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HEAD TEACHER'S NEWSLETTER
Friday 23 May 2025
Friday 23 May 2025
Another beautiful sunny week, and we’re approaching the end of our SQA exam diet. Our last exam takes place one week today. Thank you to all the pupils for respecting the need for silence in the signposted areas around the school whilst pupils are taking these important exams. It’s been a busy week for the S1-3s, with trips to Alton Towers, Go Ape, Blair Drummond and lots of activities for those pupils wishing to stay in school. Thank you to everyone involved in organising these; we know the pupils have really enjoyed them. More trips take place next week - trampolining, cinema and ten pin bowling, as well as more in-school activities.
Enjoy the weekend, everybody!
Jodie Hannan
Key Dates
Fri: 30th May Cinema/Ten Pin Bowling/AirHop/in-school activities
Thurs 29th May: MGS County Sports
All trips are now full - any forms received from now on will be placed on a reserve list. Reminder that the deadline for payment for all trips is
Monday 26th May.
Please note that if your young person has not signed up for any of the activities, they are expected to come into school as normal - we will be running in-school activities that day.
Remember you can find all events on our school calendar, and you can add the calendar to your own too.
School Improvement Plan (SIP) for 2025-26
We have now finalised our School Improvement Plan for 2025-26 and I am pleased to share it with you.
The aim of our School Improvement Plan is to improve attainment for all of our young people so that they leave school with the best possible set of qualifications.
We will do this by:
Consulting with all staff, families, pupils and community partners on our school’s new vision and values. Leadership of this vision will underpin all our improvement work, reflect our changing school and be in place for 2026 which is our 400th anniversary year.
A continued focus upon improving attendance
A continued focus upon high quality learning, teaching assessment as the core business of our school.
The summary of our SIP is above:
Parent Council Meeting dates
Monday 16 June: MGS PC full meeting – in person, in school 7-8pm
SQA Exam Diet
The SQA exam diet now commences on Friday 25 April, not Monday 28 April https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/nq-2025-exam-timetable.pdf
SQA’s learner booklet – Your Exams – is available to download from their website. The booklet contains important information for learners sitting National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher exams. It also highlights the rules that learners must know and follow to ensure they are not penalised. Please encourage your child to download and read the booklet. If you have any problems accessing the booklet please ask your child to speak to their pupil support.
Download Your Exams booklet: https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/100863.12732.html
A link to this booklet has already been made available to pupils in their google classroom.
Senior pupils arriving for exams are reminded to arrive 10 minutes before the start of the exam.
For all MGS pupils not taking exams
Can we ask parents to remind their young people that they should enter the building via the Music Department (unless they have an exam) during the exam diet. If pupils arrive after 9am, they should enter through the main front door, but are reminded to be very quiet. Thank you for your help with this.
In terms of ongoing support for exams, I hope that students are finding this revision poster helpful, and the immersion class timetable (link below) has been published. All pupils should attend their Immersion sessions (unless it coincides with an actual exam). We know these sessions are incredibly useful to pupils - it's their last opportunity to ask their teacher about anything they need assurance in.
https://sites.google.com/edubuzz.org/musselburgh-grammar-school/students/sqa-exams
Meta Skills Day - Balfour Beatty
All S2 and S3 pupils on Wednesday participated in a Meta Skills STEM event hosted by Balfour Beatty. Students rotated around 6 workshops to raise their awareness of technology and construction. Workshops included a simulation, VR headsets, Drones, Seed Bombs, Connect and the star guest Spot the robotic dog
Activities Day - Go Ape
60 pupils and staff ventured along the River Esk to Dalkeith Country Park to zip through the trees at Go Ape. Pupils took to the tree tops and climbed, scrambled and balanced their way across different obstacles, some of which ended up with zip lines across the river! We also got the opportunity to play team games such as rounders football, blindfold jenga and tug-of-war! Our MGS pupils were an absolute credit to the school showing enthusiasm, super teamwork and willingness to give it a go, even when the activity was out of their comfort zone. A fantastic day in the sunshine was had by all and thank you to all the staff helpers and Mrs Dias for organising it all.
Activities Day - Alton Towers
Staff and 106 pupils had a fantastic day on Tuesday at Alton Towers. The sun was shining and the park was quiet. The pupils were a credit to the school. Thanks to all the staff who did a 24 hour shift to ensure that this trip went ahead.
Eco Club
We will be holding an Eco week from 9th to 13th June with lots of fun Eco activities planned each day! Please have a look at the poster to see the schedule. Please note that the book swap will now be held in the library.
If you have any books, clothes, art, or art supplies to donate, it would be greatly appreciated.
The impact of term-time holidays
We monitor the impact of unauthorised holidays in school and so far this year approximately 180 weeks of learning have been lost across the school due to unauthorised holidays during term time.
The summer term is often used to request holidays during the school term. The “A Positive Approach to Promoting School Attendance Policy”, states that unless a family holiday during term-time has been given prior agreement from our Senior Leadership Team and falls within exceptional circumstances (outlined below), then your child’s attendance during this period of time will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.
Exceptional circumstances are;
Family holiday judged to be important to the wellbeing and cohesion of the family, following serious illness, bereavement or other traumatic events
Constraints to parental annual leave due to the nature of employment and evidence has been provided by the employer that they cannot accommodate leave during school holidays without serious consequences (e.g. armed services, emergency services, etc)
Regardless of whether a holiday is authorised or unauthorised, it still counts as an absence from school and will therefore have an impact of your child’s attendance percentage.
Year group attendance
Improving attendance to improve attainment is one of our school improvement priorities this year and we expect pupils’ attendance to be at least 90%. We are tracking pupils’ attendance carefully throughout the session and more information about our attendance strategy will follow. I hope parents and carers find this weekly update on each year group's attendance useful.
S1: 91%
S2: 89%
S3: 89%
MGS Sports Awards 2025
Now Accepting Nominations!
MGS is delighted to announce that planning has begun for this year's Sports Awards.
Each year, the school hosts a formal, evening celebration of all the sports related success within our community.
If you wish to put forward the name of a pupil who you feel deserves to be celebrated, please complete the survey below:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1IN6ttHt5KTQG3VzxlKB4VO9U7Jf13i8BvOkzbMVmyY4/edit
Useful information for those interested in applying for university in 2026
Higher Education Entry Guide
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w_ArM_UpbJJPFXdwncD8HW_UiMa0u3de/view?usp=sharing
Higher Education Open Days
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NUkBG3lqDNvbRyBGcMevg3Ymsp2duuIG/view?usp=drive_link
Medical
HPV VACCINE S1
Timetable for S1 vaccines Tuesday 3rd June 2025 - Assembly Hall
1C1 9.00am
1C2 9.15am
1G1 9.40am
1M1 9.55am
1M2 10.10am
MMR vaccine (only if you received a blue form) 10.40am
LOST PROPERTY
Various items this week, including 2 black jackets (1 fur), a black cardigan, a pair of brand new Nike trainers (size10) and a black school bag.
If you think any of these items belong to you, please go and see Ms Harvey in Medical room.
MGS website and School Handbook for parents
Our website can be accessed here MGS (google.com), and it also contains our School Handbook.
School Policies
All of our policies can be viewed on our website
School Toilets
Our pupil toilets are checked on a regular basis to ensure everyone’s comfort and safety. These checks may be done by male or female staff
members, and signage is in toilets to make pupils aware of this.
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