Head Teacher's Letters

May 2005 Newsletter

27^th May 2005

Dear Parent/Guardian,

Newsletter May 2005

Consultation on Draft Bill “Making the Difference – improving parents’ involvement in schools”

The School Board Open Evening to discuss the above took place last Monday in the Library and the School Board met on Thursday 26^th May to finalise its response to the draft bill. I would remind all parents that individual responses are welcomed by the Scottish Executive and these can be made using the Parentzone website (www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk/questionnaire.asp).

Truancy Call

All parents should have received by mail a letter from myself regarding this and asking for an update of all contact telephone numbers on the form which was enclosed with the letter. Can I ask that these be returned as soon as possible, please?

SQA Examinations

We are approaching the end of the SQA diet of examinations now and I would like to congratulate the vast majority of our pupils who arrived in good time, in uniform, were well organised with the necessary materials, and who seemed well prepared for the trials and tribulations of the next few hours. 

My thanks also go to Miss McIntosh for her painstaking and conscientious work in organising the examinations in association with our invigilators, whose helpful and unflustered approach creates the required orderly examination atmosphere.

Paris Normandy trip

A group of pupils and staff have been abroad for 9 days and return today. Many of you may have been following their adventures on the school website via the daily weblog and podcast and may have sent messages to those on the trip – you’ll gather that while the two centre trip is highly educational, it is very far from being serious all the time! It has been interesting to see that other people in France have left messages too.

Podcast

You may have seen the article in the “Sunday Express” about the school – we are the first school in Europe to make a podcast, which is essentially DIY Radio and can be downloaded onto an IPod. You can also read it off a computer, as many of us have done in following the podcasts from the French trip.  My congratulations to Mr McIntosh and his team of pupil helpers for an interesting technological innovation which has a great deal of potential.

New timetable

S1 to S3 pupils begin their new timetables on Monday 30^th May: they will be given new individual timetables that morning. Pupils should note that rooms have been renumbered recently as part of the PPP project – we have a lot of new rooms and renumbering made sense – and we have used the new room numbers throughout. We will issue new pupil planners in August, so the old ones continue to be used and they are dated until the end of June. S4 and S5 pupils will commence their new timetable on Monday 6^th June.

Scottish Schools Under-16 Football Final

Our Under-16 Boys’ football team reached the final of the Scottish Cup which was played in Glasgow at Firhill, the home of Partick Thistle, against Bellahoustoun Academy. While we narrowly lost 2-1 (with the game very evenly balanced in the second half), the team distinguished themselves by the sporting manner in which they accepted defeat at the end. Nonetheless, it was a great achievement to get to the final and the experience of playing at a senior football ground will not be forgotten by the members of the team.

Cashless Catering

I am delighted to report that cashless catering has been introduced very smoothly – pupils have had little difficulty in learning how to load up their smartcards and service at the tills has speeded up as the catering staff have become more familiar with the system too. The Meal Deal on offer is now a healthier option than before and the recent redecoration and refurbishment of tables and chairs makes the Dining Hall a very pleasant place. A representative of Elite Catering will talk to the School Board about the initiative called “Hungry for Success” in the new term.

S1 Parents Evening

S1 reports were recently issued, with many pupils maintaining their good start to secondary school. Our thanks to parents for the comments in the reply slips – these are always very helpful to us. The S1 Parents Evening was held on Tuesday, with the Art and Design Department putting on a display of work from 6-7p.m. which was very well received by visiting parents. Once again, our attendance rate for this evening was high, and we are delighted to see so many parents.

End of term events

This point of the school year is always very busy as we prepare for various events – we have organised some Activities Days this year for pupils, our P7 pupils visit us on the 7^th and 8^th of June, a lot of staff attend the Senior Prom on 10^th June, the Summer Concert takes place on Thursday 23^rd June – tickets £1  starting at 7.30 p.m.

In the final week, we have our merit ceremonies on Monday 27^th and Tuesday 28^th June and the Annual Prizegiving on Wednesday 29^th June, where our Guest Speaker will be Councillor Maureen Talac. The final event of the year will be “Gig on the Grass” on the final day of term Thursday 30^th June when we finish at 3.45 p.m.

My final newsletter of the year will reach you in the last week of this term.

Yours sincerely,

R I Summers

Head Teacher

April 2005 Newsletter

 

27 April 2005

Dear Parent/Guardian

Newsletter April 2005

PPP

The school opened as planned on Monday 18 April after the Easter holiday. As ever, there was a great deal of work carried out during the holiday and I am very pleased to report that the major works in the Music Department and on C Floor were completed on time. The school’s major refurbishment and new build is now virtually complete, although some work will take place in the Library over the summer holidays.  The final stage of the building works, called “snagging”, now occurs, where the work is assessed for quality, match to the job specification, and fitness for purpose.

Consultation on Draft Bill “Making the Difference – improving parents’ involvement in schools”

A leaflet was given to all pupils on Friday 15 April alerting parents to the consultation. The School Board wishes to hold an Open Evening to discuss the draft bill on Monday 16 May – a separate letter will follow in due course.

PTA Quiz Night

This event will take place at Musselburgh Rugby Club (for over 18s only) on Friday 27 May at 7.30 with tickets priced £6. Tickets can be bought from Mrs Slight on 665-4070 or money can be sent in to Mrs Campbell in Business Studies.

Easter Revision classes and national examinations

Thanks to the pupils and staff who gave up time during the Easter holidays to work together in preparing for the national examinations which are now imminent, with the first examination in Standard Grade Art and Design taking place on Thursday 28 April. 

Miss McIntosh has issued individual timetables to S4-6 along with the SQA booklet of examination guidance. Pupils should check their timetable carefully and approach Miss McIntosh if they think there are any errors or omissions in it. We advise that pupils make sure parents are aware of the days they have examinations so that they are up and ready to leave for school in good time – the examination time is set and the invigilator does not wait for latecomers.

Please note that the SQA regulations are very strict and quite absolute regarding electronic devices – none must be present in the examination room, even if switched off – so mobile phones and electronic music players or PDAs must not be brought to school on examination days. Two of our candidates disregarded this warning last year, were caught by the invigilator, and the examination grade for that subject was cancelled for that candidate. The SQA reserve the right to cancel all examinations for a candidate, moreover.

The school wishes all candidates well in the forthcoming examinations.

Family holidays during term-time

We have received the following information from East Lothian Council clarifying the procedure for recording family holidays during term-time:

All family holidays taken during term-time should be categorised as unauthorised absence unless a request is accompanied by sufficient evidence to merit authorisation.

A family holiday classified as “unauthorised absence” includes such reasons as:

·        the availability of cheap flights or the availability of desired accommodation,

·        poor weather during school holidays,

·        holidays which overlap the beginning or end of term,

·        parental difficulty obtaining leave where evidence has not been provided by the employer that leave taken during school holidays would have serious consequences.

Exceptional circumstances may merit authorisation of a term-time family holiday :

·        A family holiday judged to be important to the well-being and cohesion of the family following serious or terminal illness, bereavement or other traumatic event.

·        Parental difficulty obtaining leave where the employer has provided written evidence that it cannot accommodate leave during school holidays without serious consequences to the service provided.

It is the responsibility of the school to make the decision on authorisation of family holidays during term-time. Parents are required to submit their requests for authorisation, in writing, to the Head Teacher in advance of the absence, along with the supporting evidence. The Head Teacher will then consider the information presented and write to the parents with his or her decision. If a parent does not submit their request in writing with supporting evidence from the employer, it should automatically be categorised as unauthorised and the parent informed of this. Schools should ensure that parents are fully aware of the rules.

I would simply add two further points – it should be very unusual for any parent of a child in S4-6 to take their child on holiday during term-time during these years at school, and it should be inconceivable for a parent to take a child on holiday during the SQA examination period so that a child misses the national examination in May and June and throws away one or two year’s work at a stroke.

Cashless Catering

The Dining Hall has recently been redecorated and refitted with new tables and chairs to coincide with the launch of cashless catering.  Pupils find it straightforward to load money and cheques into the 4 machines available in the Transit Area and the Dining Hall to get credit on their Smartcard.  Elite Catering are implementing the national initiative “Hungry for Success” which encourages healthier eating. The new graphics in the Dining Hall complement that initiative, linking sporting activities to healthy food. We also have a new logo for the Hall, chosen by the pupil body, which is “Olympic Mussels” – a neat pun.  Pupils on free school meals have their cards automatically updated each day.

Yours sincerely

R I Summers

Head Teacher