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HEAD TEACHER'S NEWSLETTER
My Headteacher House assemblies this week focused on our school value of determination and the importance of being ambitious for ourselves in all we do.
I used the inspiring examples of team work and determination that S6 demonstrated at Dalguise and how much we, teachers included, pushed ourselves out of our comfort zones across a range of challenging activities. From climbing 50 foot towers to 80 foot trees, we confronted our fear of heights and falling. If we don't try something, we will never know how good we are at it, and we learn from our mistakes when we fail.
Determination is particularly important at this time of year as S4-S6 pupils prepare for SQA exams after Easter and I emphasised the message that exam success is never down to luck. It’s our determination to do well and preparation that reaps rewards, and failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
We will be issuing all S4-S6 pupils with study packs before study leave to help with revision, as well as ‘How to Study’ support in PSE.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend.
Jodie Hannan
Key Dates
Friday 31 March: Term ends for Easter holidays
Monday 17 April: All staff and pupils resume for summer term
Staff
It has been a busy and rewarding week of recruitment at the Grammar:
New permanent appointments
Congratulations to Mr Nisbet who has been appointed to the PSL (Pupil Support Leader) post in Moray House. Mr Nisbet has been in this role on a temporary basis until now.
Congratulations also to Mr Fox and Mr Devine who have been appointed to permanent posts in Computing and Maths respectively following successful completion of their probation year with us.
It’s a pleasure to have them all join our team permanently.
I’m pleased to let you know that we have also appointed Mr Davis to a permanent Computing Science teacher role and he will join us shortly.
New temporary appointments
Mr Webster, Acting DHT Grange House leaves us on 31 March, and Mr Blair, currently CL Numeracy and Computing at Knox Academy, was appointed earlier this week to this acting post from 17 April to the end of June. We look forward to him joining us after the Easter holidays.
Staff departing
Farewell and best wishes to Mr Gallagher who takes up a post at George Heriot’s after 25 years here at the Grammar. We wish him every success in his new job.
Continuing temporary roles
Ms Chisholm will continue as Acting DHT until the end of June, meaning that Ms McCrorie continues as acting PT Geography/ History then moves to acting CL Global Citizenship from 24 April- end June. Ms Dudley therefore also remains with us in Geography until the end of June.
Upcoming interviews
The permanent PE and temporary Guidance posts will be interviewed for over the next two weeks.
We will also be taking a number of probationers next session and I will keep you updated as we proceed through the timetabling and staffing process on which faculties they will join.
Kayla and Rory's Weekly Rundown
Hi and welcome back to Kayla and Rory's weekly rundown. We hope everyone has enjoyed their week in this surprisingly cold weather!
This week Kayla took a group of S1s round the catchment primary schools; Stoneyhill, the Burgh, Campie and Walyford, to run a transition event for the P7s. Kayla has been working on organising this event for several months and it was great to see all of the future S1s and talk to them about high school life. The feedback for the event was very positive with some P7s saying it was the most beneficial transition event they have had so far. The event was designed as an informal pupil-led Q&A which gave the P7s the opportunity to discuss the transition with their peers who had gone through it only a year before.
In other news the Easter Revision timetable has been published and we highly recommend that our seniors take a look to find out what support is available for their exams :)
YPI Launch
On Monday 13th March 2023 all of S3 will gather together for the launch of this year’s Youth Philanthropy Initiative.
The YPI is an excellent opportunity for pupils to develop some of the important skills employers tell us they are looking for, while also competing for the chance to win £3000 for a local charity of their choice.
This is the first year since Covid when our young people will be able to work closely with their chosen charities and get to know the impact this £3000 could have.
All of S3 will participate as a part of their Core RME time. We would like to encourage them to spend some of their own time (after school or at weekends) volunteering with their chosen charities. YPI tell us this can make a big difference in their final presentations.
If you would like to know more about this project please find their website here: https://ypiscotland.org.uk/
Easter Revision 2023
S4/5/6 pupils will be offered an Easter Study Programme during the two weeks of Easter Holidays from Monday 3rd April to Friday 14th April.
Sessions will be organised and taught by MGS teachers in person in the school building. A variety of subjects and levels are offering sessions. The timetable for these sessions is below and can also be accessed via the MGS Student Hub.
These sessions are designed to help support our learners in the lead up to SQA exams and qualifications.
From Monday 6th March pupils who are interested in attending any of the sessions should sign up with their relevant subject teachers.
Any questions please see Miss Chisholm
Health and Wellbeing Week
Next week marks MGS’ Health and Wellbeing Week! We are focussing on developing, supporting and finding new ways to improve our wellbeing.
Pupils can sign up or go along to any of the activities on the timetable below (a link to the form can be found on year group classrooms). Register classes will also be engaging in a few tasks looking at our physical, social, mental and emotional wellbeing.
There will be a bake sale on Friday with all proceeds going to Mind Mental Health charity, feel free to bake and bring it into Miss Holmes on Friday morning. Just make sure that all ingredients are listed and make sure there are no nuts.
International Women's Day
Earlier this week, Maddison Buckley, Eva Hills and Hannah McCaffrey led assemblies to celebrate International Women's Day. They shared information they have learned about gender inequality as part of the Higher Modern Studies course, in addition to some areas in which there has been positive progress towards equality.
Mindfulness for Seniors
Language Ambassadors Primary Visits
This year our Senior Language Ambassadors have been working to achieve their leadership qualification. As part of this, they have organised a Euro Quiz event for our cluster primary schools.
Over the last 2 weeks, pupils have visited Stoneyhill Primary School and Loretto RC to deliver the quiz. Pupils created the quiz themselves, visited Primary 6 and Primary 7 classes and gave pupils an insight into life at high school. Our Language Ambassadors tested pupils on all things geography, culture, language and general knowledge!
This event was a huge success and the Language Ambassadors were a credit to the school.
‘My Primary 7's absolutely loved it. The Language Ambassadors were well organised, polite, friendly and they had resourced the event very well. Most impressive demonstration of leadership.’ Ms Rice, Loretto RC Primary
House Points Update
First Aid Commendation
Congratulations and thanks to S4 Caird pupils, Brydon Leask and Abby Scott, who put their first aid training and level headed approach into practice in a real life medical situation this week in class.
Both were commended for their help by paramedics who later arrived on the scene and their teacher and classmates were all impressed.
Thank you to both.
M.R.F.C Easter Camp
This Easter Musselburgh Rugby Football Club is running a camp for all P3 - S3 pupils from Monday 10th - Wednesday 12th April. This is a great opportunity for current and new players to develop skills and play fun games during the holidays.
For more information pupils can pop in and see our Rugby Development Officer Tom Foley in school (A45) or drop an email on mrfcrugbycamp@gmail.com.
To sign up to the camp and secure your child’s place, please see the google form below
Sports Achievement
Congratulations to Ross Dargo, who placed silver last weekend in the 4 x 200m relay with his team at the Scottish Athletics Indoor League Finals at the Emirates. What an impressive run by the boys, a huge well done to Ross and his relay team!
Ross also recently secured a new 60m PB at another competition a couple of weeks ago. We are so proud of your sporting achievements!
Vaccinations
HPV vaccinations will take place on Thursday 23rd March 2023 for S1 boys and girls. If you are in S2-6 and received a pink form you will be vaccinated too. Thank you, C. Harvey
Medical
If you are unwell during the school day do not go home on your own. Please go to the Medical room and Ms Harvey will phone a parent/guardian for you. Please do not leave school without doing this as we have a duty of care for every pupil in the school. Thank you C Harvey.
Newsletter Archive
There's an archive section on the newsletter site with all of the previous newsletters organised by date. It can be viewed by clicking on 'Archive' in the menu or using this link: https://bit.ly/ht-newsletter-archive.
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