I am sharing an Outcome Report relating to the recent school day alignment consultation held over February and March. Over 2000 responses were submitted and on Thursday 25th April the Midlothian Business Transformation Strategic Group approved the proposal.
This means that from Monday 3rd of June 2024 all Midlothian secondary schools, including our school, will begin classes at 8.40am, (Monday through Friday). In each secondary school classes will finish at 3.25pm, (Monday through Thursday). On a Friday classes in each secondary school will finish at 12.15pm.
For those who travel by school transport we are working with providers to move to a morning drop-off no earlier than 8.20am. I’ll keep you informed as that work progresses.
It means that the overall length of the pupil/student week for all Midlothian secondary schools will be the same and organised across 32 x 50 minute periods. This is no change for LHS. All 32 periods, Monday Period 1 through to Friday Period 4, will start and end at the same time in each school.
Lunch in all schools will be set at 40 minutes, this is a reduction of 10 minutes for LHS, with a commitment to review this in autumn 2025 for possible revision in school session 2026/27. All schools are committed to reviewing this as the ‘result’ in the consultation was very close between those who agreed with the 40 minute proposal and those who didn’t.
Additional detail is contained in the Outcome Report, click here.
On Tuesday 24th October, we held our annual P7 Open Evening at Lasswade High School. This year, we reached record numbers with nearly 700 guests in attendance.
With a view to making continuous improvement, we would like to hear from students, parents and carers about their experience before, during and after the Open Evening.
If you were able to attend our P7 Open Evening, we would really appreciate it if you could complete our short survey by Monday 13th November.
P7 Open Evening 2023: Feedback
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.
Thank you to the parents, carers and P7 students who were able to join us for our third and final online session on Wednesday 7th June. 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 in-school transition programme starts on Wednesday 14th June. Students should arrive in the back playground for 8.45am, for a 9am start. We look forward to having the P7s in the building on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week.
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.
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.
Thank you to all of the P7 students, parents and carers who were able to join us for our first online information session ‘My Lasswade’ (24th April/4th May).
Sincere apologies to those who tried to join our meeting on 24th April but were unable to connect. We have now resolved our technical issues with Zoom and successfully used the platform on 4th May.
We understand that not everyone could make it along to our first session, so we have added the slides to this post, for you to view at your leisure. Please also feel free to access our virtual tour.
Session 2, ‘My Learning’, is taking place on Tuesday 16th May 6pm-6.30pm. Meeting details will be shared with primary schools next week.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch by sending an email to our dedicated mailbox: transition.lasswade@midlothian.education