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HEAD TEACHER'S NEWSLETTER
A very warm welcome back to all our young people, staff and parents and carers. I hope everyone had a lovely summer and are rested, ready and excited for a new school year.
It was a little strange not to see the familiar faces of the S2 and S3 pupils who have moved to Rosehill High School. We wish them, and all staff, all the best for the year ahead.
What a great first week back! Monday and Tuesday’s Inservice days were busy as always with professional learning across a range of topics such as Learning and Teaching, pupil wellbeing and leadership, with everything we do underpinned by our motto of Striving for Excellence and Caring for All.
Striving for Excellence and Caring for All was also the key message for all of Wednesday’s welcome back year group assemblies. We are ambitious for all of our young people and will always support and challenge them to be their best- just good enough is not good enough.
It was a pleasure to see all our pupils again, and to welcome our lovely S1 pupils to the Grammar. We’re all raring to go and looking forward to the year ahead: teaching really is the best job!
Have a lovely weekend.
Jodie Hannan
Remembering Mr Gray
23 July 1982- 4 July 2023
Mr Gray was the best of men. He was our colleague and our teacher, but most of all, our friend. It was very strange and sad for us all to return to school without him, and we have all spent time this week reflecting on how much he meant to us.
On Tuesday afternoon staff gathered in the school garden to plant a cherry tree and share our memories of him. We also took some time at Wednesday’s year group assemblies to reflect on how much Mr Gray meant to our pupils. Moray House Captains will now begin to gather pupils’ thoughts on how they want to further honour his memory.
We miss his laughter and banter, his kindness, and generosity of spirit.
Fly high Mr Gray, and keep shining that sun over Leith.
Key Dates
Tuesday 28 August: Parent Council briefing 7-8pm online meet.google.com/gzw-gobv-yep
Friday 1- Sunday 3 September: S6 Dalguise residential
Tuesday 3 October: Prize Giving Ceremony 6.30-8.30pm
Staff Updates
We welcomed a number of new staff to the Grammar team on Monday and I’m sure that they will enjoy working here as much as I do.
Unfortunately, due to circumstances completely outwith our control, one of the Maths teachers I appointed at Easter is no longer able to take up the post, so that job has been readvertised. Huge thanks to Mr Mather for coming back to teach that timetable on a temporary basis until he leaves for New Zealand in late September.
Parent Council Meeting Dates
This year’s Parent Council meeting dates are noted below. We have changed the structure slightly to a combination of full 2 hour meetings and shorter 1 hour briefings. We look forward to seeing you in person at October’s AGM, and online for the other meetings and briefings.
Briefing: Monday 28 August 7-8pm online
AGM: Thursday 12 October 7-9pm in school
Briefing: Tuesday 28 November 7-8pm online
Full meeting: Tuesday 23 January 7-9pm online
Briefing: Thursday 29 February 7-8pm online
Briefing: Tuesday 16 April 7-8pm online
Full meeting: Tuesday 21 May 7-9pm online
Briefing: Thursday 20 June 7-8pm online
SQA Results
Huge congratulations to our new S5 and S6 pupils as well as to all last year’s leavers for all their success in SQA exams. There were many outstanding results for individual pupils across all three year groups where all their hard work and effort throughout the year to achieve their National, Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications has paid off.
We know that our young peoples’ success is not always measured in grades, and all our pupils’ achievements and next steps after school are important to us.
There are many stories of personal achievement and success, and amongst these, I would like to congratulate last year’s Head Pupil, Kayla McKinnie, for securing her place at Oxford University to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
S5 & S6 re coursing
Re coursing for all S5 and S6 pupils after SQA results is now concluded.
School Leadership Structure
We have now completed our restructuring and the following structure is now in place for
SLT (Senior Leadership Team of Head Teacher, DHTs and Business Manager)
Pupil Support Faculty (all PSLs + CL Support for Learning and CL Inclusion & Nurture)
ELT (Extended Leadership Team of all faculty Curriculum Leaders, PSLs and SLT).
Parents and carers’ first point of contact in school is their child’s Pupil Support Leader (PSL) who can be reached on pupilsupport@musselburghgrammar.elcschool.org.uk.
Uniform
The standard of uniform this week has been exceptional. Thank you to parents, carers and pupils for supporting our school dress code and a purposeful and positive environment for learning.
We continue to monitor uniform daily but this will now be done by registration teachers, and a message sent home each Friday if pupils are not in full uniform.
Congratulations to Kayla McKinnie
Kayla, one of the head pupils last session has successfully gained a place to study at the University of Oxford. As a school we are so proud of her for securing this opportunity and grateful for her contributions to the school over her six years here. She has kindly shared a little bit of information about her journey to Oxford!
I am absolutely delighted to be studying PPE at Wadham College, Oxford this autumn. My journey to Oxford started when I was an S3, I signed up for an outreach program within the school between East Lothian Council and Exeter College, Oxford. I was all set to head down to Oxford for a residential visit... but then COVID happened! I was lucky enough to get down to Oxford in September 2022 and had a fantastic time learning, meeting new people, and even giving punting a go (I wasn't very good). It was after this point that I decided to apply, with only a month to get an application together! I am incredibly thankful to the teachers who helped me to do this, mainly Ms Hepburn for patiently helping me edit my personal statement, and Mrs Craig, Mr Harpham and Mrs Walker for the very kind references. PPE stands for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. I wanted to say thank you to the teachers I had over the years who encouraged my interest in these subjects, directly or indirectly, and inspired me in many ways. I head down to Oxford at the start of October for a three year degree after which I hope to work in the Civil Service, specifically International diplomacy. I wanted to say thank you to the teachers and staff who have supported me, you do not get enough credit for the amazing work that you do!
Beekeeping Update
The apiary is now complete, thank you to the following companies for their donations to help make this happen: Musselburgh Race Course, MGS Tree services.
Dr Brown, Miss Rankin, Mrs Watson and Mrs Dias have all been visiting the bees over the summer to check them and make sure that they are ready to come to school - we hope that we will be able to bring them to the apiary in the next week so that classes can start learning how to carry out hive checks and get them ready for winter. The apiary is in the school garden which is a sheltered and secure area of the school. We will be working with other departments to maintain the school garden and ensure that there is forage year round for the bees.
Blythswood Shoebox Appeal
If anyone has any shoeboxes at home from new school shoes, please send them up to the Geography department! We are starting to collect boxes for the 2023 appeal. Thank you for your help 🙂
Fuel Change
We are delighted to be offering the Fuel Change Challenge SCQF Level 6 award alongside schools from across the country to our learners for academic session 23/24.
What is the Fuel Change Challenge?
In a team, you will create a solution to a real-life sustainability challenge faced by real-life organisations, and then present your solution to a panel of industry judges.
What do I gain from the programme?
Upon completion of the course, you will gain an SCQF Level 6 award.
Develop the critical skills that we know employers are looking for, making you more employable once you leave school.
Learn more about the jobs of the future and the world of opportunities that are out there through engagement with real business challenges.
Gain valuable experience that can help you stand out on UCAS or Job applications.
Want to find out more about the course? Speak to Mrs Dias
Congratulations
I am delighted to share this message with you. East Lothian’s Music Instructors are superb, and our very own Michael Hoole (in last year's S6) is an exceptional musician.
Congratulations to all involved, and we look forward to more wonderful music this year.
Sporting Achievement
During the summer, Zander Donaldson qualified for the ‘Trampoline British Championships’. These will be held in Birmingham at the end of September. We wish Zander the very best of luck!
Medical
Flu vaccinations will take place in October 2023. The dates will follow soon and forms will be issued soon too. 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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