HT Update: Week-ending Friday 20th March 2026

Friday 20th March 2026

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 23/03/26;  on Monday our FA Accountancy students undertake their professional exam, we’ll also have a visit from staff at Perth HS to see our work on Curriculum; on Tuesday it’s our Parent Council 5 Meeting, see below;  on Wednesday it’s the Midlothian CYP Leadership S1 to S3 Pupil Voice Meeting, we’ve students completing their Powering Futures Presentations and in the evening we’ll have students at the Midlothian Wind Band Spectacular at Dalkeith HS;  on Thursday it’s our Student Parliament,  we’ll hold a Qualification Scotland Exam Assembly with S4, it’s the Midlothian S4 to S6 CYP Leadership Pupil Voice Meeting and in the evening we’ll have students at the Midlothian All Things Strings Concert at Dalkeith HS;   on Friday it’s our March Dress Down Day,  the S3 Report 2 is available via Parentsportal and loads in S6 are away on their ‘Farewell Trip’ to Alton Towers.  

Staffing:   A special mention to Kathryn Park and Judith Clyne-Parker (Active Schools) for their leadership of SPOTY 2026 last night, see below.  Phenomenal!  Thank you. We have one vacancy currently live on myjobscotland, Teacher of Design & Technology (August Start).  Congratulations to Laura Day who’ll join our staff permanently as Teacher of English from August. She is currently our Newly Qualified Teacher in English.  

Future Asset: This HT Update is late today as I had the privilege of being at the Natwest Conference Centre at Gogarburn this afternoon.  I am delighted to report that our team of 4 young women;  Stephanie Dagher, Aisla Dolan, Khadijah Imran and Maria Mackenzie,  all S5, won the main prize.  This is a national 10 week competition that enables girls in Scottish schools, state and independent, to learn about investing, experience what it’s like to work in finance and gain valuable skills and networking opportunities.  Students work with an investment professional, who acts as a “Competition Coach,” to analyse a company and give their investment recommendations. Our students were coached by Richard Barry who works with Walter Scott – Edinburgh  My thanks to Richard and his company.  The students were also expertly supported by Kelly Smith, our Business Teacher.  Thanks also to Kelly.  This is a phenomenal achievement by these students, with over 900 girls across the country competing, from schools in almost every local authority.   It was a great day and clean sweep for Midlothian with students from Penicuik HS, including Mrs Yule’s daughter, securing the Runners-up spot.   If you want to read more about Future Asset, click here.  

Site Security:  Too many staff, myself included, and students have fallen into a bad habit of using the two fire doors leading to the car park from the front of the building as a quick shortcut exit.  Indeed, sometimes students and staff are using them as entrances as folk exit.  This is not appropriate and in our regular reviews of ‘site security protocols’ we have concluded we need to collectively break this habit.  We began our communication strategy on this with staff today, and will do likewise from Monday with students and parents/carers. Our ‘ask’ is that the two fire doors at the front of the building, opposite the car park, are reserved for emergency use only.   We’re beginning  a ‘campaign of compliance’ for students and staff not using these doors from our return after Easter.  We ask that staff and students use the main entrance and the entrance from the back playground.  As always, parents/carers and visitors are expected to use the main entrance.  

NCSC Award:  I am delighted to report that we have been awarded with a Bronze CyberFirst award for Cyber Security  by the National Cyber Security Centre.  My thanks to Natalie Stevenson, Teacher of Computing, and students within that area for their work.  We hope to progress through this accreditation framework over the next few school sessions.  To read more about the scheme click here.  As part of our developing work in this area we had Kevin Murphy, an internationally award-winning cyber security consultant, president of Isaca (Scotland) in speaking with students today.  Kevin’s previous cyber security experience includes four years as part of KPMG’s award-winning cyber security team.  He has authored two books on training, is a noted speaker on the international security circuit and a regular contributor to leading cyber security, risk and privacy publications.

Parent Council 5:  This meeting takes place on Tuesday 24th March.  Click here  for more details regarding the meeting.  It’s an online meeting held via Teams.  All parents/carers will be sent the link on Tuesday morning.

SPOTY 2026:  Last night we held our 10th Sports Personality of the Year Awards Ceremony.   Congratulations to all the students who received a range of awards across a plethora of sports.  My thanks to the staff who supported the event and our visiting VIP guests.  With over 1000 votes cast it was congratulations to Cooper Brown, S3, who received the main award, our Sports Personality of the Year 2026.   Full report on the website next week.  

Gold School Sport Award:   I am delighted to inform you that we have been reaccredited as a sportscotland Gold School Sport Award for 2026-2028.   This is our third accreditation and covers a 7 year period.  The Gold School Sport Award is recognition of our school’s achievements in putting sport at the heart of our planning, practice and ethos.  The Gold Award also highlights that our school has shown excellent practice across the core areas of the Award and demonstrated an on-going commitment to increase young people’s opportunities and engagement in physical education, school sport and leadership and provide clear pathways to life-long participation in sport.  We are delighted and my thanks to the PE Team, our students, Adult Volunteers who support our ‘sport offer’,  partner organisations and Active Schools.  It is a proud moment for the school and a genuine example of excellent partnership working.  Click here if you want to read more about the award. 

Parent/Carer Stakeholder Consultation:  Every two years we undergo a significant survey of staff, students and parents/carers.  On Monday all parental contacts will receive a text with a link to a shortish survey.  Please complete this between Monday and our return after the Easter Break.   It won’t take you that long but it does give you plenty of time.  We’ll also schedule periodic reminders during this period.  Thank you for your anticipated thought and time to complete this survey.  

Feedback here

Take Care

Campbell Hornell,  Head Teacher

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