous sessions and averages over time. At our first Parent Council Meeting of the session in September I’ll share additional details.
Head Teacher Role: My ‘side hustle’ with Midlothian Council ended during the summer. I have now returned to LHS on a full-time basis and have loved this first week back. Maybe it’s my age or gender, but I’ve really enjoyed being able to just focus on our school. Can I take this opportunity to thank Ms Mitchell (now HT at Balwearie HS) and Ms Struthers for sharing the role with me over the last two years. They were and are phenomenal.
If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher
We hope students and families have had an enjoyable summer. We would like to share details with you regarding the first week back (Wednesday 14th – Friday 16th August).
All students return to school on Wednesday 14th August at 8.40am.
ALL Students
All S1-S6 students should arrive at school for no later than 8:35am and make their way to their ‘house room’ for 8.40am. ‘House teachers’ will re-issue students with their timetables, share important messages and complete registration. At 9am, S1 students will attend a year group assembly. S2 – 6 will attend their P1 class.
All full list of house teachers, house rooms and designated classes is posted on the year group google classrooms.
All students should bring charged Chromebook and other necessary materials such as a refillable water bottle.
S1 Students
S1 students should meet their S6 Buddies in the playground from 8:30am onwards each morning (just like the June transition days). Please remember to bring along your S1 information card, just in case you forget your school house or registration class.
As you are aware, all S1 students must remain on campus during break and lunch times. With this in mind, all S1 students must either bring a snack and packed lunch or have their ParentPay account topped up so they can buy food/drinks from the dining hall.
S6 Buddies
We are very fortunate to have over 80 fully trained and dedicated S6 Buddies, who will continue to assist our new S1 students during the first week of school in August (Wednesday 14th to Tuesday 20th August).
S6 Buddies should ensure that they register with Mrs Main and Mrs Sharp in the Atrium at 8:30am to collect their signs. S6 Buddies will then meet their classes in the playground and escort them to their house room/house teacher for 8:40am.
S6 Buddies will support their allocated S1 classes around the school and between classes for 5 school days. S6 Buddies will then also conduct a class visit in late August to touch base with their S1 students.
Head Teacher’s Update
At the end of each week, our Head Teacher will continue to share plans for the week ahead.
Please check our school website for whole school updates as well as our social media platforms:
X (Twitter) @LasswadeHSC
Instagram @lasswadehighschool