HT Weekly Update: Week-ending Friday 27th October 2023

Friday 27th October 2023

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, will be responded to and published by Monday afternoon on the school website link.   

Key messages from this week

Welcome Back:  Term 2 began for staff on Monday and our students returned on Tuesday.  It was lovely to see everyone back.  Hopefully folk had a good break from school.  

Calendar:  Next week,  we are focussing on raising awareness around Dyslexia as part, albeit earlier, of national work during November;  on Tuesday the results of SQA appeals are issued to schools,  on Thursday we plan to issue our first Senior Phase Alert Report to parents/cares,  this comes via email

Staffing: Congratulations to Hazel Moar who has secured a 23 month secondment as Education Support Officer: Equity at Midlothian Council. The backfill for Hazel’s current Head of House position will be advertised in due course. Congratulations to Larysa Lotockyj (Pod) who got engaged over the holidays, and to Saalihah Hussain (English) who got married. Saalihah will now be known as Mrs Lyons. This week we welcomed Mark Melrose (PT Creative Industries & Pathways) and Sandra Craig (Home School Practitioner) to our school. On Monday we have Jennifer Gillespie starting with us as Teacher of Music. 

School Standards and Quality Report and Improvement Plan:  Please note this document is now live on our website click here. Our PEF plan is available on request. 

Senior Phase Assessment Calendar:  A recent website post on 25/10/23 outlined further details on our plans for assessment in the Senior Phase this session.  The Senior Phase Assessment Calendar is accessible through the Curriculum section of the website click here.

P7 Open Evening:  On Tuesday of this week we ‘kicked-off’ our P7/S1 Transition Programme for our session 24/25 intake.  Over 700 adults and children attended and heard a shortish presentation in the Hall.  Thereafter, attendees visited workshops around the school.  Particular thanks to our S1 students who spoke honestly and eloquently about their experience to date, our School and House Captains who supported the event and to 60+ of our staff who shared aspects of their work.  The immediate feedback from those attending was very positive. 

S4 Work Experience 6th-10th November:  A reminder for your information that around 200 of our S4 students will be on work experience from Monday 6th-Friday 10th November. Those without a placement should attend school, however almost all will be out of class on Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th for an in-school work experience event with Lloyds Bank. On other days those not on work experience should follow their normal timetable.  Please note some classes will be consolidated into bigger groups. 

Inset 3: At our In-service day on Monday we had inputs from Skills Development Scotland on Meta-skills and the Midlothian Educational Psychology Service on Trauma Informed Practices.  The latter was the first of three sessions on this for our staff.  Thereafter, staff worked on aspects of our school and departmental improvement plans. Many of our non-teaching staff attended the Support Staff Conference in the afternoon.  

S4 Annual Data Forms:  Ahead of students being entered to SQA for National Qualifications this session we are issuing all S4 students with Annual Data Forms over the next week, please complete, sign and return these to the school office even if there are no changes.  Some students will also receive a Parental Consent Form, you will only receive this if we do not already have one on file, please complete and return both to the school office at your earliest convenience to ensure our records are accurate.

Coldwells Photos:  We have received the photograph orders from Coldwells this week and are in the process of issuing these to students, they can also be collected from student reception from Monday.  S6 Students will also be issued with the proof for the S6 Group Photo, orders can be placed online with Coldwells and will be delivered to school.

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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