HT Update; Week-ending Friday 15th November 2024

Sunday 17th November 2024

This concise weekly HT Update is generally published every Friday afternoon. Apologies,  due to technical issues it’s published this week on Sunday.   It’s a simple opportunity for you to also feedback/ask questions via the link at the bottom of each Update.  Feedback received, given the later than usual post and where appropriate, will be responded to and published on Wednesday afternoon on the school website.  

Key messages from this week  

Calendar:  Significant events week beginning 18/11/24;  on Monday selected groups of S3 will continue their work with Tree of Knowledge;  on Tuesday Higher Modern Studies/Politics students will visit the Scottish Parliament,  we’ll hold Senior Phase House Assemblies and it’s also our S5/6 Student Progress Consultation Evening, see below;  on Thursday evening we’ll hold our Creative Industries Showcase, see below.  

Staffing:  As we enter the late Autumn/Winter period we are beginning to notice more staff absence due to colds/flus.  This affects ‘cover’ and sometimes will result in members of SLT supervising more than one class at a time in the Assembly Hall or Atrium.   

S1 Reports:  Apologies to the parents/carers of our S1 students.  Our written reports, due to be issued last Thursday have been delayed.  We are working hard to resolve identified issues and aim to send them home with students towards the end of this week.   We’ll message parents/carers of S1 when they are issued to students.

S5/6 Student Progress Consultation Evening (SPCE):  A reminder that this takes place on Tuesday 19th November and is held virtually.  See our website for details, click here.

Creative Industries Showcase:   This school event is now a well established part of our school and is held this week, Thursday 21st November.  It is one of the highlights of the year where we showcase and celebrate creativity.  Details were posted on the website last week, click here.

Girls Judo Taster Session:  We have been given the opportunity from Judo Scotland to run a Judo taster session for S1-S3 girls on Thursday the 28th of November from 3:30 – 4.00pm. Details have been posted in Google Year Group Classrooms.  Those keen to come along, are asked to sign up via the google form, in the Classroom post, by 25/11/24.

Law/Business Mentoring Opportunity:  Our partners and independent legal firm, Burges Salmon, are offering a second cohort of mentors to work with current S5 students for the calendar year of 2025 towards a UCAS application for related degrees. If students are interested in applying to have a mentor they’ve been asked to complete the attached form by 8.40am on 18th of November.  Apologies for the short notice to parents, given the delay in this HT Update. 

Curriculum Survey:  Please take the time to complete this short survey.  The response to date has not been what we hoped for.   We completed a Parent Council response last week and they suggested a direct message to parents/carers,  this will be issued later this week.  All ASG schools will ask our parents/carers the same short survey across November.  Click here for access. 

Reminder, 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.  The consultation closes on Wednesday 20th November. Consultations – Tell us how our savings proposals would impact you | Midlothian Council

 

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

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