Parent Council 3: Tuesday 9th December 2025

Our third planned Parent Council Meeting of the session will be held on Tuesday 9th December, 2025. This follows for our recent Extraordinary Meeting. The meeting on 09/12/25 will be held on-line, via Teams. Parents/carers will be sent the link to the meeting, to their phones, on Tuesday morning. The meeting 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

Fundraising: 200 Club and Easyfundraising
Christmas Fair 2025: Debrief
Parent Council Chair: issues via Facebook
School Captain Report
Student Progress Consultation Evenings: Further Discussion following Parent Council 2
Mobile Phones in School
a question and answer session; please send in questions via the link below

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 Tuesday 9th December, to

fundraising.lhs@gmail.com

Or, post a question to the Parent Council Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/High-School/Lasswade-High-School-Parent-Council-278734819307792/

Tone Zone Refurbishment

As you may be aware via the Parent Council Facebook, click here, and the most recent Parent Council Meeting minute, click here, I have been concerned about the timing and impact of the Tone Zone refurbishment. The news on the 21st October that the Tone Zone was closing on November 4th was a complete surprise to myself and our PE Team. Our Business Manager had been assured that no final decision on the timing of the refurbishment would be taken without our involvement. That did not happen. The decision on timing, in a partnership context, was taken without our involvement.

Discussions between the school and Sport & Leisure colleagues have not been successful. The school has been offered at various times a container in the back playground, the Squash Court and the Multi-Purpose Room. None of these suggestions provided a big enough space for equipment and classes, or could have been implemented in the 9 day period. A combination of spaces was discussed and withdrawn. Our suggestion of Dance Studio B, whilst not ideal, was workable for the school but was rejected.

Today, Sport & Leisure colleagues have indicated they’ll proceed and provide the Multi-Purpose Room as a ‘gym’ space. We’ll work hard to make this work for our students but are worried the space won’t be big enough for an entire class. We rejected an offer of a S&L member of staff to supervise those students who couldn’t fit into the space. It’s just not appropriate.

What is clear is that Sport & Leisure customers and LHS students and staff will be disrupted during the period of refurbishment. When the work is complete all parties should benefit from a first class facility.

In the meantime, please make sure that your child has wet weather clothing. Whilst we’ll aim to keep as many of our 300+ students, who’d normally access Tone Zone on a weekly basis, with their teacher as part of PE, we won’t be able to do that on every occasion.

I’m sorry that this situation has arisen and apologise on behalf of the school that your children are potentially affected. In my view they are the important folk that have been let down.

S1 Student Progress Consultation Evenings: Subject Specific & Student Support

Thanks to parent/carer feedback, we added extra time to our S1 Parent/Carer Consultation Evenings for this session.

Please complete the following survey, if you booked and/or attended appointments for either of the S1 Student Progress Consultation Evenings (Thursday 23rd October Mount Esk and Melville or Tuesday 28th October St Anne’s and St Leonard’s) and/or the S1 Student Support Consultation Evening (Thursday 18th September).

Your feedback is valued and it will help shape future Student Progress Consultation Evenings.

Please complete this Google Form by Friday 7th November: Parent/Carer Feedback

DRESS DOWN DAY FRIDAY 31ST OCTOBER – Trussell Trust

FRIDAY 31ST OCTOBER – DRESS DOWN DAY!

This month’s dress down day is in support of Trussell Trust.

As local residents of Midlothian, you may be aware of the Midlothian Foodbank which is supported by the Trussell Trust. The foodbank has supported hundreds of local families this year alone and as times continue to become more and more challenging for families, they need support to be able to continue to help families.

One in four young people in Midlothian live in poverty and the foodbank is a real lifeline for children and families. Please remember to dress appropriately and sensibly on Friday 31st October and donate whatever you can (in person or via ParentPay) to this fantastic cause.

For more information about The Trussell Trust Midlothian Foodbank, please click here

S1 Parent / Carer Consultation Evenings

On Thursday 23rd October 4.30pm – 6.30pm, the online S1 Student Parent/Carer Consultation Evening will be taking place for Melville and Mount Esk S1 students.

On Tuesday 28th October 4.30pm – 6.30pm, the online S1 Student Parent/Carer Consultation Evening will be taking place for St Anne’s and St Leonard’s students.

The system that we use for S1-S6 Parents’ Evenings is called ‘Parents Booking’ (see website https://www.parents-booking.co.uk/lasswade).

Dates for your diary – the booking system opens at 6pm on Sunday 19th October and will close at 10am on Wednesday 22nd October. This is the case for all 4 houses.

You will not be able to log in to your account before this time. There will be no admin support available until the morning of Monday 20th October.

Our Parents’ Evenings are 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 appointment lasts for 4 minutes (on screen timer) and will be automatically end when the 4 minutes is up.

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. The link to share will be available by logging in on the day of the consultation.

If you have any issues logging in or making appointments please contact the school admin team lasswadehsoffice@midlothian.education who are happy to support.

Family Learning Programme 2025-2026

Following the success of our Family Learning ‘numeracy and cookery programme’, we’ve had feedback from our local families that they would appreciate more support in other areas, such as phone use.

We’d love to be able to support you with things that matter to you, and would like to invite you to help us tailor our programme for the coming year, so we can support even more families and young people. Your invaluable input will help us to decide both the content of the programme and how it’s delivered too.

Please complete our short Google Form by Friday 10th October: Family Learning Programme 2025-2026

S1 Student Parent/Carer Consultation Evening (Student Support)

On Thursday 18th September 4.30pm – 7.30pm, the online S1 Student Parent/Carer Consultation Evening will be taking place. This consultation evening is led by our Student Support team (Melville, Mount Esk, St Anne’s and St Leonard’s). The Student Support Team teach all S1 students on a weekly basis as part of the Personal and Social Education curriculum and they provide all of our S1 students with regular support. The system that we use for S1-S6 Parents’ Evenings is called ‘Parents Booking’ (see website https://www.parents-booking.co.uk/lasswade).

Dates for your diary – the booking system opens at 6pm on Sunday 7th September and will close at 10am on Wednesday 17th September.

You will not be able to log in to your account before this time. There will be no admin support available until the morning of Monday 8th September.

Each appointment lasts for 4 minutes (on screen timer) and will be automatically end when the 4 minutes is up.

The curricular S1 Parent/Carer Consultation Evenings will be taking place on Thursday 23rd October 4.30pm – 6.30pm (Melville and Mount Esk) and Tuesday 28th October 4.30pm – 6.30pm (St Anne’s and St Leonard’s). During these evenings you will have the opportunity to speak with your young persons subject teachers, also using the online meeting system (video call). This will be available to book during October, more information will follow.

If you have any issues logging in or making appointments please contact the school admin team lasswadehsoffice@midlothian.education who are happy to support.

S2 Creative Design Update

Our S2 Students have made an excellent start to the year in Creative Design. The S2 course has a focus on developing subject specific skills in both Art & Design and Design Technology. Students will also be developing their creative and critical thinking.

For those who elect to continue Art & Design in S3, there will be a trip to Jupiter Artland before the change of timetable in May. This is a fantastic experience and a compulsory part of our S3 Art & Design curriculum. Please note that in line with our risk assessment process, students suitability for the trip will be reviewed on an individual basis. Places will be prioritised for those who engage well in Art & Design and meet our expectations for positive behaviour, both in the department and the wider school.

S2 Art & Design

S2 Design Technology

Back to School Arrangements 13/08/25

We hope that you are having an enjoyable summer and you are looking forward to returning to school this week. We would like to share details with you regarding the first week back (Wednesday 13th – Friday 15th August).

All students return to school on Wednesday 13th 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. For 20 minutes, ‘house teachers’ will re-issue students with their timetables and share important messages. At 9am, all students will then attend their period 1 classes.

Students should check their year group Google Classroom to find out who their house teacher is and which classroom to report to. There will also be posters at the main entrance and playground doors with this information.

Please remember to wear school uniform, bring your charged Chromebook and other necessary materials such a refillable water bottle.

S1 Students

S1 students should meet their S6 Buddies in the playground from 8.30am 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.

For the first week (Wednesday 13th, Thursday 14th and Friday 15th August), all S1 students will have an extended break and lunch time to enable them to familiarise themselves with the dining hall and playground. S1 break time will be 10.10am – 10.35am and S1 lunch time will be 12.05pm – 12.55pm (first week only).

As you are aware, all S1 students must remain on campus during break and lunch times. With this in mind, all S1 students should bring a snack for break time and students will be entitled to a free school lunch on Wednesday 13th August (S1 only). S1 students are also welcome to bring a packed lunch.

As S1 students will be receiving their ParentPay information and PIN code on Wednesday, they should bring a packed lunch and/or top up ParentPay accounts ahead of Thursday.

All S1 POD students, should report to the Cabin directly at 8.45am.

S6 Buddies

We are very fortunate to have 90 fully trained and dedicated S6 Buddies, who will continue to assist our new S1 students during the first week of school in August (Wednesday 13th to Tuesday 19th August).

S6 Buddies should ensure that they report to Mrs Brown, Mrs Main and Mrs Ramsay 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. At this point, S6 Buddies should then report to their own house room/house teacher before collecting their S1 classes again at 9am.

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/early September to touch base with their S1 students.

Head Teacher’s Update

At the end of each week, our Head Teacher (Campbell Hornell), will share plans/updates for the week ahead.

School Uniform Fitting

We are hosting a school uniform fitting evening on Thursday 29th May 4pm-6pm in the school Atrium.

Our current school uniform suppliers will be present to show you the range of products available to families. You will be able to order uniform in person on the night or online from the Borders Embroideries website click here

We will also have a range of second hand uniform on display for families to take home, free of charge. At Lasswade, we believe in sustainability and equity so we try our utmost to support families in need and ensure that all good quality uniform can be passed onto other students.

If you are new to Lasswade High School, please familiarise yourself with our school uniform and dress code expectations for all students click here