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HEAD TEACHER'S NEWSLETTER
I can’t quite believe that there are only two weeks left of term before the summer holidays! But this doesn’t mean that things are slowing down in school. There are lots of events to look forward to before then, and plenty of plans in place for the next session to make sure that our school is the best place for your children, our young people, to learn and thrive.
One of these changes has been to change our Senior Phase structure and curriculum to include S4, and offer S5 and S6 pupils wider achievement opportunities alongside more traditional qualifications to improve employability skills. These wider achievement courses include Barista training; Duke of Edinburgh; Dynamic Youth Awards; buddying junior classes in a range of subjects; paired reading for Literacy, and Number Friends in Maths. Pupils can put these volunteering awards towards a nationally recognised Saltire Award offered at several levels depending upon how many hours of volunteering they achieve.
Thank you to all our buddies in new S4 for being stars at the P7 two day visit and chaperoning the P7s to all their classes: the extended transition programme has been a great success and my thanks to all staff who made it possible.
This afternoon has also been a lovely opportunity for staff to get together and enjoy a variety of activities such as yoga, darts, a staff band, table tennis, cycling, rounders and football, followed by a picnic on the back green. I’m a firm believer that a team that laughs together achieves together.
One of the events I am looking forward to most is the interviews for our Head Pupil team. Applications have been flooding in, and candidates have been husting at the House Assemblies this week with the final one on Monday before pupils vote for who should go through to interview. We have been very impressed with the quality of applications and my last newsletter of 1 July will announce our Head team for 2022-23. And the first newsletter of the new school year will include their first of their regular updates of school from their perspective.
I hope you enjoy the weekend, be it sunny or thunderstormy!
Best wishes.
Jodie Hannan
Key Dates in June
Monday 20: Fire Safety assemblies for all year groups
Wednesday 22: last Parent Council of the school year. Please use this link to join: meet.google.com/pur-midh-vjf
Thursday 23 June: Summer concert- details to follow
Friday 24: Sports Day at Pinkie playing fields- details to follow
Tuesday 28-Thursday 30: Final House Assemblies of the school year
Friday 1 July: Last day of term before the summer holidays
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.
Superpower Agency
Mr Greig, PT English, Mrs Lock, Teacher of Literacy, and I had a very productive meeting with Gerald and Claire from the wonderful Superpower Agency, a voluntary organisation committed to inspiring a love of learning and writing in young people. We’re planning an exciting 8 week writing programme for an S2 and S3 class beginning mid September and all the pupils’ work will be published in a book.
Please see Super Power Agency: on a mission to boost literacy among Scotland’s youth and @superpow3 for more information on what they do.
Superpower relies upon volunteers for its work in schools and if any MGS parents are interested in helping out with our programme, or indeed, more widely in other primary and secondary schools across Edinburgh and the Lothians, please contact them directly Contact the Super Power Agency today
County Sports
On Thursday 16th, a group of Musselburgh’s athletes travelled to Meadowmill to take part in the East Lothian County Sports Event. The pupils were a credit to the school and performed fantastically both on and off the track. There were lots of successful wins and PBs from our pupils and for many of our athletes it was their first time competing at an athletics event. A huge well done to everyone who took part!
Our individual event winners were…
S1 Girls
Discuss: Olivia Cornet (silver)
S1 Boys
Discuss: Tyler Shek (silver)
Shot Put: Tyler Shek (bronze)
High Jump: James Horrell (bronze)
S2 Girls
200m - Summer Gargaro (silver)
Long Jump - Sophie Davidson (silver)
S2 Boys
Long Jump – Issac Watson (silver)
S3 Girls
200m - Molly Curran (silver)
800m - Mia Robertson (silver)
S3 Boys
100m - Jake Nicol (silver)
200m - Jake Nicol (gold)
300m - Samy Hyvonen (gold)
4 x 100m Relay - Rhys Calder, Jake Nicol, Sami Hyvonen & Riley Cullen (gold)
Senior Girls
100m - Rosie Livingstone (gold)
200m - Rosie Livingstone (gold)
300m - Rosie Livignstone (gold)
Senior Boys
100m – Euan Grierson (gold)
200m – Euan Grierson (gold)
4 x 100m Relay - Michael Hoole, Archie Sangster, Cameron Smith Euan Grierson (silver)
Shot Put – Michael Hoole (silver)
Long Jump – Michael Hoole (silver)
Police Scotland Youth Volunteers Programme
The Police Scotland Youth Volunteers programme is starting up again and looking for suitable candidates.
The Police Scotland Youth Volunteers (PSYV) are groups of up to 24 young people based across Scotland. They are supported by adult volunteers and led by a police constable or other community leader. They volunteer at community and national events across Scotland.
The PSYV programme aims to strengthen the relationship with the police and young people. They also aim to break down barriers and promote positive role models.
PSYV promotes a way for young people to understand policing by supporting the police in their local area through volunteering. Young people are given a chance for their voice to be heard. They're encouraged to promote good citizenship.
The programme is open to all young people aged 13 – 17. This allows those people to get an insight into policing in Scotland. It inspires individuals to participate positively within their communities.
Each PSYV group is coordinated by a police officer or other community leader. Police officers usually have full time PSYV duties, or complete their PSYV duties alongside other duties such as a community constable or school based officer. Community leaders will have a significant history with PSYV and/or local authority community safety links.
The coordinator is supported by a team of adult volunteers. They come from all walks of life. They bring their own skills and flair to each group.
Would you like to join?
Training sessions will be starting after the summer holidays on Friday afternoons from 2 until 4, with the venue still to be arranged.
What will I gain from PSYV:
Opportunities to gain qualifications/awards – DOE/Saltire Awards
Increased emotional, cognitive, social skills, confidence/self-esteem and physical skills
Improved teamwork, interpersonal relationships, peer networks and connections to adults.
PSYV assists in getting ready for employment
Raised aspirations
A stepping stone to a career in uniformed professions
Enhanced CV
More qualifications – DOE/Saltire Awards
Active citizenship and volunteering
Greater respect for authority
Wearing a uniform and being on show to the public
Antidote to negative stereotypes of youth
Sense of belonging to ‘family’ of uniformed organisations.
You should look to volunteer for at least 3 hours a month at crime prevention events and other public events, providing positive participation within the community as well as attending the training every Friday.
More information can be found here
Police Scotland Youth Volunteers - Police Scotland
Interested pupils should see Ms Hannan by Wednesday 29 June to sign up for this exciting opportunity.
Design & Technology Department
D&T signage - We recently took delivery and installed more of our new corridor signage which we think looks great! We have Miss Watson to thank again for her DTP skills. Next year we will be installing our final two corridor pieces, one at our second digital screen and our second piece displaying our department vision and priorities statement.
ZOT engineering - This week, Mr Thomson, Mr Gallagher and Mr Mells visited ZOT engineering, our local engineering company, to explore potential links to Practical Metalworking and Engineering Science. We were certainly left very impressed by the range of work and scale of the site and will now look to work alongside ZOT as a DYW link. Thanks to all of the staff at ZOT for their time and warm welcome.
D&T twitter - A reminder that you can follow us on twitter for more regular news using the following: @mgs_dt
Photography
Well done to our most recent intake of Higher Photography students who have been trying out their composition and framing skills around the school with Macro lenses and DSLR cameras. We have also for the first time introduced new photography courses in S3 and at NPA (national progression award) level which will offer technical and creative skills across this expanding curriculum. Here’s a few examples of the students' work from the first 2 weeks.
MGS House System
For decades, there has been a house system at Musselburgh Grammar and it allows pupils to have a sense of identity and sense of community within their school. Mrs McElhaney and Miss Holmes have been leading a drive to improve our house system and help pupils play a part in the school and encourage them to gain house points through lessons, extra curricular activities and whole school events. All parents, pupils and staff have been keen to see the House System improve and become a key part of our school again, as we move on from Covid.
We are planning a purposeful and exciting re-launch of the house system in August, with a huge drive on house points and house events, working closely with our newly-appointed House Captains after the holidays.
However, we felt we didn’t want to leave it at that, so we have organised an exciting House Champions Afternoon for the winning house. On the afternoon of Thursday 30th of June, pupils within the winning house will get to attend a period of fun! There will be activities for pupils to do, including a Bouncy Castle and Sumo Suits!
So come on MGS, let's drive a push for house points in the final 2 weeks as you try to win an afternoon of activities. Caird is in the lead… but will this change?
We will be sure to provide photos and an update of the winning house in the last Newsletter of the term. Stay tuned for the big house re-launch in August!
Sports Day 2022
The PE department is bringing back sports day on Friday 24th June. All staff and pupils will decant down to Pinkie Primary school playing fields after registration where pupils will have the opportunity to take part in a variety of fun activities to earn house points. We will also have the heats and finals of the 100m for all year groups and some fun races for pupils and staff to join in with.
All pupils are encouraged to wear house colours on the day;
Caird- Yellow
Grange- Green
Moray- Red
If you wish to take part in the 100m races please bring appropriate kit.
There will be an Ice Cream van and the canteen will be serving a limited supply of hot/cold food and drink, and there will be live music throughout the morning.
Obviously this is all weather dependent, so fingers crossed!
HPV Vaccinations
Vaccinations will take place on Wednesday 22nd June and Thursday 23rd June 2022. Please check your class times outside Ms Harvey room all S2,S3,S4, and some catch ups too
Medical Room
If you are unwell during the school day please come and see Ms Harvey in the Medical Room. Please do not go home without permission, see Ms Harvey first. Thank you.
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