Unfortunately, we’ve had to postpone our fifth Parent Council Meeting of the session. It was due to be held on Tuesday 26th March. We’ll rearrange for a date after Easter.
At the rearranged meeting we still plan discussion on
All parents/carers are welcome to ‘attend’.
Please send in any questions, via email and with ‘FAO Parent Council’ at the top of message, to
Or, post a question to the Parent Council Facebook page
Our fourth Parent Council Meeting of the session is on Thursday 18th January. This was highlighted in last week’s HT Update. As we are now in the midst of darker nights and winter weather the meeting will be held via Zoom. We’ll begin at 7.00pm and end no later than 8.30pm. Our learning from last session was that Zoom meetings usually last closer to an hour.
As part of the meeting there will be discussion on
All parent/carers on will automatically be sent joining instructions for the meeting, via email, on the morning of Thursday 18th January. All are welcome to ‘attend’.
Please send in any questions, via email and with ‘FAO Parent Council’ at the top of message, to
Or, post a question to the Parent Council Facebook page
All questions should be submitted no later than 1.00pm on Thursday 18th January.
Our third Parent Council Meeting of the session is on Thursday 23rd November. As we are now in the midst of darker nights and winter weather the meeting will be held via Zoom. We’ll begin at 7.00pm and end no later than 8.30pm. Our learning from last session was that Zoom meetings usually last closer to an hour.
As part of the meeting there will be discussion on
All parent/carers on will automatically be sent joining instructions for the meeting, via email, on Wednesday 22nd November. All are welcome to ‘attend’.
Please send in any questions, via email and with ‘FAO Parent Council’ at the top of message, to
Or, post a question to the Parent Council Facebook page
All questions should be submitted no later than 1.00pm on Thursday 23rd November.
Our sixth and final Parent Council Meeting of the session is on Tuesday 30th May. The meeting, in-person, will be held at the school in rooms 114/115 (on the first floor) between 7.00pm and 8.30pm.
As part of the meeting there will be discussion on
All parents/carers are welcome to attend.
Please send in any questions via email to
Or, post a question to the Parent Council Facebook page
All questions should be submitted no later than 1.00pm on Tuesday 30th May.
Ice creams are optional!
Since March we have been gathering views on our school dress code arrangements for session 2023/24. This meant consultation with Student Voice Year Groups, our Parent Council, opportunities for students, parents/carers and staff to comment through a Google Form, with well over 500 responses from that alone.
As we expected there are a range of views on school uniform/dress code and valid points can be made by all those with differing views. The rationale we are adopting is that a school dress code is important for a range of reasons. You’ll see this in our final guidance. We also recognise that school uniform can be expensive for families and therefore are seeking to widen the options available, particularly when there are significant financial pressures on many households. Please note that school also can support with the ‘cost’ of uniform and parents/carers should engage with the appropriate House Team on that.
At the same time we are seeking to balance what is a range of opinion on school uniform/dress codes and our guidance includes more and less ‘traditional’ options. You’ll see we are encouraging a more formal or traditional approach in our Senior Phase.
Our guidance in relation to PE recognises the challenge we are currently facing with a popular and successful part of the school attracting lots of students and challenges we have around too few changing rooms. There is no immediate prospect of additional changing rooms and we are proposing reverting to our ‘Covid-19 approach’ of expecting students to come dressed for PE on the days they have PE. Of course we will retain an option for those who want to change and offer advice on what we’d expect on wet weather days. You’ll see this means black/white clothing themes for PE. This allows us to maintain our overall Dress Code Vision.
In summary our vision is to encourage students to dress in a combination of black/white with at least one item having the LHS logo/badge. This would be one of, or a sensible combination of, a LHS tie, LHS blazer or our new LHS half zip top.
Additional posts on dress code, including in-person fitting opportunities, on-line purchasing options will be published from next week.
Please note no changes will come into effect until August 2023.
To view the finalised August 2023 guidance please click here.
Our fifth Parent Council Meeting of the session is on Thursday 23rd March. The meeting, in-person, will be held at the school in rooms 114/115 (on the first floor) between 7.00pm and 8.30pm. However, please be reassured our most recent meetings have tended to last around an hour!
As part of the meeting there will be discussion on
All parents/carers are welcome to attend.
Please send in any questions via email to
Or, post a question to the Parent Council Facebook page
All questions should be submitted no later than 1.00pm on Thursday 23rd March.
On Thursday 23rd March at our Parent Council Meeting we aim to consult on Parents’ Evening arrangements for session 23/24. Thereafter, we will consult with our school teaching union representatives and staff to finalise arrangements. This process is completed during the summer term.
At our meeting on Thursday, we’ll discuss the following presentation click here. We’ll highlight the rationale for the three recommendations we are making and gather parent/carer feedback. The feedback gathered will inform what we discuss and hopefully agree with our staff in the summer term.
If, as a parent/carer, you are keen to participate in our discussion on this issue and have your voice heard please attend our Parent Council on Thursday.
Over the course of this week and until the end of April we aim to consult on and agree our school dress code arrangements for session 23/24. This will be timelined as follows
At our Parent Council Meeting on Thursday 23rd March, beginning at 7.00pm, we’ll discuss the same draft guidance that we are with our Student Voice Groups this week. We’ll highlight the rationale for the recommendations we are making and gather feedback. The feedback gathered will inform what we consult on between next week and Monday 24th April.
The rationale we are adopting is that a school dress code is important for a range of reasons. You’ll see this on our draft leaflet. We also recognise that school uniform can be expensive for families and therefore are seeking to widen the options available, particularly when there are significant financial pressures on many households. At the same time we are seeking to balance what is a range of opinion on school uniform/dress codes and our guidance includes more and less ‘traditional’ options. It also recognises what, to a fair degree, is happening in practice.
Our updated guidance in relation to PE recognises the challenge we are currently facing with a popular and successful part of the school attracting lots of students and challenges we have around too few changing rooms. There is no immediate prospect of additional changing rooms and we are proposing reverting to our Covid-19 approach of allowing students to come dressed for PE on the days they have PE while retaining the option for those who want to change. You’ll see this means black/white clothing themes for PE or young people using the changing rooms.
In, summary our aim is to encourage students to dress in a combination of black/white with ideally at least one item with the LHS logo/badge as part of their clothing. This could be a blazer, tie, hoody, t-shirt etc. No changes will come into effect until August 2023.
If, as a parent/carer, you are keen to participate in phase 1 of our discussion please attend our Parent Council on Thursday.
To view the draft guidance click here. The main revision is the middle section of page 2 under ‘Dressing for Excellence CHECKLIST’ The remainder of the guidance has minor alterations when compared to our current advice on the website in the About Us section.
Please access the link below to view a letter from our Executive Director. The link within the letter will take parent/carers to a lengthy report that outlines the options that our Elected Members will consider. The potential impact on all schools could be significant. Proposed savings could result in a major reduction in staffing and a knock-on effect to the service we currently are able to provide.
Communication to parents and carers 23012023
The link below will take you directly to the ‘pack’ referred to in Fiona Robertson’s letter. The options to be considered kick in from p 27
Agenda Document Pack – Midlothian Council – 31_01_2023
Please take the opportunity to have your say before the Elected Members meet on 31/01/23.
Our fourth Parent Council Meeting of the session is on Wednesday 18th January. The meeting, via Zoom, will be held between 7.00pm and 9.00pm. Though to be accurate our learning from last session was that Zoom meetings usually last around an hour.
As part of the meeting there will be discussion on
All parent/carers on will automatically be sent joining instructions for the meeting. All are welcome to attend.
Please send in any questions via email to
Or, post a question to the Parent Council Facebook page
All questions should be submitted no later than 1.00pm on Wednesday 18th January.