HT Update: Week-ending Friday 11th October 2024

Friday 11th October 2024

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.  Feedback received, where appropriate and given the holiday, will be responded to and published on Monday 21st October on the school website.  

Key messages from this week  

Calendar:  Significant events week beginning Monday 21st October;  Monday is our In-service Day, students should not attend;   on Tuesday we look forward to the return of our students,  there will be a series of Year Group Assemblies for S1/S2/S3 and S5/6;  on Wednesday over 30 Photography students are out of school on a Trip to Edinburgh; on Thursday we’ve around 20 students on a Fashion Study Day Trip into Edinburgh, we’ll hold our S4 Year Group Assembly,  there will be Senior Phase House Assemblies and in the afternoon the Student Voice Parliament will meet,  in the evening it’s our P7 Information Evening from 6.00pm;  on Friday it’s our October Dress Down Day.  

Staffing:  Congratulations to Kirstie Scott who has been appointed to a Development Post in our Complex Needs Provision/The Pod. Kirstie will be leading on liaising with mainstream staff around supports and approaches for Pod students.  On Tuesday 22nd October we’ll have another attempt at recruiting a Teacher of Creative Design.  

Midlothian Budget:  As you may be aware, Midlothian Council has a projected budget gap for 2025/26 estimated to be £9.406m and, moving forward, there will be difficult decisions to be taken to enable Midlothian to continue to deliver statutory and non-statutory services. At a Full Council meeting on Tuesday 8th October Elected Members agreed to commence a public consultation seeking to understand the impact savings proposals will have on you and inform their final decisions.  The proposals will potentially have a significant impact on all schools.  The public consultation is now live on the Council’s website and I encourage you to complete the survey in order that your views are considered.

Consultations – Tell us how our savings proposals would impact you | Midlothian Council

Current Parents/Carers of S1 Students: We are hopeful that as many parents of the current S1 can spare a few moments over the holiday week to complete the following survey.  This will allow us to learn from our work and continue to improve our service.  The survey is focussed on the P7/S1 Transition, to access the survey please click here.  The survey will close on Monday 21st October.

Free School Meals:  We have been asked to share the following information, 

Help with school meals during school holidays | Free school meals and clothing grants | Midlothian Council

Police Scotland:  We have been advised that the Community Action Team(CAT) team will be attending in and around the school over the next few weeks. They are likely to ‘ticket’ anyone using the bus bay lane or the disabled parking spaces, with associated need/documentation,  before and after school. Please remember to follow the signage. 

SASS Funding Talks:   Student Awards Agency Scotland (SASS) will be delivering online funding talks which are designed specifically for the parents & carers of prospective Higher Education students. These sessions will be running from Tuesday 15th October until Thursday 31st October. Attendees can book their free ticket by clicking here.

These sessions will:

Parent Council 2: Save the date; our second Parent Council Meeting of the session will be on Tuesday 29th October, in-person at LHS from 7.00pm.  

If you have any feedback/questions relating to this update please submit them via the link below

Feedback here

Take Care

Campbell Hornell,  Head Teacher

Tweet  Share on Facebook
 

Other News

Whole School

11

Jan

2024


HT Update: Week-ending Friday 1st November 2024

This concise weekly HT Update is generally published every Friday afternoon.

Whole School

01

Jan

1970


HT Update Response: 30/10/24

Apologies for the late response.  No feedback required from HT Update of 25/10/24. 

Whole School

01

Jan

1970


HT Update: Week-ending Friday 25th October 2024

This concise weekly HT Update is generally published every Friday afternoon.

Whole School

01

Jan

1970


Parent Council 2 and AGM: POSTPONED

Our second Parent Council Meeting of the session will be held on Tuesday 29th October 2024.