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HEAD TEACHER'S NEWSLETTER
Friday 20th September 2024
Friday 20th September 2024
I hope you all had a lovely long weekend. Apologies for no newsletter last week and the technical glitch is now fixed.
What a wonderful weekend in Dalguise we had, with wall to wall sunshine, a Saturday night outdoor disco and team building activities- it was a pleasure to spend time out of school with such a great group of teenagers. Lots more photos can be seen at the end of the newsletter.
Jodie Hannan
Key Dates
Tuesday 24 September: S1 Parents Evening 5-7pm
Wednesday 2 October: P7 Parents’ Evening 6-8:45pm
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.
Tuesday 24 September: S1
Wednesday 23 October: Senior Phase (combined S4-S6)
Tuesday 29 October: Senior Phase (combined S4-S6)
Wednesday 11 December: S3
Tuesday 21 January: S2
Information regarding S1 parents evening was emailed out last week, and the links for all the teachers’ appointments are on our website - here. We strongly encourage S1 parents to make their appointments asap; it’s done on a first come first served basis!
Staffing
Welcome to Mr Newlands who joins the Science Faculty as Senior Technician, and to Ms Wilson who joins Nurture and Inclusion and SfL teams as a Learning Assistant.
Senior Phase tracking reports
S4-S6 tracking reports will be issued to pupils in the week beginning the 23rd of September.
S4 Work Experience
Our S4 pupils will have the opportunity to be out on work experience for a week, starting either 21/10/24 or 22/10/24. We have been working on this in PSE and there is still time to find a placement.
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: 93%
S2: 89%
S3: 89%
S4: 89%
S5: 93%
S6: 91%
Pupil Voice & Head Pupil Update
Hi everyone! We’re sure you are all very excited to hear that Pupil Voice is back up and running, with us having our first meeting on Tuesday. It was great to meet up with Mrs Hamilton-Wylie and some of the Pupil Voice members from last year.
This week we had a meeting where we discussed what our first couple of steps would be to get the ball rolling with PV. One of these steps included choosing PV leaders who will be the main contributors of conversation within our PV meetings, taking on a leader position to take notes, keep conversation flowing and give feedback to Mrs Hamilton-Wylie. At our meeting we discussed plans to go to the Royal High School, which has one of the best pupil voice success rates in Edinburgh to meet their pupil voice group and learn what worked well and what didn't work as well for their team.
As most of you probably know, we were recently at Dalguise. We all had an amazing time doing many activities such as canoeing and axe-throwing in the sunshine and blazing heat, getting to know our fellow S6's even better, and having evenings full of fun.
On Tuesday 10th, all three of us attended the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh memorial service as well as 2 pupils from Rosehill High School, learning all about the history and how different areas of Musselburgh were used during the battle. It was very interesting to hear more about the history of our town.
PS; Please ignore the hair and closed eyes...as you can tell it was very windy!
This week our main focus has been appointing our new Junior Pupil Leaders. We interviewed all of our candidates on Wednesday and we are pleased to announce that Poppy Jones, Owen Craigie and Poppy Bichan have been selected for the role! A huge well done to all of them and to everyone who applied, it was a really tough decision to make as all of our applicants were really impressive!
Talk to you guys next week!
Katie, Ailsa, Summer
Parent Council dates
Monday 7 Oct: MGS PC AGM – in person, in school 7-9pm. There will be a focus upon curriculum and course choice led by Mrs Watson, DHT Curriculum, 7.10-7.40pm, followed by AGM business.
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
Curriculum Evening
MGS are holding a Curriculum Evening on Wednesday 9th October from 6 - 7pm, open to all parents. Using the QR code below, please take the opportunity to ask a question about our curriculum, in advance of the evening. We are looking for general questions that may apply to all.
If you have a question specific to you and your child, you will be able to ask this during refreshments, in the evening. We will endeavour to compile a FAQ of all questions raised.
You may complete this form multiple times if you have more than one question.
Link to submit questions: https://forms.gle/Aecd5vxcjSSZEHTh8
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
RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOLS
RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOLS
As we start progressing through the year we are hoping to become a Silver Accredited Rights Respecting School. We will be having key date focuses every month and curriculums will be linked to each focus as much as we can to promote the understanding and importance of RRS. This month we have
21st – World peace day
26th – European day of languages
Powering Futures
Powering Futures is an SCQF level 6 course offered to S5/6 pupils. This year, the course has been added to UCAS applications so that the points gained from completing the course can be included in tariff point totals. The course also has the added benefit of having no final exam, as well as developing the meta-skills that employers are looking for in new recruits. Next week, we will be choosing the challenge that each group will focus on for the year and this culminates in a presentation to industries in March. Partnerships this year include Lantra, NatureScot, HCI SKills gateway, Social Bite, AECOM, BAM and SSE.
Travel and Tourism visit NTS Newhailes
Travel and Tourism visit NTS Newhailes
On Thursday 12th Sept our Travel and Tourism class were invited to Newhailes House to find out all about this local tourist attraction and what it has to offer. We were given a tour of the grounds, a brief history of the house and details of the services, facilities and events that take place here.
We are looking forward to a follow up visit next week to investigate employment opportunities with the National Trust for Scotland and completing job profiles as part of the Employability unit of the N5 course.
We would like to thank the staff at Newhailes for a really informative visit to this exciting attraction that is right on our doorstep!
Mrs Dias and Mrs Orsi
Lammermuir Festival
On Friday September 6th some of our very talented woodwind, brass and percussion players took part in a concert with internationally acclaimed piano and violin duo Jeremy Denk and Maria Wloszczowska as part of the Lammermuir Festival in Dunbar Parish Church.
Isaac Mwanza (flute), Freyja Melville (clarinet), Emma Leathard (clarinet), Sophie Hill (saxophone), Daniel Barrett (saxophone), Tom Barrett (saxophone), Hannah Scott (trumpet), Grant Myles (trombone), Edwin Alsop (trombone), Anya Egan (trombone), Tess Devlin (trombone), Julia Scott (tuba), Rosa Morris (percussion), Isla Dowdeswell (percussion) and Gracie Peattie (percussion) all took part in the event, which involved the pupils performing three wind band marches by the American composer John Philip Sousa.
I was extremely impressed by all our pupils’ conduct throughout the day. After rehearsing from 12-2pm they performed at the beginning, the middle and the end of a 2-hour long concert celebrating the music of the American composer Charles Ives who referenced Sousa’s marches in his work. This was an extremely prestigious event and we were very well received by both audience members and the Lammermuir Festival team. Well done to everyone involved and a special 'thank you' to the MGS Music Department for lending us percussion instruments for the day and to Miss Funk for coming along to play too!
Juliet Aspley
Music Instructor
Great Musselburgh Bake Off
Great Musselburgh Bake Off
We are hosting our first house event of the year: The Great Musselburgh Bake Off! This will be a great chance to gain house points for our pupils. We have limited spaces per year group so will be first come, first served.
The google form to enter is on Google Classroom and entries must be submitted by Monday. Any questions please email: amcelhaney@edubuzz.org
Skills Development Scotland
How to access career services in school
Skills Development Scotland (SDS) is the national career service, and they have careers advisers in every state secondary school in Scotland.
The SDS career service helps people develop their career management skills, and make confident decisions for their future.
Pupils can speak to their SDS careers adviser throughout the school year and will also be supported by them at key times such as starting S1, making option choices, and preparing for moving on from school. This service will be delivered through drop-ins, one-to-one appointments, and group learning sessions.
There is lots of useful career information and advice available at any time through Scotland’s career website My World of Work. There is also a dedicated area for parents and carers with information to help you have career conversations at home.
If you or your young person would like to make an appointment with your school careers adviser, please contact the school office for details.
Beyond school, SDS advisers are also available at one of SDS’s network of centres or community venues across the country or via our helpline. To get support or arrange an appointment call the SDS freephone helpline on 0800 917 8000 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
More information about SDS and their career service in schools is available at sds.co.uk
Dalguise 2024
Staff and pupils had an amazing weekend at the S6 Dalguise residential weekend.
The sun was shining all day and cups of tea were in high demand come night. The S6 year pupils came together in their 8 teams undertaking a variety of challenges with so many highlights.
Well done to Team 1 winners for overall best group, Team 2 for best fancy dress and Team 6 for best performance. Also to Rory Thomson and Rebecca Gallacher for best celebrity couple and Ms Ramsay for her costume efforts. Nathan Rintoul and Avani Arun took awards for outstanding contribution, leadership and teamworking skills over the weekend and Hayden Morrison was awarded the Matt Gray memorial for his commitment and personality. Special mention has to go to Mr Harpham who not only did a 11 mile run at 6am but unblocked a good few toilets.
The S6 year group did us proud and am sure will be a highlight for the year.
Don't worry S5 we have already booked for you next September.
Here is a selection of pictures to give you an insight…..
World School Golf Championships-
https://wsgevents.com/wsggolf/
The WSG came to East Lothian this week and 2 pupils from Musselburgh Grammar School took part. Max Elgin and Anna Zonova joined golfers from across the world playing over 3 days on some of the best courses Scotland has to offer.
Both pupils were a credit to themselves, their parents and the school and had a very enjoyable experience helping to build friendships and experience competitive golf on a world stage.
If you would like to watch any of the play the link below is to day 3 of the competition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsiWRkt0shk
Anna is on at 2hrs 16mins and Max at 4hrs
Well done Max and Anna
Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland
The Regiment visited the school on Wednesday, see link below to see how they got on.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d6EBVc5FCpADTvxx5IYD4eQiLXgfqf_O/view?usp=sharing
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 before 27th September 2024.
All pupils who have Asthma please have your inhaler with you in your school bag at all times
C Harvey
School Medical Assistant
Lost property
Two black jackets and one black body warmer and one black jumper were handed in last week. Go and see Ms Harvey if these items belong to you.
MGS website and School Handbook for parents
Here is the link to our website, and it also contains our School Handbook.
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