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HEAD TEACHER'S NEWSLETTER
What a social whirl of a week!
Monday morning saw the YPI (Youth Philanthropy Initiative) finals with nine excellent teams competing to win the £3K cheque for their chosen charity in conjunction with The Wood Foundation. A worthy range of social issues such as food poverty, sexual assault, disability inclusion and awareness, and community support for the elderly were highlighted, but only one team could be awarded the cheque and The Hollies community centre in Musselburgh were the deserving winners- congratulations to Sophie Hill and Mia Beattie for presenting The Hollies’ case so eloquently and convincingly. I know that the money will be much appreciated and go a long way to help continue The Hollies’ excellent work supporting the Musselburgh community.
Tuesday was our farewell to staff and the year- further details are noted below.
Wednesday evening was a lovely Mussy does Glasto evening with plenty of sun, music and such a lovely family atmosphere. The music was fantastic as always, and it’s always heartwarming to see the warmth of the relationships between teachers and students.
Thursday evening was the summer ceilidh and disco for new S2 and S3, and to mark the departure of a number of pupils to Rosehill High School in August. Huge thanks to Ms McCrorie, Mr Dickson, Mr Anderson and Mr Day for the ceilidh, and to Owen for his DJ set. Well done to the S6s for their organisation and making it such a special night for the junior pupils. Needless to say, a fantastic time was had by all.
And to round it off, this morning was supposed to be Sports Day at Pinkie playing fields until the glorious sunshine ended and our plans were rained off. Monday’s weather is currently looking promising, so if it stays that way we will go ahead with Sports Day from 9am-noon at Pinkie. Pupils should come to school as usual for 8.30am to register and then walk down to Pinkie for 9am. Pupils will be walked back up to school for 12.15pm to follow their timetable as usual for the rest of the day. If it’s raining again then we will have to cancel and pupils will follow Monday’s timetable.
Best wishes for a lovely weekend.
Jodie Hannan
Key Dates
Wednesday 28 June: School closes for summer holidays at 3.25pm
Monday 14 & Tuesday 15 August: Inset Days for staff only.
Wednesday 16 August: All pupils return to school.
Staffing Update
We say farewell and thank you to the following colleagues at the end of term:
Mr Blair, Acting DHT and Head of Grange House, who leaves us at the end of term to return to Knox Academy. Huge thanks to Mr Blair for all his hard work and effort in such a short space of time.
Mrs Clark in Nurture who supported our young people so well and returns to Firrhill High School in August.
And to our newly qualified teachers, Ms Castles in Maths, Ms Collins in English, Ms Gray in PE and Ms Mitchell in Biology. Thank you for all your hard work- we hope you are leaving with lots of fond memories.
Mr Mather, Teacher of Maths for almost 2 years is flying off to New Zealand to travel and teach.
Ms Coats, acting PT Modern Languages, moves to a well deserved permanent PT post at Peebles in August.
Mrs Aitken, auxiliary in Home Economics, has loved the job so much and been so inspired by the team that she is now training to be an HE teacher at QMU.
Ms Scott, Teacher of Chemistry, and reigning Glitterball champion moves to Williamwood.
Mr Watt, Teacher of Physics, moves to pastures new at George Heriot’s in August.
Mr Ferrie, PT Guidance for Grange House for almost 5 years, is putting his trainers back on and returning to his roots as a PE teacher at Rosehill High School in August.
Learning Support Assistants are the unsung heroes in school and so we pay tribute to Ms Stephenson, who has been at MGS for almost 6 years and takes up post at Rosehill in August.
And to Ms Howie, retiring after 19 years as a Learning Support Assistant, and who has run the successful nearly new clothing initiative in school alongside supporting young people with boundless enthusiasm.
Ms Ferguson, Business Support Officer, is moving to Randall House at the end of July after 11 years and will be hugely missed.
Ms Chisholm has been at MGS for 19 years in the Geography department, and latterly as acting DHT of Moray House. She leaves to take up a well deserved permanent DHT role at Queensferry High School in August.
Mr Thomson, who has taught Art for almost 21 years, moves to an exciting new chapter at Rosehill in August.
Mrs Shaw has been a huge part of MGS with over 30 years’ service and is the mother of the house. Mrs Shaw leaves us to take up post as PT Science at North Berwick High School and we will all miss her good humour and cheer.
Staff changes within school
Mr Scott, DHT Pupil Support, takes on the additional role of Head of Grange House in August.
Ms McCrorie, currently acting Curriculum Leader of Global Citizenship, has now been appointed to that post on a permanent basis commencing in August.
Ms Holmes’ current acting Guidance Teacher post ends at the end of term and she returns to her substantive PE post in August.
Mr Fox in Computing and Mr Devine in Maths who were newly qualified teachers last year, are now permanent members of the Grammar Team.
The Wrap Up, with Charlie & Eva
Hi everyone! Welcome back to another edition of ‘The Wrap up, with Charlie & Eva’.
We hope you’ve had a good week, it has certainly been a busy one here at Musselburgh Grammar!
On Wednesday MGS held our Summer Jam after school. Our talented musicians, singers, and music staff have completely blown us away this week with an absolutely incredible night even during the short period of rain that decided to appear. A massive congratulations to everyone involved in the event! We very much look forward to the next one!
We would also like to congratulate the S6s involved in the planning and organising of the S2/3 summer dance this year. We hope it went well and that everybody who attended had a great time! Good luck to all of those moving to Rosehill, we hope you have enjoyed your time here at Musselburgh Grammar School!
On Wednesday, a group of S3s and S6s took a beekeeping trip to Edinburgh Zoo to learn about bees and how the act of beekeeping has an impact on other animals as well as local communities! This was a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to have a fun day out while learning the importance of beekeeping.
This week there have been many Dalguise meetings to which the S6s have been attending. Remember to keep your ideas within your groups! You never know who might be listening? 👀
Unfortunately sports day has been cancelled as a result of the spontaneous weather change to which a lot of people are disappointed, however we hopefully may be able to reschedule. So, in the meantime get your running shorts ready.
This week is the last full week here at MGS before the summer holidays, (and not a minute too soon!). It has been a great year! We would like to wish everyone a happy summer holiday and we look forward to seeing you all again in August!
Take care
Charlie & Eva
Summer Dance
On Thursday evening, we hosted our first Summer Dance, with our new S2 & S3 pupils which was an excellent night enjoyed by all pupils. Our pupils had a ball, with lots of dances, participating in stall games and taking selfies on our selfie wall. Mrs McElhaney would like to say a special thank you to the staff team who did a fantastic Ceilidh, all staff helpers on the night and our fantastic S6 committee who helped run the evening and decorated the hall.
We can’t wait for next year’s summer dance already! Some pictures below of the great festivities and fun had by all.
Royal Highland Show
Senior pupils, as well as groups from SfL and Inclusion, enjoyed a trip to the Royal Highland Show on Thursday 22nd June. The sun was shining at Ingliston as we enjoyed sampling (a lot of!) Scottish foods, learning about rural life, meeting a variety of farm animals, sitting on off road vehicles including tractors and army trucks, taking a trip on the big wheel, playing games, winning prizes and of course, getting lots of freebies! All our pupils were a credit to the school and a big thank you goes out to all the staff who make these valuable educational experiences happen! Until next year…
Sports Awards 2023
As many of you will know we held our first Sports Award evening, since COVID last week. Where we celebrated our young people's sporting achievements from across the year, and the range of talent on display was just breathtaking!
This year our evening was hosted by our Young Ambassadors; Summer Gargaro, Eleanor Myles and Rosie Livingstone and what a success it was from start to finish! From all their hard work behind the scenes, to the effort they put into decorating our assembly hall and the smooth running of the evening where they spoke with such confidence!
On the night we were joined by all our nominees, pupils from extracurricular clubs, our coaching team, our volunteers, our teaching staff, parents/ guardians, Campie’s senior leadership team, local councillors, and other members of our community! As well as a special visit from Siobhan Hunter, Hibernian Women’s defender who gave a very inspirational and motivational speech about her own player journey!
On the night the following awards were presented:
Team of the Year
S1 – S6 Hockey Team
Most Valuable Player of the Year
Owen Watters – Senior Basketball
Ewan Hawes – Junior Basketball
Ross Anderson – Senior Football
Adam Eunson – U13 Boys Football
Connie Goldie – Girls Football
Mia Halliday —Hockey
Alexandre Rashid —Junior Volleyball
Elena Crecescu— Senior Volleyball
Christopher Parisi —Badminton
Nathan Wilson — Tennis
Jason Talac —U18 Rugby
Rhys Finlayson —U16 Rugby
Seth Faber—U14 Rugby
Hamish Delaney —U13 Rugby
Erin Rowley – Girls Rugby
Paralympian of the Year
Aidan Lowrey
Contribution to School Sport
Jamie Lawson – Junior
Eleanor Myles – Senior
Junior Sportsman
Liam Maguire – Moral
Ross Dargo (Runner Up)
Junior Sportswoman
Alice Finlay
Summer Gargaro (Joint Runner Up)
Sophie Davidson (Joint Runner Up)
Coach of the Year
Mrs Orsi (Badminton)
Volunteer of the Year
Sam Dickson
Sports Personality of the Year
Rosie Livingstone
Ryan Barbour (Runner Up)
Sports Personality of the Year was renamed this year to The Richard White Sports Personality of the Year. In memory of the late Richard White who was a massive part of the sporting community in Musselburgh and Musselburgh Grammar School who in recent years provided his physiotherapy services free of charge to footballers at Musselburgh Grammar School.
Achievement in Sport
Tayla Patton
Tom Barrett
Dan Barrett
Eva Kay
Performance Athlete in School (PAiS) Graduates:
Olivia Cornett – Football
Lauren Davidson – Hockey
Sophie Davidson – Hockey
Louis Duncan – Hockey
Finlay Duncan – Hockey
Rory Steedman – Rugby
Jason Talac – Rugby
Primary Sports Stars
Tom Ibbs (Campie)
Freya Main (Campie)
Jake Lucchini Jayamaha (Loretto RC)
Imogen Wilson (Loretto RC)
Erica Olds (The Burgh)
Jack Givan (The Burgh)
Monroe Ritchie (Whitecraig)
Rhys Ford (Whitecraig)
What a list! We are just in complete awe of our young people’s fantastic sporting achievements this year. We are extremely proud of all our pupils, and we hope they rightly should be too!
On the night our Active Schools programme was also donated £1295 by Mr Thayne a former pupil from Musselburgh Grammar School and local businessman. Who recently ran a fundraiser in memory of his friend and former pupil Steven Slater in a bid to raise awareness of mental health. In his fundraiser Steven offered weekly circuit sessions for a whole month to raise awareness around mental health and how important physical activity can be in bringing people together and promoting wellbeing. This money will be used to purchase new equipment and help expand our extra – curricular provision with the main focus on promoting mental and physical health. We would like to say a big thank you to Mr Thayne, Andy Slater and Scott Robertson for this very generous donation and for the ongoing support they give to football at Musselburgh Grammar School.
Lastly we would like to give a special thank you to everyone who came along to the evening and to our unsung heroes who helped out and made the evening a success.
Siobhan Hunter – Guest of Honour
Owen Watters & Sam Henderson – Sound and Production
Libby Henderson & Tess Devlin – Entrance music
Miss Watson – Photography
Burgh Baristas – Mrs Orsi, Mrs Dias and Mrs McElhaney
A huge well done to all our winners, nominees, coaches, and volunteers we are exceptionally proud of each and every single one of you!
Jade Hall, Active Schools and Sophie Gray, PE
Student Teachers 2023/24
Every year, MGS, like many schools, host student teachers from various universities across Scotland as they train to become the next generation of secondary school teachers. This year we have had 23 students across all of our departments. During placement the students develop their planning, learning and teaching skills whilst receiving support and feedback from mentors within their department. MGS staff also volunteer their time to give informative talks on the wider workings of the school and responsibilities of staff such as Nurture, SfL, Pupil Voice etc.
We have always valued having students at MGS as through providing a welcoming, supportive and encouraging environment for them, it also allows experienced staff the opportunity to mentor and collaborate with others.
This years cohort have shared some extremely positive experiences at MGS:
“I really enjoyed getting to know the pupils and my mentor helped me feel welcome at the school which helped with my confidence” ~ History BEd Student teacher
“The highlights of this placement were definitely the wonderful people I have had the opportunity to work with. I genuinely could not be more grateful for all the support I have received and the wonderful energy and enthusiasm that exist within the SS department which has been so infectious and played a huge role in my time at MGS.” ~ Mod Studs PGDE
“My highlights were getting to build relationships with staff and pupils. Reflecting on my lessons, making changes, and seeing tangible improvements in pupil learning was also incredibly warming. The insights and feedback from experienced teachers have also been fantastic, everyone has been so welcoming.” ~ Art & Design PGDE
“MGS has been a fantastic placement experience and I will be so sad to leave. It is a fabulous school with wonderful students and staff and I feel very lucky to have been here the past 6 weeks.” ~ Drama PGDE
We would like to wish all of our Student teachers the best of luck in the next steps of their teaching journeys. In addition, thank you to our wonderful school community of pupils and staff at MGS for continually providing a welcoming and encouraging learning space for all.
Lizzie Orsi (Student Regent)
NPA Beekeeping Zoo Trip
The NPA Beekeeping groups have been busy this week preparing for the arrival of the bees after the summer holidays. The hives have been oiled and we have received a donation of a tonne bag of wood chips from Musselburgh Racecourse to lay around the hives -thank you for your support, it is much appreciated!
On Wednesday, the S3 and senior beekeepers visited the zoo to attend a talk on ‘The role of beekeeping in world conservation’. The education team took us on a tour of some of the enclosures and discussed how bees played a role in boosting not just the pollination of vital plants and flowers, but also enabling women to earn an income and reduce poverty. Whilst mice can be a problem for beekeepers in Scotland, armadillos play havoc with hives in South America! We found out about armadillo proof designs and sampled armadillo friendly honey. Thank you to the zoo for hosting us, we had a brilliant day!
NQT practitioner enquiries
We’ve invited our NQTs to share their practitioner enquiry focus for the year. They have worked hard on these to help deliver better outcomes for our learners.
Sophie Gray PE
Title: The use of Sport Education in Physical Education to develop classroom management.
My professional enquiry focused on the use of the Sport Education model with a S3 national class. I aimed to explore the impact Sport Education had on building positive relationships with pupils and classroom management. One key feature of the model is team affiliation: this was incorporated by pupils being in the team on a weekly basis and the incorporation of a points system. For each block the criteria was adapted for how pupils could win points for their team. Overall, pupils developed respect towards their team mates and began motivating each other to achieve the maximum points available. The points scheme provided a focus for pupils to work towards and for parts reduced low level disruption. Over time, I noticed increased interactions among pupils and this improved as the activities went on.
Hannah Castles Mathematics
Title: How does the use of diagnostic questions improve the engagement of pupils in the classroom and their ability to accurately solve problems involving algebra?
I chose this line of enquiry because I wanted to explore the impact of a specific formative assessment technique in my lessons. I have had experience using diagnostic questions before and wanted to investigate their potential impact on pupils with a specific topic. Barton (2018) describes diagnostic questions as multiple choice questions with carefully thought-out incorrect answers that reveal different mistakes and misconceptions. From a series of lessons I was able to gather evidence that showed an increased engagement and attainment from pupils. These results were limited to short series of lessons but has encouraged me to continue to use diagnostic questions in my practice as a formative assessment technique. I will expand this enquiry by integrating diagnostic questions into more of my practice. I am going to trial them with different levels of ability in different year groups. Additionally, it will be interesting to investigate their impact across a wide range of topics and abilities to examine their potential impact.
Advanced Higher Chemistry Trip
S6 chemists attended University of Edinburgh on Monday to develop important practical skills needed for the advanced higher course. The group completed 3 experiments and had a tour of the new labs.
Inclusion Department
We have had a great year in the department and have welcomed lots of new faces as well as saying goodbye to some of our S4s and S5s. This year we welcomed two new members of staff to the department and for the first time since we started in 2021 we have a full complement of staff for the new term in August.
The last few weeks we have spent a lot of time out of school and have had young people out in Edinburgh, North Berwick, Dunbar swimming, Vogrie Country Park and The Royal Highland Show. Next week we are taking our young people to Luca’s for ice cream thanks to a wonderful donation of £50 from one of our parents/carers.
Mrs McLean, Mr Brown, Mr Bissett, Mr Lee and Miss Watson wish all the young people at MGS a lovely summer break and we look forward to seeing everyone again in August.
#andshecycles
Sustrans lead their annual ‘girls only cycle’ to encourage more girls to participate in cycling. This initiative creates a supportive environment where girls can feel comfortable and confident while cycling.
We cycled along a very scenic route to Portobello, stopped at Newhailes for a drink then headed to Portobello for lunch and activities.
QMU - Healthfest
Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh invited MGS's S4s and S5s to attend their inaugural HeathFest on Wednesday 21st June 2023.
The aim was to motivate and foster an interest in health sciences through a range of engaging workshops, broadening both awareness and students' access to health professions.
At HealthFest, students had the opportunity to learn more about the health science programmes offered by the university, through demonstrations of subject-specific workshops. Plus, tailored campus tours from their current health science students of their clinical simulation facilities.
What a fantastic event and we will certainly be booking again next year.
Bridges Motorcycle Centre Haddington
The last session of motorbiking for this academic year will be on Tuesday 27 June. Here are a few photos of an amazing group who excelled in riding considering it was only a short 6 week course. Well done to all who participated with this amazing charity.
A new course will start in the new academic year.
Community Information
PUPIL SAFETY DURING THE SUMMER BREAK
With the holidays fast approaching I have been asked to share with you a few concerns about unsafe and irresponsible behaviour in the community.
The Police and the Safer Communities team have received recent reports of a small minority of young people behaving in an unacceptable way within the town centre, Fisherrow Harbour and at the Lagoons.
Specifically with regard to the Harbour, there are huge concerns about secondary pupils in particular, regarding the dangers associated with jumping from the pier, or “tombstoning” as it is colloquially known. The harbour carries inherent dangers with vessels entering and leaving the harbour unable to see, or be seen, by those jumping from the pier such that the risk of significant life threatening injury exists should a vessel and a swimmer ‘collide’.
With regard to the available activities for young people within the Musselburgh area during the break, the summer programme is included.
For more information and to register for any of these activities please contact musselburghyw@eastlothian.gov.uk
Mental Health Youth Work
Summer is a time to relax and enjoy some free time so many of you will be feeling great over the summer. Sometimes the lack of routine can have an impact on our mental health.
If you need some support over the summer there is loads of great information, videos, games, suggested websites and apps here: Mental Health & Wellbeing (google.com)
If you need someone to talk to about anything big or small you can call Childline on 0800 11 11.
Or you can Text SHOUT to 85258.
If you want to be referred for local support for your mental health over the summer you should see your GP.
SDS School Careers Advisers
SDS School Careers Advisers Carla and Karolina are here to support students over the summer break. We would like to encourage students who are considering their options and would like to move on from school this year to take advantage of the careers support and contact us to make an appointment. If you are unsure about your next steps and your options, please speak to us and we will support you with your decisions.
Karolina works from Musselburgh East Community Learning Centre MECL , on Haddington Road, on Tuesdays from 10 AM to 4 PM. For face to face appointments, please use the contact details: karolina.green@sds.co.uk, 01313763243 .
Lost Property
There are jackets and water bottles that have not been claimed. Please check the lost property in the Medical Room.
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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