MUSSELBURGH GRAMMAR SCHOOL
HEAD TEACHER'S NEWSLETTER
Friday 11th October 2024
It was good to see so many parents at Monday’s Parent Council AGM, with a focus in my Head Teacher’s report on our curriculum as we continue to develop it to meet the needs of all our young people. More will follow on this over the session
It’s an exciting day in beekeeping today as the first batch of honey from our MGS bees is being extracted from the frames and put into jars to sell!
Photos and details of how we did this will follow after the break.
And now……. it’s time to switch off alarms and laptops for the October break: have a lovely holiday everyone.
Jodie Hannan
Key Dates
Monday 14- Friday 18 October: October Holidays
Monday 21 October: Inservice Day for staff only
Tuesday 22 October: All pupils return to school
Wednesday 23 October: Senior Phase (combined S4-S6)
Tuesday 29 October: Senior Phase (combined S4-S6)
Remember you can find all events on our school calendar, and you can add the calendar to your own too.
Parents’ Evenings dates
All Parents’ Evenings are in person 5-7pm.
Wednesday 23 October: Senior Phase (combined S4-S6)
Tuesday 29 October: Senior Phase (combined S4-S6)
Wednesday 11 December: S3
Tuesday 21 January: S2
Senior phase booking link available now.
Parent Council dates
Thursday 21 Nov: MGS PC Online briefing 7-8pm meet.google.com/oxc-fwdh-pmz
Thursday 23 Jan: MGS PC Online briefing 7-8pm meet.google.com/vnh-jkwe-kkd
Thursday 13 Mar: MGS PC full meeting – in person, in school 7-9pm
Tuesday 20 May: MGS PC Online briefing 7-8pm meet.google.com/tkd-rakc-dor
Monday 16 June: MGS PC full meeting – in person, in school 7-8pm
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: 92%
S2: 86%
S3: 87%
S4: 87%
S5: 92%
S6: 90%
Musselburgh Area Partnership
Huge thanks to the MAP for granting £3100 to our breakfast club.
This club is run by staff daily from 8-8.20am and provides a healthy and positive start to the day with free breakfast for any and all pupils across S1 to S6.
We are reliant upon donations and funding to keep this free and valuable part of the school day going and this grant will keep it open for another year.
Science at Sea
Some of our senior pupils joined a live Zoom call and live tour with a global collection of scientists from the UK, Chile, USA, Italy, New Zealand and Malta, including the University of Edinburgh. These Scientists are conducting a marine research expedition to southern Chile. Our pupils had the opportunity to speak with international scientists, from marine biologists to geophysicists, to find out about their research.
STEM airport trip
Some of our S2 pupils attended a STEM session at the airport. The session began with an icebreaker. Then pupils were divided into groups and rotated through various activities, such as bridge building, making chairs with balloons and paper aeroplane making. They then reviewed the completed bridges and reflect on the skills learned.
Silver Duke of Edinburgh Expedition
Our S5/6 Silver Duke of Edinburgh group took to the Scottish Borders for the last expedition of the season. We travelled by train to Tweedbank and then set off on a 3 day adventure of hiking and camping!
Our campsite was in the beautiful grounds of Thirlestane Castle in Lauder. The groups journeyed over 40 miles and never stopped smiling! We were very lucky to get dry and settled weather for the most part of the trip, even though the nights were a little on the chilly side! The Leaders were all very impressed by how well prepared each group were as they displayed excellent map and navigation skills and exceptional camp craft and cooking. We are looking forward to each group presenting their expedition diaries after the October break, which will conclude the Aim of their Assessed expedition.
Well done to all of the pupils on this fantastic achievement! We would also like to say a huge thank you to Miss Ferguson and Mr Natta for joining the MGS DofE Team - we couldn’t do it without you.
Mrs Dias and Mrs Orsi
Rights Respecting Schools
This month we are celebrating Right 2 across the school. We are planning to embed monthly rights into as many areas of our curriculum as possible. Some subjects are even completing stand alone projects which is amazing.
Clerk for MGS Parent Council
Please also note that Parent Council has taken the decision to rename the Parent Council Facebook page and X (Twitter) account to "MGS Community Voice" with the tagline "Your School, Your Community, Your Voice"
We have wanted to move away from "MGS Parents Page" to select a more inclusive name, and know that in lots of cases it is the young person who is following us, rather than a parent/carer.
This is the new URL Log in or sign up to view
Duke of Edinburgh Shoebox Appeal
The Blythwood Shoebox appeal now has 6 full shoeboxes to donate to the charity as well as many boxes that are almost full. Can you please help by donating items to help fill the boxes?
We need: toothbrushes, socks, gloves, small toys, hairbrushes, soap, toiletries, hats, scarves, small notebooks/ colouring books and pens, small candles. These need to be new and unused.
Any contributions are appreciated!
Thank you
Study support
Our updated One Stop Shop for Study Skills is now updated for this session and included in this email as the links to each site are live.
Mrs Donnelly, Curriculum Leader of Technologies, will also be running drop in sessions on how to use the online resource Achieve for parents, carers and pupils at 4.45-5pm then 7-7.20pm on both of the Senior Phase Parents Evenings (Wednesday 23 October, and Tuesday 29 October) before teacher appointments begin at 5pm.
S1 Fright Night
The best event of the year is here: FRIGHT NIGHT!
All S1s are invited to attend the annual Fright Night. Please see the poster for details. S1 parents have been emailed details and all tickets must be bought via iPay. There will be cash-only stalls and tuckshop on the night. Tickets must be bought by Monday 28th October.
Any questions should be directed to
Amy McElhaney: amcelhaney@edubuzz.org
Extra Curricular clubs and Study Support Sessions
We have added links to our website with information on all lunchtime/after school clubs, and also our Study Support sessions. You can find it all in the ‘Student’ section of our school website.
SQA Exam Diet 2025
Please follow this link to see the SQA Exam timetable for Spring 2025: Exam timetable and learner apps - SQA
Medical
The Flu vaccination will take place on 12th and 13th December 2024. If you did not receive a form please go and see Ms Harvey in the Medical room. All forms must be returned to school as soon as possible.
All pupils who have Asthma please have your inhaler with you in your school bag at all times
If you are unwell during the school day please go and sign out with Ms Harvey. As a school we have a duty of care for pupils. Do not leave the school building on your own and go home without permission. I will call your parent/carer
C Harvey
School Medical Assistant
MGS website and School Handbook for parents
Here is the link to our website, and it also contains our School Handbook.