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.
Our next HT Update will be on Friday 14th August 2026.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Significant events week beginning 10/08/26; Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be the final days of the summer holiday for all students. Tuesday and Wednesday are Inset Days for staff only; on Thursday we’ll welcome all our students back and hold a series of Year Group Assemblies. Parents/carers should continue to note that there is a ‘draft’ message across our school calendar on this website. The Inset Days and Holidays are accurate, but other items will be finalised on our August Inset Days. We expect that our update on 14/08/26 will highlight important calendar items.
Staffing: Today was the last day for a number of colleagues who are moving on to pastures new. We thank these colleagues for all their work with our students and their support for colleagues during their time at Lasswade High School. We have one job live on myjobscotland – PTC Complex Needs (Temporary).
Wider Achievement News: We’ve posted the Summer Wider Achievement News on the website, click here. A great addition to your holiday reading. On the page you’ll also be able to access previous editions. Our thanks to Rebecca Hardie, Art & Design, for providing these regular updates. Rebecca will be stepping back from this role in the coming session. Our new PT Pathways will now take on the mantle and share our Wider Achievement news.
BGE Awards Ceremonies 2026: This week, we celebrated 455 student award winners from our 4 school Houses. The ceremonies were absolutely fantastic, with musical performances, staff challenges and a highlight from this year’s school show Legally Blonde. We had over 650 guests at the ceremonies as well as the entire House Teams. What a wonderful way to end the year! Our thanks to the House Teams, Music and Drama staff, Angela Bowman, the School and House Captains and student helpers. In addition, particular thanks to Karen Hughes for her leadership on this work.
Bagpipe Brilliance: Special thank you also to Toby Briggs for piping us into each award ceremony this week, but also for piping us all out of school on Wednesday, in advance of Scotland’s last group stage game against Brazil. It was a very special moment, a few grown men cried. Toby was magnificent!
YPI: On Wednesday, seven teams from S3 participated in the YPI final. YPI is a national philanthropy competition run by the Wood Group and teams represent charities of their choice; the winner receives a cheque for £3000 which supports the charity. Our young people were phenomenal and put in a huge amount of to present on behalf of their chosen charities including Ronald McDonald House, Pitcairn Pantry, Richmond’s Hope, Simon’s Community, Women’s Aid East and Midlothian, Play Midlothian and Maggie’s. After much deliberation, the panel selected Women’s Aid as the winners. Thanks to Liam Lyall and the Social Studies team who lead this so well. Thanks also to Grant from JP Morgan who supported the groups with their presentation skills and was a judge on the day.
Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality Anti-Racist Bronze Award : We are delighted to announce that Lasswade High School has been awarded the Centre for Race, Education and Coloniality Anti Racist Bronze Award by Leeds-Beckett University. This is a highly prestigious award which showcases the work we have done over a number of years to embrace diversity and challenge racism within our school community. Thank you especially to Sarah Blair and Katherine Lebida (Humanities) who put in a huge amount of work to support this accreditation.
Free School Meals and Clothing Grants:
| Payment | Paid to Bank Accounts | Notes/Comments |
| School Holidays
Monday 29th June to Wednesday 12th August 2026 |
Thursday 25th June 2026 | £75.90 per Primary School pupil
£87.45 per Secondary School pupil |
Please see Midlothian Council web post for more information on the above.
MenB Vaccinations: Following recent cases of meningitis in the UK, a time‑limited MenB vaccination programme is being offered to specific groups of young people who may be at increased risk of exposure to meningococcal group B bacteria.
The programme is open to:
Please see this NHS communication to find about access to the summer vaccination programme. MenB Information for Parents/ Carers
Midlothian Adult Learning Opportunities: Communities and Life Long Learning are offering a range of adult learning opportunities to everyone aged 16 and over. Whether you want to gain qualifications, change your career or simple enjoying learning – now’s your chance!
National 4 Maths – Starting Wednesday 26/08/2026 6:30pm to 9pm The Lasswade Centre
National 5 Maths – Starting Tuesday 25/08/2026 6:30pm to 9pm The Lasswade Centre
National 5 English – Starting Monday 24/08/2026 6:30pm to 9pm The Lasswade Centre
PDA Sociology – Starting Wednesday 26/08/2026 6:30pm to 9pm Newbattle Community Campus
National 4 History – Starting Tuesday 25/08/2026 6:30pm to 9pm Newbattle Community Campus
CLL are offering a limited number of fully funded places for these qualifications. Once these funded places have been filled, no further funding will be available.To book a place on your chosen qualification/s please click on the link: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/clle-adult-learning-programme-3864753
Take Care and have a wonderful summer,
Lasswade High School SLT
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. Any feedback received will be responded to and published on Monday on the school website.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Significant events week beginning 22/06/26: Next week, on Monday and Tuesday, we have our BGE Awards Ceremonies where we celebrate the successes and achievements of our S1-3 students. Our Senior Fashion students will go to London, and we will have our S4 Duke of Edinburgh Silver Qualifier events. We will update students on the new policy for mobile phones during assemblies on Wednesday and Thursday. We finish school for the session on Friday 26th June, at 12:15pm. This will also be a dress down day.
Staffing: This coming week we will say goodbye to a number of colleagues who are moving on to new roles. Jamie Graham, who many of you will know through his work with the school Rugby team, moves on to a promoted role in another authority. We also say goodbye to Gareth Fleming, Lucia Rodriguez-Romera, Valeria Semler and Kerry Malcolm. Next week we also welcome back Amanda Montague from maternity leave, and wish Hanna Dodds all the best as she begins hers.
This week we filled posts for a Teacher of Chemistry, a Teacher of Complex Needs/ ASN (temporary) and appointed a new Learning Assistant. We currently have no posts live on myjobscotland.com.
Key messages from this week
School Show: On Wednesday and Thursday we were treated to a fabulous display of music, dancing and acting in our school show Legally Blonde. A huge well done to all of the staff and students that made these evenings such a success. Our final shows of the year are always emotional, particularly for our S6 students who now leave us. We thank our partners for their time and support also.
School Captains Recruitment: On Monday 15th June, 32 of our new S6 students took part in a recruitment process for 12 School Captain positions. All of the applicants did very well in what was a really rigorous process supported by Alison Malcolm from our Parent Council and our former School Captains. We are looking forward to working with the newly appointed team this coming session.
Mobile Phone Update: Over the next week we will share our new mobile phone procedures with students. The are also shared with you here, as promised last week. LHS Mobile Phone Policy in Practice
Qualifications Scotland Appeals: This afternoon we have published information about Appeals for this session. You will find this information here.
S4-6 Chromebooks, Reminder: We had a successful S4 Chromebook clinic last week, and we now have a number of Chromebooks in better condition. Please remember if your child is leaving school this summer, their Chromebook should be handed in to Mrs Bowman in room 112. Guidance on removing files is shared in Year Group Google Classrooms.
Qualification Scotland Results Day, Reminder: This year students can expect to see their results on Tuesday 4 August 2026. My Qualifications Scotland gives candidates a simple, convenient way to access their exam results and qualifications record. By signing up, they can choose to receive their results by email, text, or both. This means they won’t have to wait at home on results day to find out how they’ve done. To register, students will need their Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) and a valid email address. The deadline for registration is 5 pm on Wednesday 15 July 2026. To register, click here.
Feedback to: lasswadehsoffice@midlothian.education
Take Care
Lasswade High School SLT
Results Day – Tuesday 4th August
This year all students will receive their results on Tuesday 4th August. Certificates will arrive in the post and, if your child has signed up for MyQualificationsScotland (formally MySQA), they will also receive a text message or email to inform them of their results too.
Students should not come into school on results day, as staff will not be available.
We know that our students have worked incredibly hard this year – but this will nevertheless be an anxious time. Whilst we hope that they receive the results they are expecting, it is important to know the process for Appeals, should one be required.
Qualifications Scotland have prepared this document to support students, following their results, to support them in deciding whether an appeal is right for them.
Your Results – Qualifications Scotland
Appeals Process 2026
The Appeals 2026 service will be the same as last year’s service – students can request a marking review of their ‘Qualifications Scotland-marked assessment components’ (i.e. exam papers and assignments). Alternative assessment evidence’, like prelims, will not be accepted for this service. The service will be free and available to all students. Whilst students will be able to appeal directly to Qualifications Scotland, we would advise that they appeal following a discussion with their teacher.
Appeals 2026 will include a priority service for students with conditional offers for further education, training or employment. To use this service you must have an existing offer (e.g. via UCAS) that you can share with Qualifications Scotland. Students who require this service should enter their appeal directly, as the deadline is very tight this session.
Should I appeal?
If you are considering an appeal for one of your grades, then you are advised to discuss it with your teacher. Whilst you can appeal directly, and no ‘evidence’ is sent by the school, you might want to know more about your ‘breakdown’ (marks) in the exam, and you should consider your performance over the last year before you make a decision.
You must also be aware that proceeding with an appeal can result in your grade going up, staying the same or – in a minority of cases – going down.
Dates for Appeals
Please be aware if you register for an appeal yourself there are earlier deadlines – these are available via the Qualifications Scotland website.
If you would like to discuss your results, or the appeals process, the Qualifications Scotland email inbox will be open on 4th August to respond to questions: lasswadehs-sqa@midlothian.education
If, following your results, you need to reconsider your course choice for this year there will be a short window of opportunity to do so. Please remember, coursing changes will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and where a student requires a particular course/grade for specific reasons (e.g. entry to further/higher education, training etc) and not because they have changed their mind from the original course choices allocated.
A Google Form will be made available prior to the return to school in August, via Year Group Google Classrooms, this will go live on result day, and close on 14th August. Students should complete this as soon as they become aware that any change of course is required. Recoursing will be completed by 21st August.
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. Any feedback received will be responded to and published on Monday on the school website.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Significant events week beginning 15/06/26: next week we have our school show Legally Blonde on Wednesday and Thursday evening – our school shows are usually a sell out, so make sure you get your ticket fast! In addition, a number of our S4 students will be taking part in their Duke of Edinburgh Qualifier event throughout the week. Lastly, on Friday, we will finish the week with our Sports Day and an S2 Assembly to raise awareness for World Refugee Day.
Staffing: This week we appointed a History teacher, and a temporary member of staff for our ASN/ Complex Needs provision. On Monday we will welcome Grant Atkinson to the school. Grant will join us as the second of our PT Pathways, working across the school on school, and curriculum to support skills development. Currently we have no posts live on MyJobScotland, but we are interviewing in the last two weeks of term to secure staff for the coming session.
Key messages from this week
P7 Transition Visit: We have enjoyed meeting our new S1 group this week. Their visit days have brought a lot of buzz into the building, particularly as they navigated their timetables with their buddies and enjoyed their first ‘School of’ sessions. Staff have commented on their enthusiasm and energy, and we are all looking forward to having them with us in August. We gave them our traditional ‘guard of honour’ as they left this afternoon, cheered on by our S5 and S6 students.
Phone Free Information Evening: Thank you to the parents and carers who were able to attend last night’s information evening about our phased approach to becoming phone free. More details regarding the procedures and classroom processes are being developed and will be shared next week. We are looking for your feedback about how parents and carers can support our phone free expectations. Please complete the following short survey to share your views. Phone Free Parent/ Carer Survey
School Uniform: As part of our approach to ensuring our school uniform is affordable and sustainable, we look to recycle and reuse items of school uniform. If your child has outgrown their school uniform, we would hugely appreciate any donations so that these can be passed on to other students. In particular, any donations of senior blazers (red braiding) would be hugely appreciated. We also have BE Uniforms in on Tuesday next week for a uniform fitting event, click here to see more information on this.
S4-6 Chromebooks: We had a successful S4 Chromebook clinic last week, and we now have a number of Chromebooks in better condition. Please remember if your child is leaving school this summer, their Chromebook should be handed in to Mrs Bowman in room 112. Guidance on removing files is shared in Year Group Google Classrooms.
Qualifications Scotland Appeals: Much like previous years, this year’s Appeals service will involve a review of external assessment evidence but materials produced over the course of the year in school will not be submitted as part of the process. More detailed information on this year’s appeals process will be posted on our website before the end of term.
Qualification Scotland Results Day, Reminder: This year students can expect to see their results on Tuesday 4 August 2026. My Qualifications Scotland gives candidates a simple, convenient way to access their exam results and qualifications record. By signing up, they can choose to receive their results by email, text, or both. This means they won’t have to wait at home on results day to find out how they’ve done. To register, students will need their Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) and a valid email address. The deadline for registration is 5 pm on Wednesday 15 July 2026. To register, click here.
Feedback to: lasswadehsoffice@midlothian.education
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher and IMS Lead.
Response to feedback submitted from HT Update week ending 05/06/26. Please note I have anonymised the staff member in the second item.
| My Question | Comment | Suggestion related to the school this week is: | HT’s Response |
| Hello, I wondered whether the phone free teams event will be recorded for any parents not able to attend at that time? Thank you. | I’m afraid not. We don’t record sessions. We’ll make sure there is a report on the website. If you’ve questions you want raised then send them in. Parent Council via, fundraising.lhs@gmail.com or the school via, lasswade_hs@midlothian.gov.uk
|
| I am just trying to chase up two un responded emails to a member of staff from Tues 26th May and Tuesday 2nd June. Thank you | I’m sorry that has been your experience. I’ve spoken directly with the member of staff and asked them to reach out. |
| I would be interested to know if the school is organizing uniform fitting sessions this year or do we need to order directly from BE Uniforms? Also, does the school keep hold of second hand uniforms if we want to donate outgrown items and purchase the next size up? Thank you | Yes we are, the fitting session is on Tuesday 16th June between 4.00pm and 5.30pm. You can also order directly from BE Uniforms.
We do upcycle uniform, just hand into the School Office and it’ll make it’s way to the right place. |
| Just wanted to reiterate the comment from last week regarding pupils being able to access their new timetables maybe the week prior to starting a new year. I’m aware you are looking into this but I do feel it would be a positive step forward and really go towards reducing a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety on a day / week which can already feel quite overwhelming for some. | No problem. I can confirm that it is built into our timeline for next session. Our aim is to make them available on the Thursday/Friday before the change on the Monday after. |
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. Any feedback received will be responded to and published on Monday on the school website.
Feedback from the last HT Update: Click here.
Key messages from this week
Calendar: Significant events week beginning 08/06/26: on Monday it’s our S4 Extra Curricular Silver DoE Practice, there are SL and SA BGE Awards Rehearsals; on Tuesday students are still out on our S4 Extra Curricular Silver DoE Practice and there are ME and MK BGE Awards Rehearsals; on Wednesday it’s the last day of our S4 Extra Curricular Silver DoE Practice, the P7 Induction Days begin and in the evening there’s a Parent/Carer SDS/DYW Information Evening, see below; on Thursday the P7 Induction Days continue and it’s our Phone Free Parent/Carer Information Evening, see below; on Friday it’s the final P7 Induction Day.
Staffing: Congratulations to Lynsey Whitson who has come through the competitive process to secure the Development Post relating to NQTs and Student Teachers. Thanks to Katherine Lebida for her excellent work in this role. We have 6 posts live on MyJobScotland; Teacher of Chemistry, ASN Learning Assistant, Teacher of Business, IMS Vocal Instructor, IMS Piano Instructor and IMS Upper Strings Instructor.
Free School Meals: We’ve been asked us to share a respectful reminder that Free School Meal applications are not yet open for the next school year. Applications will open in mid-July.
Student Voice: Students were asked this week to sign up for Student Voice. This is our democratic and representative system where we listen and empower students to help improve the school. Students, via their Google Yeargroup Classroom are asked to, fill in a Google Form. Meetings are around once a month to discuss issues important to young people and to try to make Lasswade High School a better place to learn. Mrs Atkinson (114) or Mr Bain (115) lead on this work and students with questions are asked to see either of them.
Scottish Fire and Rescue: Following the tragic water related deaths during the country’s mini heatwave resulting in 15 deaths across the UK Scottish Fire and Rescue have asked us to share an information leaflet giving safety advice for reservoirs and other open water spots. Open Water Safety
Poltonhall and Bonnyrigg Gala Day: We’re happy to share the Poltonhall Gala Programme 26. Fingers crossed for good weather on Sunday.
Skills Development Scotland (SDS)/Developing the Young Workforce (DYW): Please note this event will be held on Wednesday 10th June at 6.30pm, via Teams. Click here for more information.
Phone Free Information Evening: Please note this event will be held on Thursday 11th June from 6.30pm, via Teams. Click here for more information.
Parent/Carer Wellbeing Group: The next group meeting will be Thursday 25th June, at Bright Sparks, Bonnyrigg. Please come along or get in touch with Vikki to find out more. Click here for more information. The group look forward to seeing you.
Wider Achievement PLEA, , Reminder: We are in the process of collating the wider achievements of students for the June edition of our Wider Achievement Newspaper. We’re looking for achievements in and out of school, ideally with any photographs/blurbs/and students’ names. While we’re knowledgeable about in-school achievements we’re think parents/carers are well placed to advise us of out of school student achievements. We need all information to be with us no later than 19/6/26 please. Please send to r.hardie@midlothian.education.
Legally Blonde Tickets, Reminder: We are pleased to let you know that tickets for this year’s school summer show, Legally Blonde, will be live on ParentPay from Monday afternoon, 25th May. Tickets are limited to 3 per student per show and once purchased, students can collect from classrooms 006 & 007. Thank you for your continued support , and we look forward to seeing you at the show.
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher and IMS Lead.
Please note this event will be held on Wednesday 10th June. The evening as been developed in partnership with our Parent Council. It is aimed at parent/carers. It begins at 6.30pm and will be an on-line event held via Teams. The session aims to inform parents/carers on
Please keep an eye on the Parent Council Facebook Page. On the morning of Wednesday 10th June all Parents/carers will be sent the Teams link via email.
Study Leave increased our capacity to work intensively on our Phone Free School project. In particular in relation to the preparation for implementation. There has been lots of discussion and lots of thinking on the matter over the last few weeks and months. We have concluded that, as a school, we need to alter our pace of change. I communicated this to our Parent Council at our recent meeting and with staff this morning. We’ll hold a series of Assemblies with students next week, including with the P7s who’ll be on their transition visit, to explain things to them.
Our intention is that in session 2026/27 we implement a consistent phone free classroom environment with identified phone free zones, .i.e., corridors and stairwells. Our purpose is to support learning and a phone free classroom will, we believe, reduce distraction and support engagement in learning. Our identified phone free zones will support our health and safety responsibilities. We do anticipate further consultation, thinking and discussion on a phone free school, looking at 2027/28 as the earliest implementation.
The change from our initial thinking has resulted from the following identified issues,
We will now work at pace to implement and share guidance with all. This process is well underway. Our Information Evening for parents/carers is scheduled for Thursday 11th June. That evening begins at 6.30pm and is now, at the request of the Parent Council, following a poll of parents, now on-line. Parents/carers of current students and P7 pupils will be sent the Teams link via email on Thursday morning.
At the Information Evening we plan to
Response to feedback submitted from HT Update week ending 29/05/26.
| My Question | Comment | Suggestion related to the school this week is: | HT’s Response |
| Why can the new s5/6 not get their timetables before returning to school on Monday? Could these not have be emailed or at least made available for kids to collect, if they wished, prior to starting back. | We’ve found it more efficient, over the years, to hand out to those who’ve been on Study Leave to get their timetable first thing, first day back. Unfortunately, we have no facility to easily email students their timetable. The IT Management System in school is antiquated. We’d be, between S5 and S6, around 450 individual emails. I will talk to Ms Petrie about collection for next session. Assuming a Monday start they could be collected Thursday/Friday prior to that. I guess we’ve just got into this habit. Thanks for the suggestion. |
| My daughter has received her new timetable but it has blank spaces and she has tried speak to her student support teacher to try and sort this out. The new timetable starts tomorrow and we are no further forward, to someone please call me to sort this please. | I’ve checked the timetable. No gaps. Must have been sorted last week. Will ask Mr Cairney to contact you |
