Monday 3rd February 2025
Response to feedback submitted from HT Update week ending 31/01/25. As you’ll see below, there is a range of views expressed in the feedback. Later post than usual as I wanted to discuss the response with our School Captain before posting. We were not able to catch up until this afternoon.
| My Question | Comment | Suggestion related to the school this week is: | HT’s Response |
| Children in war – my friend was in Gaza when the war started, she has returned to Edinburgh with her children. I can ask if she or her kids would be willing to be interviewed for you, although it would likely have to be anonymous, as there are still security concerns. | I’ll speak with our Principal Teachers in Humanities and Citizenship and Society. They may be interested in hearing from your friend. Thanks for the offer. |
| Palestine and Gaza issues in the news/political matters should NOT be brought into school | Thanks for taking the time to respond. We view the post as humanitarian in it’s nature rather than political. It’s the first in a series that will result in fundraising in March for UNICEF.
Nevertheless, politics is part of the curriculum in schools, we teach Higher Politics and Political Literacy is likely to be a theme all schools are expected to address as the Scottish curriculum evolves. |
| Can we please remove the one sided political post from the news letter. The current situation in Gaza was caused by a level of barbarity that few humans have ever resorted to , to downplay it is so very misguided. As to the overall situation , it is much deeper than starting at 1948. The author forgets so much of history . She forgets the massacres of Jews before then. She forgets the attempts on 2 occasions by Arab armies to cleanse the Jews from the land. She ignores the point that if the Jews laid down their arms they would be slaughtered , but if Hamas laid theirs down there would be peace. She ignores the fact that UNRWA were and are complicate in the atrocities whether by allowing the teaching of hate and murder in their schools , by allowing terrorists into their ranks or by holding young girls hostage. So please let’s have it removed or if not then expect to be debated. |
Thank you for your response. I’ve posted it in full in the interests of transparency. I do not plan to remove the post. Our intention is to explore issues from a humanitarian perspective rather than a political stance. Our aim was not a debate on the conflict but to frame future fundraising for humanitarian reasons.
The context provided was careful to use phrases like ‘Many commentators…’ or ‘Some describe…’ to make it clear there are a range of views. The majority of the post comes clearly from a humanitarian perspective, highlighting the impact on children and young people. |
| Just a message to say I wholeheartedly agree with the School Captain Tareena’s message. I’m very proud my child attends a school where students are encouraged to voice and advocate for such causes. | Thank you. She’ll share more of her thoughts across February, including the humanitarian impact of conflict in Sudan and Afghanistan. |
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HT Update: Week-ending Friday 9th January 2026
Happy New Year everyone. All the best for the year ahead. This concise weekly HT Update is generally published every Friday afternoon.
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HT Update Response: 05/01/26
Happy New Year everyone. Response to feedback submitted from HT Update week ending 19/12/25.
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HT Update: Week-ending Friday 19th December 2025
This concise weekly HT Update is generally published every Friday afternoon.
