HT Update: Week-ending Friday 31st October 2025

Friday 31st October 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.  

No feedback from last HT Update

Key messages from this week  

Calendar:  Significant events week beginning 03/11/25;  our S4 Work Experience Week runs Monday through Friday;  on Tuesday we have visits to student groups from Morrison Construction and the Navy; on Wednesday we have a Future Assets Blackrock experience, a Pilates taster session for S6 and it’s our P7 Open Evening for those who’ll be our S1 students and parents/carers next session;  on Thursday it’s our Girls in STEM event, aimed at S3;   Friday is just a regular day! 

Staffing:   Congratulations to Amanda Montague, PT Creative Design,  on the birth of her daughter Olive.  Both mother and daughter are doing well.  Next week we interview for our Temporary Maths position.  We have no posts currently live on myjobscotland. 

Relationships to Support Learning: BGE ‘Time Back’ Pilot:  In response to increased numbers of Duty Head Calls, we are piloting the introduction of ‘Time Back’ for BGEd (S1/2/3) students reported to a Duty Head. Please note a Duty Head is a senior member of staff who’ll respond if a colleague feels their actions to ensure there is a focus on learning, when a student is making poor choices, have not been successful.  On other occasions a Duty Head is called for safeguarding reasons.   Our pilot aims to be a timely, clear consequence to disruption to learning and teaching caused when a Duty Head call is required.    This approach will begin on Monday 10 November and will run until at least the end of term. ‘Time Back’ sessions will be supervised by Principal Teachers.  A member of our Senior Team will also be available to support.  It’ll run in the following way

• 20 minutes Time Back during BGEd lunch Mon-Thurs for students who have a Duty Head call in the morning of that day (periods 1-4) or the afternoon of the previous day (periods 6-8). 
• Duty Head incidents on Friday will be addressed the following Monday. Students will have 20 minutes at the end of lunch to get their lunch.
• Students will complete a Reflective Exercise on their Chromebook. Once completed, this will be shared digitally with their Student Support Teacher.
• The school will contact home, via text,  to inform parents/carers about any ‘Time Back’ involving their child.
• BGEd students will be advised next week, through their Student Support Teacher of this potential consequence.

Our Parent Council were supportive of this approach at last night’s meeting.  Please provide any comment on this approach via the link below and I’ll forward them onto Mrs Yule. 

Christmas Fair:  With our Christmas Fair fast approaching on Monday 24th November plans are progressing well.  Details are available on the Parent Council Facebook Page, click here,  and have been shared with staff and S6 students in LHS. We hope to see as many of you as possible at the event on 24/11/25.  It’s a great way to kickstart the festive season and support the school.   Any questions please do not hesitate to contact the Parent Council on fundraising.lhs@gmail.com  

SQA:  The SQA have now published Your National Qualifications, on their website. The booklet Your-NQ-2025-26-school contains rules and guidance for students completing their coursework. It’s therefore important that all students who will be producing and submitting coursework for external assessments read the booklet and understand these rules.   All S4-S6 students had an assembly last week to go through coursework arrangements and the importance of these. They were also provided with information about the assessment calendar, which is live on our website. The presentation from this assembly has been posted on Year Group Google Classrooms.

S5& S6 Winter Ball:  The S5/6 Winter Ball is just around the corner. Details of the event have been posted on Year Group Classrooms with invites for both S5 and S6 students to get together for an unforgettable night of music, dancing and memories with their classmates. They will celebrate the season in style as they make this winter one to remember.  Please encourage sign-up, particularly if your child is in S5.  The event will take place in school on the 27th of November from 6.00-9.00pm.  Tickets are on sale on ParentPay for £10.   Proceeds will go to the current S6 Fund with a portion going to a S5’s fund for next year.

Performing Arts Breaking News:  We are excited to announce that this year’s end of session school show is ‘LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL‘.  This is open to all year groups to apply to be part of the cast.   Sign up is via recent Year Group Classroom posts and must be completed by Wednesday 26th November.  Performing Arts will be holding auditions for S4-S6 on Thursday 27th November, from 3.30pm – 5.00pm in the Drama Studio. Students in S1 to S3 are also asked to fill out the form so we know you wish to be part of the cast.   Please note that Dance Auditions will be a separate process, later in the session and means that if your child only wishes to audition for dancing they should not sign-up at this stage.  Any student with questions should see Miss Brown or Mrs McKenzie in Drama.

Charitable Donations:  Today was our October Dress Down Day.  Thank you for your support through ParentPay.  Our S6 Charities Committee organises these and nominates the charities we support.  Please click here to see an infographic on those we’ve supported since January 2025.   

Borders College Open Day:  Borders College Open Day is on Wednesday 28th January 2026 between 1.00pm and 6.00pm – Register your interest now through this link, https://www.borderscollege.ac.uk/openday

Annual Data Checks:  Next week Annual Data Checks have been sent to all families on Parentportal.scot.  For any families not yet using Parentsportal paper Annual Data Checks will be issued.  S6 Students received these yesterday and the rest of the school will be issued over the next week.  Even if there are no changes these should be signed and returned to student reception.

Feedback here

Take Care

Campbell Hornell,  Head Teacher

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