Friday 19th September 2025
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 afternoon on the school website.
Feedback from last HT Update: click here.
Key messages this week
Calendar: Significant events week beginning 22/09/25; on Monday we begin a fortnight’s work relating to Fairtrade; on Tuesday we hold our first Parent Council Meeting of the session, see below; on Thursday we’ll hold our Lasswade Day of Languages, we’ve S1 and S2 Academy of Performing Arts students on a Theatre Trip and we’ll hold our Student Parliament meeting; Friday is a Dress Down Day, see below.
Staffing: Thank you and good luck to Carolynne Mitchell and Dil Kaur from our Nursery. The Nursery, following a consultation process, closes today and both of these colleagues begin in their new settings on Monday. We will miss you both. Best wishes to Amanda Montague, PT Creative Design, who finishes today to begin her maternity leave on Monday. Our two posts currently live on myjobscotland, a Teacher of Mathematics (Permanent) and a Teacher of Art & Design (Temporary), close on 23/09/25.
Parent Council 1: Our first meeting of the session takes place on Tuesday of next week. The meeting is in-person and begins at 7.00pm. We’ll meet in Room 114, which is on the first floor. Sara Adam is our Parent Council Chair. I’ll also be there as will Mrs Yule from our Senior Team and our School Captains. We are keen to see as many parents/carers as possible. The agenda items we’ll cover are on our website post, click here.
Dress Down Day 26/09/2025: Our dress down day next Friday is being dedicated to Beatson Cancer Charity, who have provided Andy Scott (NQT Maths teacher in LHS 2022-2023) with invaluable support since being diagnosed with a rare type of bone cancer in 2024. Andy has gone through 12 months of challenging treatment and life changing surgery but he is still maintaining a positive attitude. He is fundraising for the charity and we’d like to support him by dedicating this month’s dress down day to Beatson. Please give what you can. See website story: click here.
Lasswade Ultimate Star Search: Congratulations to all involved in this inaugural event on Wednesday this week. The acts were super, supported by the audience who went full stadium gig with the lights on their phones at one point. Congratulations to the S3 Band; Charlie, Rachel, Holly and Benn who were selected as the wining act on the evening. However, what was particularly impressive was the leadership and work from the LHS Performing Arts Committee; Bella, Grace, Hayden and Rebecca. These young leaders organised the evening from idea through to delivery. In the process they’ve raised over £1000 for the S6 Fund. This will help subsidise future activities for their year group. Bravo!
Assessment Calendar: Ms Struthers, DHT, is working with our teams to construct the 25/26 Assessment Calendar. This calendar is available on our website, click here. Ms Struthers has added three ‘assessment windows’ to the calendar.
These are the periods of time when almost all our most significant assessments will take place for Senior Phase students. We ask that parents/carers are vigilant to these weeks and, as always, are encouraging study and revision in the lead up to them. What our teams are doing for the rest of September is adding the dates, within the ‘windows’, of specific assessments. This process should be complete by the October Break. I’ll let you when the detailed calendar is complete.
Wider Achievement and Extra Curricular Programme: As promised, albeit a week later, we’ve updated our website with details on how to let us know about achievements, out with school, that your children may be involved in, click here. The page also has a link to our lunchtime and after school programme of clubs we are offering this session. Please note that Miss Hardie, Creative Design, has taken on this role from August. My thanks to Miss Park in PE, who has led on this work in recent years and done a fabulous job.
Developing the Young Workforce (DYW): This session DYW are organising ‘Spotlight’ career sessions at various schools across the region and we are looking for parents to engage and participate in the sessions. If you are enthusiastic about your profession and would enjoy sharing your career journey with students, this is a fantastic opportunity to make a difference. These events bring together employers, students, and families across Midlothian’s six high schools. How to Get Involved:
The full list of events:
Great Caledonian Swim – This weekend Mr Chisholm, DHT, is supporting a friend of the school, Iain Sinclair, in his quest to become the first person ever to swim the Caledonian Canal, 60 miles sea-to-sea from Fort William to Inverness. Mr Chisholm is part of Iain’s safety team. Iain has supported us in planning our strategic improvements over recent years. His swim aims to be completed over the course of 9 days from Monday past, finishing this Tuesday coming. He is raising money for 3 amazing charities close to his heart. Please see sea2sea.co.uk if you are interested to know more. Iain has already agreed to come into school later this session to share his story, and reflections on the swim, with our students.
Former Member of Staff: Repeat. David Haire was an Assistant Principal Teacher in our History department in the 1980s. He has reached out to the school recently and I’m happy to facilitate his request. He, and his 1986/87 Standard Grade History class organised the making of a World War One video which involved quite a few students in his class. He believes he has the only copy of the final result. The film was entitled ‘SIW’ (Self Inflicted Wound). As time has passed he is wondering if the students involved would like to have a copy themselves. If this rings a bell with any former students, in the 1986/87 school session, please send me contact details via the feedback option below and I’ll pass them onto Mr Haire.
Take Care
Campbell Hornell, Head Teacher
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