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HEAD TEACHER'S NEWSLETTER
Friday 16th August 2024
Friday 16th August 2024
Welcome back!
I hope you all had a wonderful summer holiday, and a particularly warm welcome to the families of our new S1 pupils who joined our community on Wednesday. It was lovely to meet some of our S1 parents and carers on Wednesday morning and afternoon, and I hope that your children arrived home this week with lots of happy stories to tell you.
Congratulations to our S4, S5 and S6 pupils who achieved some excellent results in SQA exams and courses. We are still analysing all of our results data and more detailed information will follow at the Parent Council and a future newsletter.
Our August Inset Days were focused on our school improvement plan and a variety of operational updates in preparation for pupils returning to school on Wednesday: more detail is included further on in this newsletter.
All in all, it’s been a quick and busy week in school!
Wishing you a happy weekend.
Jodie Hannan
Key Dates
Wednesday 28 August: Musselburgh Learns N5 & Higher Maths for parents and carers 6.30-7.30pm in the Hall.
Wednesday 4 September: Awards Ceremony 7-9pm.
Staffing
Welcome to the following NQT (Newly Qualified Teachers) staff who joined our team on Monday:
Ms Berrick in Maths, Ms Lewis in Home Economics and Ms Bowler in Biology.
Congratulations to …..
Ms Swain, temporary Teacher of Spanish, who moves to a permanent position in the Borders in mid September. This temporary position covering Mrs Deary’s maternity leave was advertised over the summer and we are holding interviews next Thursday.
And to Mr Neves da Silva, Science Technician, who moved to a promoted post at Preston Lodge on Monday. We are interviewing for his role early next week.
We are also interviewing for a Pupil Support Worker in our Inclusion and Nurture department, and a Learning Support Assistant to work between both Inclusion and Support for Learning. Both these roles are temporary and funded by PEF (Pupil Equity Funding).
MGS website and School Handbook for parents
Our website is live!. Please head over and have a look, it has lots of useful information for parents - including our School Handbook and the School Calendar. The school calendar is now in Google format so you are able to add it to your own calendar should you wish.
If you would like to do this click the '+' sign that's at the bottom right of the school calendar, as shown in image below. This will mean you're kept up to date with all our events, e.g. Parent Consultations, Reporting dates, etc.
Uniform
Thank you all very much for supporting our dress code: the standard of uniform this week has been exceptional across all year groups and really adds to the positive ethos of our school.
It’s been lovely to see so many of our pupils keen to have ties. For those pupils/parents who’ve been asking about buying more than one tie, we just need to make sure we have enough to go round (they do take some time to be delivered), and then we can release more - usually around late September/October.
Thanks too to those parents who have handed in blazers and ties that are no longer required. We have a small amount of spare uniforms we can donate - please just get in touch.
Entry to school
Anyone who’s visited the school since the summer cannot fail to have noticed our new secure lobby. This improves security for everyone in the building, and we’re delighted with the result. Parents coming into school will enter the first door, then be asked to sign in while we contact the member of staff meeting them, and can then enter the foyer. At busy times, e.g. break and lunch, there may well be lots of pupils coming and going through the doors. We ask parents to please report to reception so we know you are in the building, and to wait in the secure lobby until collected. This allows us to comply with fire and health & safety policies.
Thank you for this.
QR code for late arrivals to school
On Wednesday we launched our new digital ‘late arrival’ procedure. This simply replaces the old paper slip process we had for pupils who arrive too late for registration.
Pupils can now scan a QR code, enter their details, and quickly make their way to class. Pupils seem to like it, and it means pupils can get to class without delay. Please note - pupils are not being told they need to scan a code to enter the school, nor are they required to scan a code to register their own attendance in school. This is purely to record late arrivals in a more efficient way. The only information collected is name, registration class, time of arrival, and reason for late arrival.
Our office staff are on hand at all times to help pupils, and can still record late arrivals manually if required.
We encourage all pupils to arrive at school in time to attend their registration class. This means they see their same teacher each day and get any pupil updates.
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: 89.8%
S2: 78.7%
S3: 81.6%
S4: 75.0%
S5: 83.6%
S6: 93.8%
Welcome back assemblies
My welcome back assemblies with all year groups on Wednesday focused on our vision of striving for excellence and caring for all and school values of honesty, determination and respect by way of:
Lessons we can learn from the Olympics about working hard to reach our goals;
And that just like athletes training for years to win medals, success in SQA exams and courses in the Senior Phase starts in S1, not S4;
Emphasising the importance of a minimum of 90% attendance in school to reach our full potential;
Highlighting the importance of our Ready, Respectful, Safe policy in school corridors, canteen and toilets as everyone has the right to be safe in school.
And finished with the wise words of Dr Seuss……
Mobile phone policy update
Our mobile phone policy was launched two years ago and allowed for mobile phone use during class time if explicitly permitted by the teacher for learning purposes. There has been a great deal of media attention around mobile phones in school due to the disruption to learning and teaching as well as the negative impact of social media upon pupils’ mental health.
In light of ongoing concerns from Grammar teachers about the regular disruption to teaching and learning caused by phone use without permission the policy has been refreshed.
Pupils using their phone in class without permission will now be asked to give their teacher their phone after one warning rather than two.
Teachers will now use the images below in class so that pupils are clear about when phones can or cannot be used for learning.
Pupils are expected to leave their phone in class in return for a corridor/ toilet pass when going to the toilet to avoid being able to contact peers and groups of pupils gathering at the toilets during class time.
The refreshed formal policy will also be updated and available on the website shortly.
All pupils were informed of the immediate change to the policy in Wednesday’s year group assemblies.
Parents and carers are asked to avoid contacting their child by mobile phone during class time. Interval is 11.10-11.25am and lunch is 1.15-1.40pm.
August Inset information
Child Protection Training
All teaching and non-teaching staff are annually trained in East Lothian and the school's Child Protection procedures by Mr Scott, DHT Pupil Support, who is the Grammar’s Designated Member of Staff for Child Protection.
School Improvement Plan 2024-25
Our main School Improvement Plan (SIP) priority is to continue to raise attainment, and we will achieve this by focusing upon:
the highest quality of learning, teaching and assessment for all young people, as well as a curriculum that meets their diverse needs.
improving pupils attendance
ensuring the wellbeing, inclusion and equity of pupils.
Leadership
I am very lucky to work in a highly professional and proactive staff team that embraces leadership opportunities and values their professional learning and development. All of our professional learning, whether in school, or with partners such as Education Scotland, the SQA and many others, is focused on improving the experience and outcomes for young people in the Grammar.
Leadership in a school is not isolated to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and all staff are encouraged and supported to take leadership roles across all areas of school improvement.
Each of our Curriculum Leaders and Pupil Support Leaders has a formal responsibility for a particular school improvement focus directly related to the SIP as noted below. They presented their plans to all staff across Monday and Tuesday and all colleagues were then given the opportunity to join their school improvement group (SIG) or to lead their own initiative to improve pupil experience.
Professional development for teachers
Six class teachers have been accepted for East Lothian’s Leadership Development programmes: First Steps into Leadership, and Next Steps into Leadership. Staff have to competitively apply for a place so we are delighted that Grammar staff have been selected to participate. Each programme involves a year long classroom based project and we look forward to hearing about the impact of this valuable professional learning.
Another nine staff, including Ms Craigie, DHT Learning and Teaching, had their first day of a three day Co-operative Learning programme on Tuesday. This training is focused on how to structure group work to encourage greater cooperation and engagement between pupils and improve their learning.
Medical
Flu vaccination will take place on 12th and 13th December 2024. Forms will follow soon. Thank you
C Harvey
School Medical Assistant
Wellbeing
For all young people.
If you’re in need of a bit of support for general health and wellbeing. Our NHS school nurse will be in our wellbeing room on Wednesdays from 9-12. For more information come to your Pupil Support Leader.
Head Team Blog
Hi everybody! We hope you had a fantastic summer, it was great to see you all back this week. We especially enjoyed meeting the new first years and their parents- welcome to the Grammar! We are planning lots of exciting activities and events for the year including the always popular ‘Fright Night’ as well as junior and senior dances. Please feel free to speak to any of us with ideas and suggestions of what you might like to see happening this year. We are looking forward to a fab year!
Ailsa, Katie and Summer
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