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HEAD TEACHER'S NEWSLETTER
Thursday 26 June 2025
Thursday 26 June 2025
And….that’s it for another year.
It has been a pleasure teaching your children, and thank you for your ongoing support of our school.
Whatever your plans for the summer, I wish you happy holidays and we will see you in August.
Jodie Hannan
Key Dates
Monday 11 & Tuesday 12 August: staff return to school for in-service days
Wednesday 13 August: all pupils return to school
Remember you can find all events on our school calendar, and you can add the calendar to your own too.
SQA Results and Appeals
SQA Results Day is Tuesday 5th August 2025. Pupils can sign up to receive these by text or email on the SQA website.
Additionally, the SQA have released details on their appeals service. This can be accessed: https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/79049.html
The service will open on Results day, Tuesday 5 August, at 9 am, and the learner direct submission deadlines are:
Tuesday 12 August at 11.59 pm for priority appeals
Tuesday 26 August at 11.59 pm for all other appeals
Your appeal can be prioritised if you have a conditional place at university or college, or in training or employment that depends on your grade.
Staffing updates
We say goodbye to a number of colleagues at the end of this year.
Happy retirement to….
Madame Dreon Goold who leaves MGS after an incredible 30 years of service and to Mrs MacBeath who leaves after 12.
Farewell to…..
Mr Jordan in Modern Languages whose post will be advertised over the summer holidays; Ms Ditchfield who leaves Home Economics to move to another school, and congratulations to Mrs Lewis who is appointed to this post. Ms Duncan and Mrs White, auxiliary, also leave Home Economics in late August and their posts will be advertised over the summer.
Ms Smith who leaves Mrs Tudor’s Maths maternity leave post to return to Preston Lodge. Mr Harpham has stepped down from CL Mathematics post and has been appointed to this temporary full time role.
And to Mr Plenderleith in PE, Mrs Bowler in Biology, Ms Wilson, LSA, and Ms Berrick in Maths.
It has been a pleasure having them on our team and we wish them all the best in the next stages of their careers.
In August we welcome…..
Ms Duggan, CL Maths; Mrs Ross, full time permanent teacher of Maths; Ms Emsley NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher) of PE; Mr Lynn, NQT of Business Education.
We will also be recruiting a Pupil Support Worker in Inclusion and Nurture and a Learning Support Assistant in Support for Learning over the summer holidays.
I would like to publicly thank all my MGS colleagues for all their efforts in the classroom and going the extra mile day in and day out for our students.
We know that the ethos of a school is not just what happens inside in a classroom, and the Grammar team is committed to making school life as enriching and enjoyable as possible.
Colleagues take on additional responsibilities such as extra curricular clubs and competitions, social events, music concerts, awards ceremonies, dances, prom, activity days, S6 yearbooks, S6 hoodies, and residentials and international trips: without them, these experiences wouldn’t happen.
So a huge thankyou to my colleagues for being such an amazing team, and wishing them all a wonderful summer holiday.
Head Team
It is my pleasure to introduce to you our new Head Team for 2025-26, Grace Ryan, Libby Bain and Holly McNeill.
It was a very competitive process with public hustings to the whole school in assemblies as well as an interview with peers and teachers: commendations to Isla Dowdeswell and Tayla Patton for being such worthy runners up.
It was lovely to hear the common theme of community and family coming from each of the girls in their interviews, and clear to see how much they value their teachers and school life.
The girls will be writing weekly blogs for this newsletter with further information to follow on the projects they will be leading next year.
New Head Team
Hello everyone, we are Libby, Holly and Grace and we are honoured to be your Head Team this year. Let us introduce ourselves:
Libby
As well as being in S6, I am a swim teacher and coach, and I am also a lifeguard at Musselburgh Sports Centre. I am studying Advanced Higher Maths, Advanced Higher Physics, Higher Graphics and Nat 5 Woodwork. I’m hoping to study Mathematics at university after I leave school.
Grace
My favourite subjects are Maths, Chemistry and Music. In my free time I enjoy playing the guitar, netball and dancing. A fun fact about me is that I can solve a rubik's cube (not very quickly though!)
Holly
I've been involved in quite a few parts of the school over the years which you may know me from already! I've been a part of Pupil Voice since S1, as well as being in a few other groups since, such as Eco Club which I now lead. The last few years I have been presenting at the school concerts as well as performing, which is probably one of my favourite parts of being at MGS. Amongst the subjects I am taking next year, being a head pupil is going to be one of my priorities and I have a lot of ideas which I am really passionate about, and I hope will contribute to the school in a positive manner.
We are all excited for the year ahead and can’t wait to work with everyone.
Have a great summer!
MGS Instrumental Music Service Recent Successes!
Our instrumental music service students have been very busy, with many of them involved in external youth orchestras, bands, and summer schools, as well as having achieved successes in recent Trinity College of Music examinations.
Rosa, Tom, Dan, Freyja and Zofia all took part in Edinburgh Youth Orchestra’s Easter development course at George Watson’s College.
Tess and Julia will be performing Gustav Holst’s Planets Suite with Edinburgh Youth Orchestra in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. Tess will also be performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland’s Development Orchestra this summer in Perth and is looking forward to studying trombone and voice at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Junior Department from September. Dan will be heading for the RCS this summer too, having secured a place in the National Youth Wind Ensemble of Scotland’s summer course.
Constance and Noah are taking part in the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland’s Academy courses for young orchestral players in Glasgow and Aberdeen, and Sophie has been awarded a scholarship to take part in Napier University’s Jazz Summer School.
Tom, Dan, Freyja, Max, Emma, and Constance have also recently passed Trinity Music Examinations.
Well done everyone and massive thanks to all our instrumental music service students who have been working hard throughout the year!
MGS Wind Band held their final performance of the year at the Summer Jam last night. This term we have enjoyed working with P7 colleagues who have been joining us for rehearsals as part of their transition programme.
Rome 2025
Mr Jordan, Ms Ryan, Mr Duncan and Mrs Bloomfield took a very excited group of historians and linguists to Rome this week on the first international trip since Covid.
Royal Highland Show
In what has become a highlight in the annual school calendar, a group of 90 pupils had the opportunity to visit the Royal Highland Show on Thursday 19th June. The sun was shining as we explored the enormous showground whilst food tasting, meeting farm animals, visiting bee keepers and learning about agricultural and rural life in Scotland. We bumped into Mrs Andrews too and some pupils made it their mission to bring home a highland cow! Pupils were inquisitive, enthusiastic and punctual throughout the day and a credit to MGS. A big thank you to our staff team for organising the day!
Sports Day 2025
We all celebrated the end of term with Sports Day at Pinkie playing fields yesterday, and as always it was a lovely atmosphere with music, face painting, football and races. Thanks to Mr Macdonald for organising it all and......well done to Grange House who won the House competition over the year with most House points! The prize was a Luca’s ice cream for each Grange pupil at Sports Day.
Active Sports
MGS Athletes Shine on Track and Water at National Championships
It was a weekend of outstanding achievement for four Musselburgh Grammar School students as they competed in two major sporting events: the SSAA Track and Field Championships 2025 and the Scottish Schools Canoe Slalom.
At the Scottish Schools Athletics Association (SSAA) Championships, held at the Grangemouth Stadium, MGS was proudly represented by Thea Cooke, Aggie Cooke, Euan Petrie, and Tom Ibbs.
Thea and Aggie took on the field events, competing in the long jump and high jump, showcasing their versatility and athleticism. On the track, Euan Petrie achieved a new personal best in the 800m, clocking an impressive 2 minutes 48 seconds. Tom Ibbs delivered a strong performance in the 1500m, finishing 5th overall and also setting a personal best time of 4 minutes 25 seconds.
Not content with just one national competition in a weekend, Thea and Aggie also competed in the Scottish Schools Canoe Slalom shortly after their track and field events. Thea raced in the Open CIW Canoe Slalom, recording a best run time of 116.7 seconds. Aggie tackled the C1 Division 3 event, delivering a best run of 153.4 seconds.
These results reflect the hard work, dedication, and multi-sport talent of our students. Congratulations to Thea, Aggie, Euan, and Tom for their achievements and for representing Musselburgh Grammar School with pride across both land and water.
UK Biology Challenge
This year, Musselburgh Grammar School was proud to take part in the UK Biology Challenge for the very first time! The competition gave pupils aged 13–15 a chance to test their biology knowledge alongside students from across the UK.
A huge well done to all of our participants: Lynzie Baillie, Lydia Gbadegsin, Katie Stanners, and Clare Wilson for rising to the challenge and representing the school so well. A special mention goes to Emma Leathard, who earned a Highly Commended award, and to Constance Collins, who achieved a Bronze award in this national competition.
Skills Development Scotland and East Lothian Works
SDS careers advisers and East Lothian Works Employability Officers will be following up school leavers from all East Lothian schools over the summer to make sure our leavers are successful in their next steps now they have completed school. If your child would like support to make decisions about their career or find opportunities, then you can call 0131 665 3120, right through the summer holidays, to make an appointment with an adviser.
NHS Summer Mop Up
Summer Programme 2025 XTRA
Street League - New Employability Programme
School Toilets
Our pupil toilets are checked on a regular basis to ensure everyone’s comfort and safety. These checks may be done by male or female staff
members, and signage is in toilets to make pupils aware of this.
MGS website and School Handbook for parents
Our website can be accessed here MGS (google.com), and it also contains our School Handbook.
School Policies
All of our policies can be viewed on our website
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