Embedded Files
HT Update 26/06/25
Here we are at the end of Year 2, and it’s been another big year of change and growth. We’ve been fully active until the end, with some of our S4 undertaking a cycling challenge in Loch Leven on Tuesday, and teams across all years participating in the House Games yesterday (well done, House Heather! It was very close indeed). This week also saw our now traditional S3 vs Staff football match, with some great team spirit on display and lots of support from pupils, staff and parents on the side-lines. It was particularly rewarding to note that the staff team included the kitchen supervisor, the librarian, the Active Schools coordinator and one of our student teachers from earlier this year. It felt like the perfect summary of the way in which Rosehill really is a team game. We’ll gloss over the fact that the only yellow card of the game was one of the teachers… He assures me that he has reflected on his actions and takes full responsibility for them 😊 The final score was 5-2 to the staff, but S3 won’t want us dwelling on that too long! They worked brilliantly together.
Following on from our Pupil Leadership Team Coordinator interviews last week, our PLTCs are:
Shayna Samuel
Kasper Stibbles
Samera Umar
We are delighted for them. Congratulations, too, to our PLT membership as a whole: Eli, Nathan, Lucy, Megan, Neve, Jack, Esme, Lucy, Jochebed and Ella all produced thoughtful and detailed applications and we can’t wait to get started with them as a team early next session. It made me smile to see their badges being worn with pride straight away.
Gayle Aitken and Brooklyn Flack have now completed their NQT year with us and we wish them all the best for their careers beyond Rosehill. Both have supported the learning of a wide range of classes, and we know they will be fondly remembered by our young people. Barbara Lindsay has been with us in the Brae since opening, and is now heading to Australia! She will still be teaching young people with additional needs and is very excited about her new adventure. We salute her bravery. And finally, Jess Boam leaves her role as our Food and Health auxiliary, to pursue a college course to qualify as a nursery practitioner. We are sure she will enjoy being in this very different part of the education system.
Some late movement has meant interviewing right until the end of term. We have preferred candidates for our part-time PE post, the Food and Health auxiliary, and Modern Studies (Caitlin McRobbie’s replacement as she moves to House Head). We have also completed all interviews for multiple posts in the Brae, including the three new classroom teachers. We will have 43 young people in our SCN provision from August, making it the second largest in the local authority.
Such is the fast-paced nature of schools, we already have plenty of plans for session 25-26 in place. You can find a draft of our Standards and Quality Report and Improvement Plan here: Rosehill SQSIP 25-26 DRAFT Please do keep in mind that this is subject to minor changes in August as data for the session is finalised and we link responsibilities to our new, expanding staff team.
Until then, may I extend our thanks to all parents and carers for working in partnership with us over the course of the school year. We really do value how many of you have taken the time to send messages of support and appreciation for individuals and teams. Working in schools in 2025 is very much a lifestyle choice and knowing they are making a positive difference means so much to staff. We’ll be switching off until the week beginning 11th August, and look forward to seeing all of our young people at 8.30am on the Wednesday 13th August. I’ll be starting the holiday by celebrating my eldest daughter’s PGDE Graduation; she’s going to be an English teacher from August. We’re then off to the Lake District for a week in the middle of nowhere, and I must confess to looking forward to some relative quiet! Whatever your plans are, we hope you enjoy a slightly different pace for a few weeks.
HT Update 20/06/25
What a week! There were some bleary eyes on Monday morning for the staff and pupils involved in the Traverse performance. What a brilliant experience and what kind feedback on the way the young people conducted themselves. They didn’t know it at the time, but one of my oldest friends was actually doing the tech for this show, and confirmed our team did a great job throughout the rehearsals in the venue as well as in the show itself!
Our P7 pupils have made a fantastic start to their time with us with three super busy days of learning across the curriculum. Thanks go to the primary staff who attended to support the event, the partners who delivered sessions, the class teachers who offered lessons, and the S1 and S2 pupils who supported our newest members of the community around the building. Particular thanks go to Jules McCabe and Mark O’Neil who, along with the rest of the Pupil Support Team, ensured a well-organised, meaningful and fun experience for all. This is a real challenge when we don't have the staffing we will in August, and I know how much our P7 appreciated the experience.
Our Pupil Leadership Team Coordinator interviews took place yesterday and Martha Macleod, Michelle Yeoman and I had the privilege of meeting with the S4 pupils who wish to be considered for this role next session. As you all know, I sit in a LOT of interviews, but these were definitely my favourite of the year! Credit also goes to all of the young people who completed written applications to be part of the wider PLT. They tackled questions such as:
· Tell us about a time when you made a mistake. What did you do, what did you learn, and what would you do differently now?
· Changing your mind about things is an important part of growing into your own person. Tell us about something you used to think, but have changed your mind about?
Questions like this can be challenging for adults too, so we were very impressed by the thoughtful responses they elicited. We will share the results of the interviews next week.
We had St. Andrew’s First Aid in yesterday working with a group of our over 16s to support them towards a First Aid qualification. This is a vital life skill and we were so pleased with the way in which they responded to a pretty intensive course. There was a lot of interest in this from our younger pupils, too, so we have every intention of continuing to offer this programme in coming sessions.
Our Achievement Ceremonies are quickly becoming a highlight of the year and we loved being able to welcome so many families to join us in celebrating success. Our pupil presenters and other helpers did a great job and we hugely appreciate the staff who gave up their evening to support with the smooth running of the event. Any young person who was unable to attend and needs to collect their certificate should do so from the school office, form Monday.
Our Standards and Quality Report and School Improvement Plan are gradually (so very gradually) taking shape and a draft will be ready to publish at the end of session. Please keep in mind that these are subject to minor changes until early September. We will also publish our Key Dates document as soon as we return after the summer break, to support your planning as a family.
HT Update 13/06/25
We’re looking forward to welcoming our future S1s today, Monday and Tuesday for their 3 day in person visit. This will be a mix of different activities to allow them to get to know the building, the staff, and their new peers. Huge thanks go to Jules McCabe and Mark O’Neil for leading on this, as well as to all our partners, including Heavy Sound, Mypas, the Community Wardens, Connected Communities, Young Carers and Active Schools. We are so pleased that the young people will be able to get a taste of the opportunities afforded to them both within and beyond the school. At an in person visit to Wallyford this week, one of P7s asked, ‘So, will we be… learning?’ Yes, definitely!
At the other end of the school, every young person in S3 and S4 has had the opportunity to participate in two Tree of Knowledge workshops, with a focus on the strategies that will support them to achieve senior phase success. There will be a final workshop on Wednesday, with a follow up focused on managing exams in September, well ahead of their first Formal Assessments.
One thing that always makes me raise an eyebrow is the suggestion that schools are ‘winding down’ for the holidays when it’s quite the opposite! Congratulations to our County Sports participants whom I’m told showed great camaraderie both within Rosehill and in terms of their interactions with other schools, supporting each other in a wide range of individual and team activities. I am sure that many of them with be signing up for our upcoming House Games, which this year take place on Wednesday 25th June, with combination of athletics and team sport events. Well done too, Darren and Orla, who represented us at the Youth Philanthropy Initiative national event this week. I love this quotation on their overall learning: “We should try to think twice but speak once because what we think is happening might not be what is really happening.” One for adults as well as young people, there.
Preparations are underway for our annual Achievement Ceremonies with nominees, presenters, musicians and the Tech Team all on hand for Thursday 19th. A quick reminder of the timings just in case:
· S1/S2 Values Celebration: Doors open 5pm for refreshments, ceremony closes 5.50pm approx.
· BGE Graduation: Doors open 5.50pm for refreshments, ceremony closes 6.40pm approx.
· Senior Phase Character Awards: Doors open 6.40pm for refreshments, ceremony closes 7.30pm approx.
If there are any families coming to more than one ceremony, please keep in mind that we will be clearing the hall in between each event.
Remember, these are bookable events, and booking closed earlier this week. Names will be checked on the door ahead of each ceremony.
We continue month 5 of the recruitment drive for next session, with preferred candidates identified this week for or ASN auxiliaries in the Brae, as well as for our part-time Teacher of PE post. Our NQTs also completed an induction session on Wednesday, and are very excited to get started,
And finally, best of luck to Aaron Aitken and the team who will be quite literally in the spotlight at the Traverse theatre this Sunday night, with their performance of “We Ain’t Movin’!” I am sure that this opportunity to perform in a professional venue will be one that stays with them for a long time.
HT Update 06/06/25
It was a real pleasure to welcome out S4 learners back this week after their exam period. We began with a special in person assembly with both S3 and S4 to set out plans for the month and to focus on the importance of presence and participation throughout the senior phase, as these are what lead to achievement. It was an absolute joy to then see both team Heather and Team Thistle undertake their team building workshops with the Health and Wellbeing staff. S4 are also already working on their applications for the Pupil Leadership Team. Our PLT is based on the idea that leadership is not just about who stands up and does the chat at the fancy events, it’s about who contributes to the life of the school, who makes things happen, and who encourages those around them. We are very much looking forward to reading the applications and interviewing for PLT Coordinator posts later this month.
Our annual Achievement Ceremonies are fast approaching, and invitations have gone out to all award winners, as well as the whole of S3 for their BGE Graduation. Please can we remind families that attendance at these events must be booked. Our assembly hall has limited capacity and we can only offer a maximum of two family members per child. Our young people will once again be running the catering, and Rachel Murphy has already promised teal icing for the cupcakes, because it’s the wee things that make us happy.
It may be heading towards the end of term, but we continue to offer a packed schedule of opportunities throughout. Our Social Justice Ambassadors had a visit from Olivia Brown of the Scottish Youth Parliament, and were able to contribute to the development of the SYP manifesto for 2026. It was great to see all of the skills developed over time through pupil voice in action.
Our Bronze Duke of Edinburgh group completed their qualifying expedition last Friday. They certainly had a wide range of weather conditions, and a particular challenge was battling against strong winds for much of the trip. However, that’s what D of E is all about. We also salute their bravery in challenging the staff to a football match at the campsite- even if the pupils did lose on penalties!
Good luck too, to all of those taking part in the County Sports on Tuesday. After lots of success in the Youth Games last week, we have no doubt that the Rosehill team will do as proud, in their conduct as well as their sports.
It was a real privilege to see the assembly space in all its glory yesterday evening as our learners presented their staged dress rehearsal of ‘We Ain’t Movin’!’ to friends, family and staff. They will be performing this at the Traverse theatre in Edinburgh on the 15th of June as part of the Wonder Fools Positive Stories festival. Thank you to Aaron Aitken, with the support of the Expressive Arts Team, for leading them to this point. As a former Drama teacher, I know how exactly much effort and commitment are required for staff and pupils alike when it comes to staging a production and we are all very proud of them.
The Senior Leadership Team has been visiting multiple classes this month as part of our quality assurance processes, and it has felt like a real privilege. We have committed to seeing every single member of teaching staff between us. This week alone I have been learning about the nth pattern, 20th century musical genres, glacier formations, using CAD Computer Aided Design and, most importantly, just how wide a range of experience we provide for our young people. This is always, always, time well spent.
In staffing, congratulations to Dean Pearson who has been appointed to the role of Principal Teacher of Equity. This role, funded by the local authority, is about taking a data led approach to focusing, aligning and streamlining the multiple activities in which schools engage to support those at risk of missing out. Dean’s PT duties are fulfilled on a part time basis so please don’t worry, Computing Science will still most of his timetable and certificated classes won’t change! Interviews for our part-time PE post are next week, and we will then conclude with a temporary Teacher of Modern Studies just before the holidays (Caitlin McRobbie’s replacement as she moved to her House Head: Clover role). We have also had confirmation of our two NQTs (one History, one English) and are looking forward to welcoming them in for their induction session.
HT Update 30/05/25
First of all, a huge well done to SNAKLE, whose performance at Battle of the Bands has led to an opportunity to undertake a recording of their music. As one excitedly reported to me on Monday, ‘Maybe it’s like a single but maybe it will be a whole album!!’ Thanks to Shea from BandJam who has been such a support them and helped to give them the confidence to take on this challenge.
As shared with the young people earlier this week, our new House is well on the way to creation. Following a staff and pupil vote, our third House will be known as House Clover. There was also a lot of excitement when the young people found out that our new House Head will be Caitlin McRobbie. Caitlin has been with us as a teacher of social subjects since August 2023 and has done so much for the school already through her leadership of out Cost of the School Day Team and her work around Coaching for Success. There was a high level of interest in this post at a national level, but Caitlin’s commitment to our young people and our community came shining through. Caitlin won’t be in post until August but will be linking in with the Pupil Support Team throughout the remainder of the term to support a smooth transition. As noted previously, some classes in S1-S3 will move to be Clover classes, though the make up of classes will not change. We will send a communication on this before the end of term.
On Monday, we will be welcoming our S4 pupils back after SQA assessments. To support senior phase success, both S3 and S4 will have the opportunity to be part of our June leadership programme. This involves team-building activities, three workshops with Tree of Knowledge, and the chance to apply to our Pupil Leadership Team. Further details have been sent to all S3 and S4 parents, and we will be holding an assembly for both year groups period 1 on Monday to go through the plans.
Our Achievement Ceremonies are fast approaching, to be held this year on the 19th June. Staff nominations closed yesterday, and we will be sending invitations out to the families of all nominees over the next few days. Please, please, please keep in mind that you must complete a booking to attend. Our assembly hall space is very limited and, to meet fire regulations, we have to ensure that it is not exceeded. We did have some small issues last year with families turning up without booking, or turning up with more than the numbers they had booked for. Everyone will be signed in on the door.
I’m now going to hand over the rest of this update to Laura Anderson, whose Global Citizenship Faculty has been having a very busy time in this Quadrant!
We recently received our Green Flag from Eco Schools Scotland, and we are delighted to accept this as recognition of the work that the Eco Group have done to make Rosehill as sustainable as possible. Some of the things that we have accomplished are to plant more trees in the school grounds, and to collect tools and bulbs to make a bee garden – thank you to our local community for your support. Although this is still to be planted, we’re just deciding on the best spot at the moment. We also ran a significant litter campaign to try and tackle litter inside and outside of the school and this did make a difference according to our surveying. We do still have a little way to go in helping everybody remember to put all their rubbish in the correct bins. We finally focused on the heating and the lighting in the building. We are a very sustainable building so there wasn’t much work to do here, but we did highlight some areas that could still be improved to the staff in Rosehill.
On Friday, the 16th of May we had our Solar Punk workshop day we had Balfour Beatty, JM Architects, The Scottish Drinking Water Quality Regulator , The Army and Scottish Water into school to run workshops with our first-year pupils so that they could engage in their Solar Punk island project. Solar Punk Island is a creative project that aims to help the pupils understand how to live more sustainably and how the future could be more equitable for all. Pupils worked with our partner industries learning construction skills, design skills, teamwork, water safety skills and how to make a stretcher out of jumpers, all things that they could use on the island to survive and then begin their society in a sustainable way.
You can watch a video of the project here: Castaways build skills for the future
Finally, from the Global Citizenship Team, on Monday and Tuesday, this week we took the S2 up to Edinburgh for what Ms.Preston has named the “Social Studies Big Day Out”. Pupils were able to engage with some geography fieldwork in Holyrood Park. They visited the Scottish Parliament. Two groups were lucky enough to get some time with one of our local MSPs, and the group on Monday even managed to sit onto the chamber floor. They also engaged with a series of scavenger hunt questions up the Royal Mile focusing on the history of old Edinburgh and how the business businesses on the Royal Mile are tied into the history of the area. We are incredibly proud of how the second years coped with this day. It was a lot of walking and some very unique experiences (for example the security on the way into Parliament) which, for some of our young people, was a real challenge in such a busy urban environment. Well done all. I know that for some, their highlight will be meeting a Police Office on the Royal Mile who let them be locked in the back of her van, for others it will be sitting in the seat of the FM of Scotland, for others it will be building up the courage to ask strangers questions as a part of the Geography fieldwork.
HT Update 23/05/25
Firstly, a big thank you to the partners who worked with us to deliver last Friday’s interdisciplinary session, Solarpunk Island. Young people worked with their class teachers as well as JM Architects, Balfour Beattie, Scottish Water, and the British Army, to use their imaginations to work out how they would survive on an uninhabited island. We are delivering this project for the second year in a row because we know how well the young people respond to the challenge and how reliant it is on them demonstrating the skills they need for learning, life and work.
Over the course of this month, all young people in the BGE have been given the opportunity to complete an evaluation of learning, teaching as assessment in every faculty. They have been asked to identify their knowledge of e.g. what effort looks like, where they are stretched and challenged, how they are supported, the skills they are developing etc. Young people were also asked to identify any key points they wanted to share about what helps them to learn, and it did make me smile to see how many of them used the opportunity to tell me that their teacher was the BEST one and that their G.O.A.T (actually quotation- down with the kids, me) teacher was the reason they were learning. Key themes also included valuing having choices, enjoying extension activities, and a real interest in building knowledge of the world. We will be looking at the surveys in more detail as part of our next Extended Leadership Team meeting.
We are so very nearly there with recruitment, appointing our third House Head this week with the help of pupils through a lesson observation and a pupil panel; as always, they did us proud. We are all very excited to get things started for House 3 (as it will be known until Monday).
If anyone is looking for some weekend fun, we have a group of young people competing in the council's Battle of the Bands at the Haddington Bridge Centre. They have been working with the ELC Arts Service provision on a Friday after school, and are performing an original composition and some Radiohead for their audience. The band is called SNAKLE, and will be on the stage between 12:00 and 13:30. Further information is here https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/210604/arts_and_entertainment/12837/haddstock/2 We wish them all the best for the event.
HT Update 16/05/25
The results are in, and our new House name will be shared with the young people at our next whole school assembly on Monday 26th May. Once we have completed recruitment procedures for the new House Head, we will then be confirming class allocations. Any changes to class names (remember, class compositions will stay the same) and House Teams will be communicated ahead of the summer break.
Stevie, Richard and Phil were special guests for our whole school assembly this week, talking to the young people about their Rosehill 100 experiences (including the tough bits!) and how they plan to continue to develop the project into an annual community event. It has been totally inspiring for our pupils, as you can see below. Rhea Hardie (S2) set herself the challenge of writing some 100-word short stories. Her Rosehill 100 story below, from the perspective of someone helped by the charity CHAS, tells us more about the impact of this project than I ever could:
I’m tired. Always tired. Tubes. Needles. Nurses. Mum cries. Dad too. I pretend I don’t see. The doctor whispers. I miss life. School. Friends. Sleepovers. But they say a man ran. For me. One hundred miles. For me. He’s a hero. Mum says. Raised money. For my room. For my medicine. I don’t know him. But I’m grateful. He must be tired too. Legs aching. Heart pounding. I want to say thank you. I’d run if I could. Maybe one day. If I get better. For now, I’ll dream of running. The man who ran a hundred miles for me.
Well done, Rhea.
You may recall that we had Barratt homes in recently for the DIY workshops with S1. This has been picked up as a good news story in some of the local media. You can read more here: Edinburgh News article
It's been a busy time ‘out and about’ for young people across the BGE.
Firstly, an update from Carys Mitchell and the D of E team: “The Duke of Edinburgh Bronze practice expedition last weekend was a huge success. The young people faced challenging conditions with extremely warm weather, but they demonstrated excellent resilience and put their newly learned skills into practice well. Young people demonstrated respect, kindness and responsibility towards each other, the environment and staff. We look to seeing them move onto their qualifying expedition in a few weeks, feeling confident that they have demonstrated enough skill to succeed. Well done all!”
Our Expressive Arts team has lots going on, with a summary of recent events from Aaron Aitken (teacher of Drama):
" We’ve had two theatre trips recently, including a fantastic opportunity for some of our senior drama students to see Moulin Rouge at the Edinburgh Playhouse—thanks to the Creative Learning team and producers of Moulin Rouge who kindly gifted us tickets. As well as enjoying the show, our young people showed great independence by making their own way to and from the venue.
This week, our S3 Performing Arts Pathway and Drama Club attended their first formal theatre trip to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They were excellent ambassadors for the school, and it was lovely to hear them speak so passionately about the performance.
Looking ahead, this same group will perform at the Traverse Theatre in June as part of the Positive Stories for Negative Times Festival. They’ll be premiering We Ain’t Movin’—with the playwright Travis Alabanza in the audience! To prepare, we’ll be holding a fully staged in-school dress rehearsal for an invited audience to help boost their confidence."
The Global Citizenship Faculty are also in the midst of a flurry of activities. First of all, the news that we have been awarded our Green Flag by the Eco Schools programme. It’s worth noting that this has been achieved less than 2 years after the school opened, which reflects our continuous focus on making sustainability a core part of our curriculum. We have partners in this morning for the Solarpunk Island project, and almost all of our S2s taking part in the field trip to Holyrood Park next week; we’ll report back on these in the next update.
Now that we have had our initial Working Time Agreement meeting with representatives of teaching unions, we are able to start working in earnest on our school calendar for next session. Key discussions were around the recent Tracking, Monitoring and Reporting survey and how we can deliver in person consultations, as well as how we continue to evolve our Family Learning programme to meet the needs of a growing population. We hope to be able to send out our Key Dates document before the end of session.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete out first universal Parent Questionnaire. We did have quite a low response rate (just under 16%), but this gives us a good baseline to be able to revisit as we progress, as well as creating helpful talking points linked to our improvement planning. We appreciate your engagement.
We successfully pointed several new teaching staff to the Brae this week in a highly competitive, two stage process. This will support The Brae’s significant expansion this year, and allows us to now move onto recruiting the required support staff. I had the pleasure of participating in the learning sessions that candidates led with the young people on Tuesday, and it was an absolute joy to see how well they engaged with their visitors.
Please remember that staff are in on Monday, but pupils aren’t. We will be holding our final Professional Learning Day of the year, with a focus on evidence of impact in 24-25 and planning for 25-26.
HT Update 09/05/25
It’s important to start with an acknowledgement of the huge success of the Rosehill 100. To date, we have raised almost £4,000 for CHAS, and couldn’t have done it without the generosity of our school community. Stevie ran the full 100 miles, Richard completed 100K, and Phil did 100 miles by bike. In addition to this, multiple staff members completed one or more sections of the route, including some very tough shifts overnight; all to keep the guys going. It was such a special moment to send them off last Friday as a whole school, with young people running and cycling the 5K loop to raise awareness of CHAS. They were welcomed back with a piper, lots of handmade signs, and some very tasty cupcakes. It has been an absolute joy to hear so many people reflect on being reminded that what we have here at Rosehill is very special indeed. It won’t surprise you to know that we are already going, ‘Okay, what do we do to develop it next year?’
We continue with our SQA exam programme and I wanted to share some of the feedback from our invigilation team, who tell us that, “Your pupils are really calm, and doing really well in getting in and settled without fuss. They are so polite!” We salute their efforts, and those of the young people participating in Meaningful May activities.
We’ll be welcoming our dress code partners, BE uniforms, from 1.30-2.30pm today, providing an opportunity to purchase any dress code items without postage costs. We are particularly looking forward to launching our optional senior phase tie, which has come about as a result of the recent survey for pupils and the parents of pupils heading into the senior phase. It is of course Rosehill teal, with the school crest.
Our initial school Working Time Agreement meeting takes place next week. This is part of the process that sets out how we use the staff time available, including communications with parents and carers. The meeting will take into account results from the recent Tracking, Monitoring and Reporting survey, as well as reflecting the ongoing discussions at Parent Council around continuing to develop parental engagement. Please note that there was a Parent Engagement Group pencilled in for next week but, with the change to Parent Council chair, we are putting a hold on this until we decide what would be most helpful for parents before the close of term and into next session.
Please can parents also look out for the email with the ‘HMIE style’ parent survey. We appreciate you taking the time to complete this to support us in measuring progress over time. As with the TMR survey, this will directly feed into planning for next session.
In staffing, we now have a preferred candidate for the first of our two PE posts. Thanks go to our S3 Pathways class for engaging in each ‘mini lesson’ with candidates throughout the day. An additional part-time PE post is also being advertised. We will be appointing 3 new class teachers to the Brae next Monday/Tuesday, and beginning recruitment for our new House Head on later in the week, to lead ‘House 3’. Staff and pupils are currently busily voting for our new House name; will it be Bracken, Clover or Fern? It is genuinely very close!
HT Update 02/05/25
The Rosehill 100 sets off at 11am today; 100 miles in 24 hours. A big thank you and good luck to the young people who are running the first 5K loop to raise awareness of CHAS: Jasmina, Caladh, Joshua, Jacob, Noa, Reece, Sonnie, Keegan, Jay, Aaron, Charles, Millie and Thomas, we salute you. Richard and Stevie will be supported along the way by staff, friends and family. Lynsey and I will be there to welcome them home with beer and bagpipes at the end, which feel much easier than the shift Jules is doing: a 2am run in Granton! I know how much this support will mean as they run through the night. I have no shame in once again sharing their link if you are in a position to make a donation: Rosehill 100: Donate to CHAS
Thank you to all attendees of our last Parent Council meeting/AGM. I would like to formally record our thanks to Pamela Grant, who has acted as Chair since the Parent Council was convened. Prior to serving us at Rosehill, Pamela was also chair at Pinkie and, therefore, has been a huge part of the establishment of the school. Pamela is passionately committed to supporting our whole community, and has done an admirable job in presenting a nuanced, balanced and informed view of the key educational issues we face. Following on from the AGM, we are delighted to welcome Charlie Wood as our new Chair, and look forward to working with him. We are still seeking to recruit key office bearers and, as always, keen to welcome as many of you as possible to join our discussions. If you would like to get involved, contact us on parentcouncil@rosehill.elcschool.org.uk. Given the stage of the year, the meeting focused on progress with this year’s School Improvement Plan. You can access the slides here: HT Update for Parent Council 29th April 2025
We are pleased to be able to confirm that session 25-26 will see the development of a third House. The third Head of House post is being funded through our Pupil Equity Fund and the recruitment process, which will fully involve pupils, takes place this month. Young people and staff are currently doing the crucial work of choosing a name, having been provided with a shortlist of options that complement Heather and Thistle. Jules will be working with the Pupil Support team to look at overall structures and we will provide a full update of House allocations before the end of term. This does mean that some classes in the BGE will move to the new House, though there will be no changes to class composition. We have also decided that our new S4 and S5 will all remain with their current House Heads to support continuity at the crucial stage.
Some of our S1 were lucky enough to work with professionals from Barratt Homes as part of their learning in Technologies this week. Working in small groups, they learned with a range of employees from apprenticeships to site managers covering some of the basics of bricklaying, painting and decorating, electrics and plumbing:
Q: How many S1s does it change to change a lightbulb?
A: One, as long as they’ve been taught properly.
As we have come to expect, the young people were welcoming, courteous, fully involved, and very much enjoyed their afternoon in the sunshine! Barratt are now keen to develop further links with Rosehill, including input into next sessions Personalisation and Choice options in the BGE.
It continues to be a busy time in staffing, with extensive recruitment for the Brae in particular. We also have our Teacher of PE interviews next week, with those for the new House Head up next. Congratulations also go to Clare Wallace, who is the preferred candidate for the post of Senior Business Administrator. I am aware that there have been lots of office changes, so here is a wee summary of people you might end up talking to!
· Paula O’Neil: Business Manager
· Clare Wallace: Currently Senior Business Support Assistant, soon to move on up with us.
· Stephanie Doyle: Senior Business Support Assistant, full time.
· Clare O’Donnell: Senior Business Support Assistant (Clare is the key member of the admin team for the Brae but works across all parts of the school), part-time.
We will welcome an additional Senior Business Administrator (Sophie) to join us in the summer. We also have Hilary supporting us a couple of days a week on supply. I am sure that you will agree that, whoever you speak with, you get the same Rosehill warmth of welcome, and credit goes to the whole team for managing a significant period of change.
Please can we also ask for your support in ensuring that the areas around our school is as safe as possible for the young people walking and cycling to school. We have had communications from some of our near neighbours concerned at the level of traffic/inconsiderate parking in the area at busy times, including a recent accident caused by a parent dropping off a young person. Our campus travel plan supports active travel, and the yellow lines/parking restrictions around the campus are there to support a safe and calm environment.
And just in case you had forgotten, a quick reminder that school will be closed to staff and pupils on Monday 5th May.
HT Update 25/04/25
Welcome back to the summer term, which is looking jam-packed already! Our very best wishes to all of the young people undertaking Rosehill’s first round of SQA qualifications. Our Computing Science students are first to step up today, then exam leave for eligible young people starts on Monday. Our Meaningful May learners should also have completed their workshop options by now, ahead of this programme starting on Tuesday 6th May.
As noted prior to the holiday, we thank all parents who contributed to our Tracking, Monitoring and Reporting survey. Regular consultation is important to us as a school, so the results of this are the focus of this week’s update.
A summary of the results is below. They are quite lengthy, but this is in the interests of transparency. These will help to inform the development of our Working Time Agreement and Improvement Plan for 25-26, keeping in mind that respondents represent just under 20% of our school community.
BGE Survey
There were 64 responses (S1 35.5%, S2 48.4%, S3 16.1%), Responses were evenly distributed between the Houses.
· Almost all respondents reported a preference for maintaining the current two tracking reports per year, with comments
· The majority of respondents reported a preference for an in-person meeting on one evening per year, rather than phonecalls/online meetings with a choice of evenings
In the sections around understanding young people’s learning, the following data emerged:
· The majority of respondents report a good understanding of CfE levels and how these work
· The majority of respondents report a good understanding of how well their child engages in learning
· Half of respondents have a good understanding of how well their child is progressing (we will now need to consider how to move this forward)
· The majority of respondents report knowing how to support their child’s learning at home
· The majority of respondents report regularly accessing Knowledge Organisers/Google classrooms
In the sections around communications, the following data emerged:
· Almost all respondents are engaging with the weekly HT updates
· The majority of respondents had taken part in consultation calls this session
· Less than half of respondents had taken part in the Parent Engagement Group this session
· The majority of respondents had attended at least one in person event in school this session
· Less than half of respondents reported attending an individual meeting about their child (this would be expected, in line with child’s planning processes)
· The majority of respondents had received at least one positive call or email specifically about their child this session
We also analysed the qualitative comments on ‘one thing we could do differently’. Whilst multiple respondents reported the current systems working well, suggestions from more than one respondent included:
· Improving the level for detail/specificity in reporting
· Earlier indications of concerns around progress
· S1 calls later in the year (these are currently in September to support settling in/initial connections with families)
· More in person opportunities to speak with teachers (this was interesting given that we have been considering ways to improve attendance at the in-person opportunities we have already)
Senior phase survey (S4 only)
There were 27 responses. Responses were evenly distributed between the Houses. Almost all respondents had young people who plan to stay on at school next session.
· All respondents reported a preference for maintaining the current two tracking reports per year, with comments
· The majority of respondents reported a preference for an in-person meeting on one evening per year, rather than phonecalls/online meetings with a choice of evenings (though over 40% had these as their preference within the small sample, and any potential changes would therefore to be monitored)
In the section around understanding young people’s learning, the following data emerged:
· Around half of respondents had a good understanding of SQA/SCQF levels (These are covered in our annual curriculum evening and through course choice processes, but we now need to consider how to develop this understanding further)
· The majority of respondents report a good understanding of how well their child engages in learning
· Around half of respondents report a good understanding of how well their child is progressing (we now need to consider how to move this forward)
· Most respondents report knowing how to support their child’s learning at home
· Around half of respondents report regularly accessing Summary slides/Google classrooms (this is likely reflective of young people’s increasing independence in learning)
In the sections around communications, the following data emerged:
· Almost all respondents are engaging with the weekly HT updates
· The majority of respondents had taken part in consultation calls this session
· Less than half of respondents had taken part in the Parent Engagement Group this session
· The majority of respondents had attended at least one in person event in school this session
· Less than half of respondents reported attending an individual meeting about their child (this would be expected, in line with child’s planning processes)
· Around half of respondents had received at least one positive call or email specifically about their child this session (This was a lower proportion in the BGE so is something to be mindful of; do we mistakenly think that older pupils value this less?)
We also analysed the qualitative comments on ‘one thing we could do differently’. Given the number of respondents, these were more limited than in the BGE survey. However, points to note are:
· More specific advice to young people around what they should be working on (there may be a gap between what is going to young people and what their parents are aware of, which we can explore)
· Sending reports by email (we would love to do this but our systems do not allow it)
· Alerts by email as soon as issues appear
· More information about support for ASN pupils
Later this term, we will be sending a more comprehensive, ‘tick box’ (so very quick!) survey modelled on the one that HMIE use for school inspections. This covers a wide range of topics and, again, helps schools to prioritise in their planning.
For those who are able to get involved in the work of the school in person, a reminder that our next Parent Council Meeting (including AGM) takes place at 6.30pm prompt on Tuesday 29th April.
And finally, some information from our central colleagues. The John Muir House Handbook has been updated for 2025. This contains a wealth of information about Education and Children’s Services. You can access the updated version via our website https://sites.google.com/edubuzz.org/rosehill-high-school/policies/john-muir-house-handbook-202324
HT Update 04/04/25
First of all, thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our Tracking, Monitoring and Reporting survey. We had just under 100 responses, which represents around 20% of our school roll. We will therefore approach the results with some caution and use them to inform tests of change. We are still to analyse these as a leadership team but will provide some summary points after the holiday, and link these into our planning for next session.
We are almost at 2 years since the handover of the campus building and we continue to work with the relevant contractors on using our spaces as efficiently and effectively as possible. Upon their return after the Easter break, all young people will be given the opportunity (via My World) to contribute to a Post Occupancy Evaluation highlighting what has been working well and where the challenges have been in our new build. Staff are also completing their own questionnaire.
All families should now have received a mailing about the Rosehill 100. To quote Richard, ‘Okay, it feels real now’. To quote Stevie, ‘I think we’d better start taking this seriously!’. Thank you to everyone who has been able to contribute so far, it’s been so encouraging to see the donations ping in and, at the last update, the sponsorship pot was sitting at £1,253, as well as a substantial amount in Gift Aid.
Ahead of SQA exams a reminder that, upon our return to school on the 22nd April, it is business as usual for that week for S4, except those doing Computing Science. Exam leave is from the 28th April. All young people are responsible for ensuring that they know the times and dates for each SQA exam and should attend school only for their exams or for any pre-arranged work in faculties. Please can we also give a nudge for our Meaningful May young people to complete registration for the workshops provided for young people who are not undertaking Level 5 assessments.
An early reminder that our next Parent Council meeting will take place on Tuesday 29th April with a prompt 6.30pm start. This will encompass the AGM and confirmation of office bearer roles. All are welcome and the agenda will be sent ahead of time.
In staffing, subject to the necessary pre-employment checks, Cailin Roy will be extended her time with us as class teacher in the Brae, covering Mark O’Neil’s acting role as Curriculum Leader of Support for Learning in Rosehill mainstream. We also have a preferred candidate for the post of ‘the new Fiona’, leading in our admin team, who will start in early May.
I do hope that everyone has an enjoyable Easter break. I am very much looking forward to attending Millie Mitchell’s wedding with several Rosehill staff. Millie will return to us after her wedding as… Ms Mitchell. I am then off to Lisbon for a few days of family holiday. I’ve been well warned about the number of hills to climb but figure that just gives a good excuse to indulge in lots of the local pastries. Best wishes to you and yours, whatever your plans are.
HT Update 28/03/25
We begin with congratulations to Kenzie, Steinar and Leia, who performed as part of the East Lothian Young Musician competition at the end of last week. It’s worth remembering that the majority of performers at this event are in their final years at school, so it says so much about the young people that they were able to represent us at their earlier age and stage. It was particularly exciting that Steinar, who is in S1, walked away with the award for the most promising young musician, based on his guitar piece. There was then a further opportunity for young people to share their learning through the Spring Showcase last night. Thank you to all who attended to show their support.
We also had real success for our fledgling hockey team who took part in their first major Active Schools event this week. James Sloggie took the time to note the comments below:
“We finished 4th overall (from 8) but more so I was delighted how our pupils (who had never played before) worked together, never gave up and supported each other on and off the pitch. I was also delighted how they engaged with their community moving out of the way on pavements, Please and thank you on the bus etc.”
I love it when we see such evidence of values in action.
We are busy planning for the school support of the Rosehill 100, Stevie Higgens’ and Richard Watson’s challenge of running 100 miles in 24 hours for CHAS. Part of this event will also involved a team of pupils running the first 5K with them as a ‘loop’ around our local community. More details, including a reminder of how you can contribute, to follow.
Whilst the main exam leave period doesn’t formally start until the 28th April, we are already undertaking final practical exams in some courses, and are very impressed with the way in which our S4 are putting their best feet forward. This morning sees our combined Heather/Thistle S4 assembly to ensure that the seniors are as confident as possible about arrangements over the next few weeks, key points of which are also covered in our letters to S4 parents. As always, if there are specific questions about your young person, the House Teams are here to support.
BE Uniforms will be in the reception area of the school from 1.30pm-2.30pm on Friday 9th May. Whilst this is largely to facilitate our upcoming P7s in trying on/purchasing Rosehill items, all are welcome. BE uniforms come set up with chip and pin so this means that you can purchase any items you wish without postage costs. We are hoping that our senior phase (optional) school ties will also be available by this stage, but will update you on this nearer the time. I’m not sure whether they have been asked to do a teal tie before, but they seem quite excited about it!
In staffing, we are delighted to confirm that Pupil Support Worker Connor Martin will be with us again next academic year. Connor’s post is funded via our Pupil Equity Fund and makes such an important contribution to our overall Pupil Support Team. We are looking very carefully at our overall House structures at the moment and trying to be as creative as possible in using limited resources as effectively as we can to meet pupil need, and will continue to update you. Fiona starting her New Era (thanks TS), with interviews for her post next week, and Catherine Lock is in her final week with us before her maternity commences. Mark O’Neil is all set to start immediately after Easter as CL SfL so we are hoping for a very smooth transition. This week we also began interviews for the first of our new teaching posts in the rapidly expanding Brae. We continue to be an a very challenging time in our admin team and are delighted to have had Hilary a couple of days a week on supply to keep everything ticking over as smoothly as possible, as well as Stephanie starting with us full time from Monday. Thank you for your continued understanding.
HT Update 20/03/25
This week’s update has been published slightly early for two reasons. I will be spending the first part of Friday morning at the University of Edinburgh, presenting to and having a panel discussion with participants in the Into Headship programme. This is the Masters Level course that is required of all teachers who want to progress to headteacher roles. I can’t quite believe it is almost 7 years since I began that course myself, and am looking forward to re-connecting with university tutors and sharing my leadership journey since then. In particular, I have been asked to focus on the Rosehill curriculum and how we have developed this from, essentially, a blank piece of paper and a lot of big ideas! In related good news, Lynsey Stewart-Young has been accepted onto the programme for 25-26. Her interview focused on the leadership of learning and teaching and our evidence of impact in our first (almost) two years of opening. We are very proud of Lynsey and excited to support her learning over the course of the next 18 months or so.
After time at the university, I will then be travelling up to Fife for the national School Leaders Scotland council. It is a genuine privilege to be able to act as the East Lothian representative and to engage in face-to-face discussions with e.g. SQA, Education Scotland, Scottish Government and, perhaps most importantly, school leaders from across the country, with a range of different experiences and perspectives.
Our Expressive Arts team are getting ready for the Spring Showcase on Thursday 27th March, an informal opportunity to share some of the learning across the faculty. The team look forward to welcoming our community to this event.
As you may have noticed from our social media, our Eco Team gave up their own time last Friday afternoon to plant a range of trees made available from the Woodland Trust. Laura Anderson observed that a favourite moment of the session was a young person realising that they would be able to come back 'as a granny' and see how the trees have grown. What a lovely metaphor for making a positive impact on your community.
The results of our recent Senior Phase Dress code survey have been shared directly with this year’s/next year’s senior phase parents. As with last year, there is no clear desire to make any changes to the dress code for S4 and S5 but, given the option’s low-cost nature, we are happy to offer the choice of wearing a school tie to those who would like it. Information on ordering will follow. Please could we also give an extra ‘nudge’ to complete our tracking, monitoring and reporting survey, which was sent out to all parents earlier this week. We currently have a very low rate of return for both the BGE (just under 10%) and the senior phase (just over 10%) and, as noted, we cannot propose changes to staff Working Time Agreements if we are not able to confidently state that these changes reflect the views of our school community. The survey will remain open until the end of the month.
We are currently working hard on our timetable for 25-26 and, although slight changes are inevitable, we now have a format that has allowed us to confirm senior phase course choices. Credit for this goes to Lynsey Stewart-Young and Jade Woodhead, who have undertaken what can feel like one huge game of sodoku, but with much higher stakes. To quote a former colleague of mine, ‘In timetabling, you can do anything you want, but you can’t do everything you want’. We have invested a significant amount of staff time in running Level 6 (including Higher) classes that are relatively small in many cases, because this is the right thing to do for our young people. However, this does leave our cover capacity very limited for next year, which has a knock-on effect on what we can deliver beyond core learning and teaching. This will be reflected in our Improvement Plan, which we will begin work on post-Easter.
In staffing, we will be interviewing for 2 class teacher posts in the Brae this week, in line with the further expansion of this provision. Sarah Fleming and the team are working hard to support the addition of two new S1 classes, taking the total in the provision to 6. We will also be welcoming Alison Henry to the role of Home/School link practitioner from Monday.
HT Update 14/03/25
We start with a huge well done to Stevie Higgens and Richard Watson, who completed the John Muir 50K ultra marathon last weekend. This was the ‘warm up’ for the Rosehill 100; 100 miles in 24 hours across Lothians, raising money for CHAS. They will be setting off from Rosehill on Friday 2nd May and plans are afoot to get some support and involvement from the rest of the school community- more to come. In the meantime, thank you to those who have made a donation already. At the time of writing, they have raised just over £1,000. If you can sponsor them, the link is here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/rosehill100
Wednesday was the Young Carers’ Day of Action, a national day of recognition of the role young carers play in their families. Our Young Carer lead, Dean Pearson, picked up on the day’s given theme of ‘Give Us a Break’ by supporting the relevant pupils with breakfast, games, and a chance to talk and unwind. We were delighted by the high turnout, which reflects the value our young carers place on having a support network in school.
We are wishing the best of luck to Kenzie, Steiner and Leia, who will be representing Rosehill at the East Lothian Young Musician competition at St. Mary’s in Haddington this week. I am looking forward to attending this beautiful venue with both Miss Mitchells and experiencing the skill of young people across the county.
We welcomed our Quality Improvement Officer for one of our regular support visits on Wednesday, which began with a focus on curriculum but was really a chance to pause and reflect ahead of this year’s Standards and Quality Report and next year’s Improvement Planning. This year, we are using a new report structure across the local authority, which provides more opportunities to show improvements over time. Data around parent views and experiences is an important part of this process, so thank you to everyone who engages with whether at in person events, by phone, or through emails and surveys.
On this note, we have now closed our Senior Phase Dress code survey (open to S3/S4), which ended up with more parent participants than pupils! We will share findings and communicate any next steps with families and young people over the course of next week. Our next ask is for your completion of our survey on tracking, monitoring and reporting, which will help to inform our Working Time Agreement with staff. Please look out for the letter and accompanying survey next week.
Further to our recent communications with families, we are in the process of working through senior phase coursing changes as required. Round 1 allowed young people to undertake a free choice process, the data from which was then used to construct the columns that would suit the majority of young people. Where young people’s top choices do not fit with the necessary column structure, they are working with the relevant adults to look at where their priorities are for this year. Mrs Stewart Young and Mrs Woodhead have been hard at work on creating the most effective timetable possible with our small year groups moving into S4 and S5 and it is only as a result of this work that we are able to offer the range of subjects and levels that we do.
In a case of good news/bad news, the brilliant Fiona Glass has secured a promotion and will be moving into John Muir House as a PA / Service Administrator. Her last day at Rosehill will be the 28th March. Some of you might not realise that Fiona has been in post for almost two years, as she was part of the pre-opening team and did so much in terms of our original resourcing and set up of admin systems. I am sure you would agree that Fiona’s kindness and capability in supporting both young people and parents are a huge part of the culture and ethos of our school. With Kirstie’s replacement due to start the very next week, we will be continuing a very difficult period for the admin team as they support the school whilst well below capacity. Clare and Clare, although both part time, have been taking on extra hours to help keep us afloat, which is much appreciated. We thank you for your continued understanding as we try to mitigate these gaps as best we can, and will of course be proceeding to recruitment as soon as possible. We are also looking forward to welcoming Alison Henry as our Home/School Practitioner from the 24th March, who will be working within the Pupil Support Team on specific activities around attendance and wellbeing.
HT Update 07/03/25
This month in schools is affectionately known as ‘Mad March’ by many in the profession, as we work hard to meet multiple SQA deadlines ahead of the formal exam diet. Round 2 of our Formal Assessments begins on Monday 10th March. As opposed to Round 1, these take place in class time wherever possible, to minimise disruptions to learning and teaching at this crucial time of year. Our senior phase young people will be given the required information by their class teachers. These results are important for several reasons. Firstly, they allow us to provide evidence (in case of an exceptional circumstances appeal) that the young person has covered and been assessed in core content. Secondly, they provide a robust check in for staff as to how the young people look set to perform under exam conditions and what gaps need to be closed. Finally, they provide the data to support the estimates that we must submit to SQA ahead of the exam timetable starting. We have already written to you separately about exam leave for young people undertaking Level 5/National 5 qualifications. At present, we are working through our plans for ‘Meaningful May’, to ensure that those young people who are not eligible for exam leave continue to learn and progress.
However, learning activities continue across the school with a busy week of visits and visitors. Our S3 Expressive Arts learners had the opportunity to work with DogStar Theatre this week, in partnership with the Traverse theatre in Edinburgh. The S3 Pathways class took part in some performance workshops to help them develop their character, ensemble and stage presence skills.
Some of our S1 and S2 pupils were able to take part in the School of Rugby at Meadowmill. After being a ‘football school’ from the word go it’s great to see our team sports continue to diversify through our Active Schools provision. It’s particularly positive to note that we fielded a Rosehill/Musselburgh Grammar combined team, who managed to win all four of their matches.
Our Skills For Work: Travel & Tourism class took part in a Cabin Crew Experience day at Edinburgh College. They learned about the skills and qualities required for working in cabin crew before taking on one of the jobs in a role play scenario. Learners got to practice the boarding process, the safety demonstration and the food & drink service. The college have an excellent airline set-up, including fake plane, called 'Edinburgh Airways'. Throughout the day learners flew to Dubai, Rhodes, Bali and Lanzarote! Ms Berg and Ms Robertson reported that, as always, the learners rose to the challenge and were a credit to the school.
PSW Connor Martin has been supporting some of our young people with targeted work around Motorcoss. The have been developing practical skills around gear changes, steering and bike equipment. The overall aim is to have them feeling comfortable when riding on track with the option of joining the Bridges Centre Motorcycle Group after the sessions finish to continue their learning. Connor noted that: All of our pupils have been very respectful to the staff involved and each other, answering questions and helping one another with tasks. It has been a great experience so far for everyone and I'm sure they will continue enjoying it!
Esk class from The Brae visited Scottish Gas Murrayfield on Wednesday, 5th of March 2025. As part of their Life Skills work and Numeracy and Maths, they took part in the Tackle Maths programme run by Edinburgh Rugby. During the visit, learners gained practical maths skills by using rugby and real-life examples to show just how important maths is in everyday life. Learners used trundle wheels to measure the length, breadth and perimeter of a rugby pitch. They also learned important life skills about travelling by public bus out with our local area. This was a first offsite excursion for many of learners and we are very proud of how well they responded.
We had a whole staff input from our Magic Breakfast partners on Tuesday, exploring how we currently manage the Cost of the School Day as well as planning next steps. Our Meet and Eat Breakfast provision has grown steadily since we began it in autumn. If you feel your young person would benefit from a free and balanced breakfast each morning, please do get in touch with their House Team.
In staffing, we have concluded ‘Part 1’ of our August 2025 recruitment with preferred candidates for our posts in Art and Design and Biology. Our next focus will be on recruitment to the Brae, which will move from 4 to 6 classes in August. There is no doubt that this level of recruitment takes its toll, but we remain very grateful to be in a position to continue to welcome high quality staff to Rosehill.
HT Update 28/02/25
I make no apology for keeping it brief this week as we have been busy will many, many application forms and interviews! We now have preferred candidates for our posts in:
· Maths
· Physics
· Home Economics
· English
You may know from previous communications that these are shortage subjects, so we have been very pleased with the number and quality of applicants who want to work at Rosehill. Art and Design takes place today, with Biology on Monday. This is our ‘first phase’ of August 2025 recruitment. We are likely to have several Newly Qualified Teachers join us too, and there is always movement of staff seeking their next position at this time of year. In support staffing, we also now have a preferred candidate to be the 'new Kirstie', who is looking forward to starting with us in the next month or so. Thank you to everyone for your continues understanding around our significant shortage of admin hours.
Further to information last week, I am delighted to let you know that the preferred candidate for the Curriculum Leader: Support for Learning maternity cover is Mark O’Neil. Mark is currently one of the class teachers in the Brae, but also has a wealth of experience in mainstream ASN. Mark will be hugely missed by the team there but he is excited to take on a new challenge. Recruitment is in motion for his classroom replacement.
Please look out for a couple of surveys coming up. S3 and S4 parents should already have received the Senior Phase Dress Code survey, open until the 12th March. As we’ve discussed previously, we always planned to be open minded about the potential of offering more formal options within the S4-S6 dress code, so both parents and young people are being asked for their views. As we start to plan for next year, this is also a good time to seek views on your experiences of tracking, monitoring and reporting. A survey on this topic will be out in the next couple of weeks. We do appreciate everyone taking the time to give us their feedback and help us continue with our successful growth.
Whilst we know that times are tight, Stevie Higgens and Richard Watson would appreciate any donation in support of the Rosehill 100. They are running 100 miles across the Lothians, within 24 hours. My favourite thing is that Phil is providing back up support on his bike, which is very wholesome indeed. This is in aid of the charity Children’s Hospices Across Scotland. You can read more about their plans and sponsor them here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/rosehill100?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=TW
In terms of transition into Rosehill, it’s been a joy to have so many families join us on our Rosehill Tours of late. If anyone whose young person hopes to join us next year hasn’t had a chance to visit yet, the final opportunity for this session is on Friday 28th March. You can book places via the school website: https://sites.google.com/edubuzz.org/rosehill-high-school/about-rosehill/visiting-our-school We have also welcomed our first Bespoke Transition groups as they start to familiarise themselves with our staff team and the way we do things round here.
Finally, well done to the Inclusion ambassadors, supported by Carys Mitchell, for their organisation of Purple Friday. Despite always interviewing wearing teal, I have made an exception today! Events such as these are an important part of promoting inclusion across our community.
HT Update 21/02/25
The funny thing about short weeks is that they often feel like the busiest! At just past the halfway point, this time of year is always one at which schools take the opportunity to check progress against their Improvement Plan and set priorities for the remainder of the year.
Our Professional Learning Day on Monday was focused on reviewing Improvement Plan, with a particular focus on Learning, Teaching and Assessment. All staff had the opportunity to work both within and across faculties to discuss areas of strengths and next steps in diverse areas such as digital technologies, outdoor learning, questioning, learner engagement, and approaches to the tracking and monitoring of progress. It is always a pleasure to have the time and space to read, reflect and review together.
This week also saw our PEF (Pupil Equity Fund) joint review meeting, in which schools are required to discuss their use of the fund with local authority and Education Scotland staff. I was pleased to be able to share evidence of the impact of our Pupil Support Workers (two of whom are funded by PEF), engagement in our Meet and Eat breakfast provision, and access to digital devices. We are also excited to have a preferred candidate for the post of Home/School Practitioner, which is another PEF role. This role will focus on the attendance of targeted groups as a key part of our approach to raising attainment, and we look forward to introducing the appointee to the school community in the next few weeks.
This led into our BGE attainment meeting with our Quality Improvement Officer on Thursday, with a particular focus on literacy and numeracy. We talked through the strategies that are currently in place to support progress in these, including our intervention groups and the important role played by support staff. We were also able to outline the work that we have been doing around stretch and challenge for our most able learners.
In addition to the Home/School Practitioner role mentioned above, we now have a preferred candidate for the acting Curriculum Leader: Support for Learning post (covering Catherine Lock’s maternity) and will be able to share more information soon. We also have an extremely busy week of interviews ahead, with recruitment for August 2025 well underway to support our further growth. We will be interviewing for classroom teachers in Maths, Physics, Home Economics, English and Art and Design, with Biology the week after, and are excited to meet our applicants. As always, our young people will have a role to play in welcoming candidates and conducting tours.
Our next Parent Council Meeting takes place on Tuesday 25th February. You are welcome for tea/coffee and chat from 6.45pm, with the meeting proper starting at 7pm prompt. There is, as always, a listen in option for those who cannot attend in person:
Joining details are here: Parent Council
Tuesday, 25 February · 6:45 – 8:00pm
Time zone: Europe/London
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/rij-uijx-heb
Further to my letter from before the break, we are keen to hear from any parents who would be interested in taking on an office bearer role. Our Parent Council chair, Pamela Grant, would be happy to chat through any of these with you if interested. You can contact her by email: parentcouncil@rosehill.elcschool.org.uk
HT Update 7/02/25
It’s been a short but busy half term, with lots of activity in this final week.
Tuesday saw our first ever Scottish Musician of the year competition, with entrants in S1-S4 from both Rosehill and the Brae. There was a wide range of instruments on show and a great balance of both traditional and more modern pieces. Congratulations go to our winners and official runners up Kenzie, Leia, Rhea, Abi and Steiner. What was most noticeable about the evening, though, was the support that the young people were giving each other, with all school values truly in evidence throughout.
On Wednesday we had our Rights Respecting Schools Silver Accreditation visit and are very chuffed to have gained the Silver Award, just a few months since we achieved bronze and less than18 months since the school opened. As I commented to the assessors, we don’t do the things we do in our school to meet the RRS programme, we got involved in the programme because it aligns with the things we do in school. Hannah Berg (ably supported by Mark O’Neil and the wider staff team) has led the programme commendably this year, and it was my privilege to be part of the discussion groups that evidenced our progress.
We also sent out first team to the East Lothian Secondary School Cross Country competition, with representatives across the year groups. Thanks to James Sloggie for organising and to our PE student Karys for helping to support- we really do all chip in here to make these things happen! Both commended the young people for their conduct and their willingness to push themselves.
In staffing, it’s a fond farewell to Kirstie Henderson, who joins Campie as their new Business Support Administrator. Our loss is absolutely their gain. Delays to recruitment mean that we will are going to find admin support a real challenge over the next couple of months. Business Manager Paula O’Neil and I spent some time this week looking at how this will impact on school staff, young people, and parents; a further letter on mitigations will come out after the break. We continue to experience high levels of absence in our teaching population, though the situation has improved in the last week. This is through a combination of both some staff returns and managing to source some additional supply cover. Encouragingly, we have all noted that the majority of young people have shown real understanding and empathy around the situation, and have coped admirably with unavoidable changes.
Next week, I’m lucky enough to be visiting Stratford-upon-Avon, including tours and performance at the Royal Shakespeare Company. You can take the girl out of teaching English and Drama, but you can’t take the English and Drama out of the girl. I hope everyone else has a nice plan or two. At the very least, at least we know we will be coming back to lighter mornings. We look forward to welcoming pupils back on Tuesday 18th February.
HT Update 31/01/2025
Further to information last week, we continue to experience a very high volume of staff absence. We have been working hard with colleagues to ensure adequate coverage to support our young people, and continue to make timetable adjustments to support balanced access to subjects specialists. It is also important to make everyone aware that our House Heads, Pupil Support Workers and Senior Leadership Team have been regularly involved in pupil cover and additional support duties around the school, and that this is impacting on our time and space with communications. Thank you for your understanding. To use a Sarah Fleming phrase, ‘Aren’t we lucky that…. We have a staff team who pull together and look after each other and the young people when times are hard.’
We’re heading into the final week of this short (but very busy) half term, with a couple of big events over the next few days. On Tuesday, we’ll have our first ever Scottish Young Musician of the Year competition. We all got a bit excited when the beautiful glass trophy (complete with school crest engraving) came into the office, and are all set to find our first winners. Thanks to Millie Mitchell and the wider Expressive Arts Team for introducing such a lovely event to the calendar.
We also have our Rights Respecting Schools Silver Accreditation coming up on Wednesday. This will involve our visiting assessor working with staff and pupils to look at the extent to which a rights respecting approach is embedded in our school, the impact this is having on our school culture, and the next steps we can take to continue our journey towards gold.
Our current Focus Fortnight is around, ‘less time in loos, more time in learning’! Unlike some other secondary schools that hit the headlines on occasion, we don’t e.g. lock toilets or collect data on individual toilet access. We work with young people to encourage them to think responsibly about time out of class and when this is and isn’t appropriate. Should your young person have a particular medical need that means there can never be a short delay to bathroom access (e.g. when doing a listening activity in Modern Languages, showing back work in Drama, watching a Science experiment…), please share this in writing with the House Team. As always, the vast majority of young people are working with us to ensure they maximise learning time.
In staffing, we welcome Kieran Ferns on Monday, as our new Curriculum Leader of Health and Wellbeing. The PE team have been doing exceptional work to keep classes going with their practical activities in the last few weeks, despite the staffing gap, and I know the young people have really appreciated this. Brodie Donaldson will join us a our new ASN auxiliary from Wednesday, taking the team to 6. This is the first time we will have had a full team this session and makes a huge difference in the support we can offer our young people. It’s all about boots on the ground. After the February break, we will be heading into the recruitment drive for next session, and will update as we go.
HT Update 24/01/25
I do hope everyone reading this is cooried in safely. I did pop our for the morning dog walk first thing and her coat was blown off three times, so it's definitely time to hunker down!
I’ll be honest and say this has been a very tough week, as we have been hit full force by some of the winter bugs of late and had to contend with multiple staff absences. Thanks go our staff team, who have gone over and above to provide safe environments and continuity of learning, and to all of the young people who have adapted to changes in routine and personnel. I never saw myself as a natural Outdoor Learning teacher (much preferring a cup of tea and a good book) but I rather enjoyed myself with S1 on our urban walk yesterday, and it’s all hands on deck to ensure that we keep everything going.
I was fortunate in attending a headteacher session from the school inspection body, HMIE, this week. A lot of the discussion was around stretch and challenge, which chimed perfectly with this area of our Improvement Plan. Alex Macdonald has been exploring this as part of her current leadership project, and we have worked together to look at how we can gather data on this through pupil voice as well as through our direct observations of learning and teaching. To support this, it’s worth reminding all parents that there are multiple resources to help you to support your child’s learning through both our BGE Knowledge Organisers (S1-S3) https://sites.google.com/edubuzz.org/rosehill-high-school/living-our-vision/learning/knowledge-organisers and our Senior Phase Summary Slides https://sites.google.com/edubuzz.org/rosehill-high-school/living-our-vision/learning/senior-phase-summary-slides We do make slight changes to programmes of learning across the year to meet the needs and interests of the young people, so these also link into the Google classrooms where more detailed information can be found. To quote one S1 this week, ‘I take about half an hour after school each day just to relax, then I study from 4pm-6pm and after that I have lots of time left to do what I want. I use my Google classroom to show me all the things I can do at home’. Now that’s someone setting themselves up for success.
It’s time to start picking up the pace with transition, both coming into Rosehill and moving on from it. Whilst some activities around bespoke transition (for young people in the child’s planning process) are already ongoing, Jules McCabe and I will be meeting with the headteachers of our associated primaries (Pinkie and Wallyford) next week to look at how we continue to develop our universal transition processes. As a rapidly expanding school, whose staffing will look very different (again!) when the new S1s arrive in August, this is another point at which we have to keep doing things differently, changing our practice as circumstances shift. For those of you with friends or family members who will be new to the school next session, we would love it if you could support us by sharing the website with them, which has a wealth of information on multiple aspects of the school.
At the ‘other end’ of transition, we are working hard with the young people who plan to move on from school at the end of this year. This includes intensive work in the Attainment Hub (focusing on maximising qualifications) and work with our colleagues at Skills Development Scotland. Thanks go to Carla who has supported multiple pupils with their college applications.
In staffing, there is great news for Campie Primary but sad news for us! Kirstie Henderson has secured a promotion and will be moving to our near neighbours after the February break. Anyone who has interacted with Kirstie will know how well deserved this is, and we are so pleased that she is able to make this progression in her career. This does mean that we will have reduced capacity in the admin team for several weeks thereafter, so I will be working with our Business Manager Paula to look at how we can focus our resources in the right areas.
HT Update 17/01/25
Thank you to everyone who attended the Parent Council Meeting on Tuesday 14th January. I had been asked to provide an HT Update based on resourcing, and the outline of this can be found here: HT Update for Parent Council 14th January 2025 There are significant pressures on all of our schools just now and it was valuable to be able to work through key impacts and mitigations. Parent Council members are currently gathering some FAQs so that we can work together on a document that provides easy reference to information on finance, and recruitment and retention. You will notice, though, that the presentation still includes plenty of good news stories in terms of all we are up to in these very challenging times.
We valued the experience of the 2.1 Safeguarding review last week, as these quality assurance activities are a great opportunity to both reflect on good practice and ensure that we are continuously looking at improvements. Members of staff at all levels were able to contribute to focus groups exploring e.g. support for young carers, poverty proofing in schools, our work on the Rights Respecting Schools programme, approaches to equalities, and ongoing efforts around the national challenge of attendance. Some of the visiting team had also worked with us at Rosehill in the early months of establishing the school, and commented very kindly on the progress that is evident within the course of the last year. In terms of moving forward, two areas that we are looking at are around record maintenance/sharing, especially at points of transition (this includes continuing our work on moving to a paperless system), and further developing our work with the school nursing team in reviewing and recording healthcare plans.
We have two upcoming opportunities for parents and carers to work with us. Booking is currently open for the Family Learning Event on the 28th January. Please note that, as per our communications, we cannot accept late bookings. Please also let us know if you have booked and find yourself unable to attend. We use the data on sign in to plan the workshop groups and content, so accurate information supports the best experiences. Our Parent Engagement Group is also scheduled to meet on Wednesday 5th November. This round table discussion will be on building the curriculum and how we can best realise our curricular ambitions and meet the needs of our young people in these challenging financial times. Further information will come out to that group shortly.
After a very competitive Curriculum Leader: Health and Wellbeing leet, we have a preferred candidate for the post. Kieran Ferns is currently CL HWB at Castlebrae and will be joining us as soon as possible following the required pre-employment checks. He is very much looking forward to getting started and getting to know our young people and their families. We also have a preferred candidate to add to our ASN auxiliary team, taking us back to a full complement.
HT Update 10/01/25
Let’s start with a warm welcome back to all our families. Whilst I am assured it is 2025, I am finding it hard to get my head around. Because 1995 was only about 10 years ago, wasn’t it? Maybe 15?
Our senior phase pupils are now over half the way through the teaching time allocated for their subjects, and numerous supports are in place to enable them to get the most out of their learning opportunities. Communications were sent to all senior phase parents this week ensuring that they are aware of the resources available via the Summary Slides on the website Senior Phase Summary Slides (some of which have recently been updated with more course content), Google classrooms, the Achieve software (pupils have been learning how to log onto this, this week), and in-person supported study sessions Supported Study Timetable 24-25 . However, we would continue to emphasise that all of this is the icing on the cake rather than the main ingredients of senior phase success. Our young people need to be in school, in class, and engaged in their teacher led tasks daily.
With regards to senior phase course choice, House Heads will be supporting young people in S3 and S4 with this in My World, throughout the month of January. All initial course choices will be completed by the 31st January. Partnership offers from Edinburgh College and East Lothian Works are not yet available, but House Teams will support the relevant young people with these in due course. All young people have been issued with the course choice information, but can speak with any member of their House Team if they have any difficult in accessing this,
In line with the information in our Welcome Back letter, we have started the year with a Focus Fortnight around phone use, linking this into supporting better mental health and wellbeing. In the dark days of January a focus on wellbeing is always helpful and we would love to see as many of you as possible at our upcoming Family Learning Event on the 28th January. As noted in the letter issued this week, booking will open from 4pm on Monday.
This week we welcomed colleagues from the central Education team to review and discuss our approaches to 2.1 Safeguarding. This involved looking at overarching policy and procedures, school quantitative and qualitative data and a range of additional supporting evidence showing the actions we take to support safety and wellbeing.
As you are aware, our new school continues to attract a lot of positive interest at a national level. I was recently asked to write an article for the Times Educational Supplement on some key lessons in leadership. The main challenge was getting all of our learning into 600 words! TES: 6 lessons in leadership from a brand-new school
Our next Parent Council meeting will be on Tuesday 14th November. Doors will be open from 6.30pm for tea/coffee and informal chat, with the meeting starting at 6.45pm prompt. As always, an online ‘listen in’ option is available for those who cannot attend in person. Please look out for the link and agenda sent by the admin team.
In staffing, we are mid process in terms of our Curriculum Leader for Health and Wellbeing, but will have completed all recruitment activities by the end of next week and look forward to sharing further information thereafter. Paddy Cuthbertson leaves us for his next step today, and will be very much missed. We welcomed Leah Grant to the ASN auxiliary team, who has been shadowing existing staff this week getting to know the young people. Jess Heatlie continues in her acting CL Maths and Computing Science, and we thank her and the team for their ongoing work in ensuring that all young people have equitable access to maths specialists. We also have some lovely news to share in that Catherine Lock will be welcoming her baby in May. Catherine will remain with us up until the Easter break, and we will shortly begin the recruitment processes for her temporary replacement.
HT Update 20/12/24
It's been a busy final week of term with multiple activities leading us into the holidays.
Jules, Lynsey and I attended the Community Carol Service at the Living Room Church on Sunday, and very much appreciated the warmth of welcome. It was lovely to see several of our young people and their families enjoying the morning together.
Our Youth Philanthropy Initiative finals took place this week. The winning team were Darren and Orla who have managed to secure £3,000 for their chosen charity. The Hollies. This is a Musselburgh based charity that aims to prevent loneliness and social isolation for vulnerable people in the local community, and both presenters spoke passionately about their sense of connection to its work. Well done to all finalists who were able to showcase a real depth of learning within their Social Studies curriculum; the competition really was fierce.
It’s been a particularly busy week for the Global Citizenship faculty. BGE learners in Sustainability have been learning about how to have a more sustainable Christmas, with top tips on reducing waste and thinking about how we can support others in the wider community. Travel and Tourism and Business Education learners have also had field trips in Edinburgh, exploring the Chocolatarium as a small business and taking part in an investigation of tourism on the Royal Mile.
Christmas lunch day was a busy, happy occasion on Tuesday, with staff and pupils joining together to appreciate Stogie’s work on turkey with all the trimmings, and the yule log once again going down a storm. It was two Christmas lunches in two days for some of us, as SLT and House Teams were hosted by the JAS group on Wednesday, supported by Phil, catering the meal as part of their overall award. You can find out more about the scheme here: Junior Award Scheme for Schools: JASS
Thank you to everyone who supported the Festive Showcase, which was a wonderful example of young people working in tandem with staff to lead a large-scale event. Guests were welcomed with some delicious home baking provided by Rachel Murphy, Gayle Aitken and pupils, and the whole evening ran smoothly thanks to staff volunteers supporting ticketing, ushering, and backstage supervision. Our Expressive Arts team pulled out all the stops for a memorable evening of music and drama, ably supported by our colleagues in the ELC Instrumental Music Service. This event forms part of the learning programme for learners in Level 5 Music, who are required to organise and perform in a concert an aspect of their assessment, providing an excellent opportunity to develop real world skills. Particular personal highlights were our friends in the Brae sharing their Christmas video and leading a whole hall singalong of Holly Jolly Christmas, as well as Leia’s solo piano performance of Comptine d’un autre été (which Millie Mitchell knows full well makes me blub Every. Single. Time.) We so appreciate all involved for pushing out of their comfort zones to create yet another first for our school.
In Health and Wellbeing, many of our S2 and S3 pupils have been benefiting from input from Gold and Gray this session, with a focus on peer relationships and leadership skills: Gold & Gray Soccer Academy. We are pleased to share that we able to fund an additional programme for S1 in the new year. More information will be sent to the relevant families when class lists are confirmed.
Today we will be including all young people in a Homeroom Festive Quiz (I’m slightly worried already about the level of competition between Alex MacDonald’s and Dean Pearson’s Homerooms…), Assembly Hall dance off, and whole school ceilidh with the PE team. Whilst some people see the festive season as being about baubles, tinsel and Christmas jumpers, for us it’s about celebrating, as we do in different ways throughout the year, our sense of community and the relationships between staff and young people. As noted in last week’s assembly from the Support for Learning team, we do not make the assumption that this is an easy or enjoyable time for everyone. We therefore want to ensure that as many young people as possible feel supported and seen within the school, continuing to meet their needs in ways that work for them. With this in mind, we wish all of you a peaceful end to the year, whatever it may look like for you and yours, and look forward to welcoming you back for 2025.
HT Update 13/12/24
We’ve reached the end of the Formal Assessment period, for which I think all pupils and staff are very grateful. Although it is an intense period, it is absolutely worth it to gain robust evidence of where the young people are and what to focus on next. I have written in thanks to all of our volunteer invigilators, without whom we would not have been able to run the programme effectively. We hope that we will be able to replicate this level of parental support for the official SQA programme in April/May 2025, with paid invigilator posts available.
As a senior leadership team, we have now turned our attention to our upcoming quality assurance visit on HGIOS 2.1 Safeguarding and Child Protection, which will take place on the 9th of January. This is part of the annual programme undertaken by central colleagues and aims to provide an opportunity to discuss what’s going well in each focus area, and next steps. As part of this, we gather up to date pupil data to ascertain young people’s experience of feeling safe and supported in school. We are currently undertaking a universal survey on the Wellbeing Indicators (Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, and Included). To build on this quantitative information, we also undertake qualitative conversations with young people through the 5 a day programme. What’s been really striking so far is the number of young people who say that they could tell any adult in school if they were worried about themselves of someone else. Whilst our House Teams pick up on most wellbeing worries, this is a real indication that there is a sense of shared responsibility around the school. We should be in a position to share any key messages from the visit as part of the Parent Council Meeting on the 14th January.
We have updated the Pupil Voice section of the website to reflect key activities undertaken during quadrant 2. You can find the summary here: Pupil Voice Updates 24-25
Ticket sales for the Festive Showcase closed this week and we are looking forward to welcoming almost 200 staff, pupils, friends and families at 6pm on the 17th December; not least because Rachel Murphy and Gayle Aitken have been planning some truly delicious refreshments, all of which are included in the ticket price. Please be reminded that entry is by ticket only, with one ticket required per person. The Expressive Arts team is hard at work in rehearsals and we are all looking forward to a really special evening.
We welcomed families to the Brae for a coffee morning this week, where we shared the Christmas video (special credit to Euan Dixon!) and photos and stories from high points in the year. Thank you all for joining us.
In staffing, our Curriculum Leader for Health and Wellbeing, Paddy Cuthbertson, will be moving on in mid-January. Paddy has been offered a bigger role in the City of Edinburgh and, whilst sad to lose him, we are delighted that he is able to further his leadership ambitions. Paddy has made an extraordinary contribution to Rosehill since joining the team in Spring 2023, and has provided a firm foundation for a very successful faculty. The post is currently advertised, with recruitment processes early in the new year. As is customary in these situations, we will ensure that our timetabling arrangements support all young people continuing to have access to PE subject specialists on a rota basis if required. We have also welcomed the first of our new ASN auxiliaries, Sam Taylor, this week. Sam’s sports background has given him experience locally already, so it’s been lovely to see some young people with existing positive relationships. We should also note that Joe Spence is currently enjoying paternity leave with baby Lily, who was born on the 10th of December. Mum and baby are doing well and I’m sure all will be having the most memorable of Christmases this year. Neil Finlayson continues to cover Chemistry in Joe’s absence, and Joe will return in the new term.
HT Update 06/12/24
Last Friday was a really special day as we welcomed over 100 guests to our Official Opening Ceremony. Amongst these were Jenny Gilruth, the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Education; Lesly Brown, Executive Director for Education and Children’s Services, and Nicola McDowell, Head of Education. Our guests enjoyed live music, reflections from our pupils, and tours of the school, followed by refreshments in the atrium. It was a very busy morning indeed, and are young people manged admirably with the changes to our routine, not least camera crews in some of the classrooms!
If you haven’t yet seen the media coverage, there are some links here:
Scottish Government statement on Wallyford Learning Campus Opening
Scottish Government video @ScotGovEdu on X
East Lothian Council: Cabinet secretary officially opens Wallyford Learning Campus
We had some very kind feedback on the way in which the pupils represented the school and we all thoroughly enjoyed the chance to share the celebrations with colleagues from the construction and design teams, communities, libraries, and local representatives.
Our Head of Education shared the following reflections with education staff across East Lothian:
I was delighted on Friday that we welcomed Jenny Gilruth, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to the official opening of the Wallyford Learning Campus. Since opening its doors in 2023, Wallyford Learning Campus has brought together the new Rosehill High School with further education partnerships, library, community centre and Edinburgh College. Gail Preston, Head Teacher, spoke very passionately about what it’s like to be a new Head Teacher in a brand new school, and we heard from learners about what it’s like to attend the school and what they particularly enjoy about it. We were also entertained by very talented musicians/ singers. The project was recognised at the recent Learning Places Scotland Awards in Glasgow where East Lothian was a finalist in three categories - inspiring learning spaces and project of the year for the Wallyford Learning Campus. The council itself was a finalist in the client of the year category. We are delighted that we were ‘highly commended’ for project of the year! Thanks to all involved in delivering this campus and the excellent services in it!
An update from Mrs Wright, who took our S4 pupils to Edinburgh College last week: Last week, our S4 Art & Design students had the fantastic opportunity to visit the Creative Industries faculty at Edinburgh College, where they were warmly welcomed by Neil Manning, Head of School, along with tutors and students from the college. The visit offered insight into the diverse range of courses available—from User Experience Design to Fashion & Textiles—and highlighted the wide array of career opportunities awaiting graduates. Students were able to tour state-of-the-art studios, where they saw first-hand the inspiring work being created by current students, including in Creative and Digital Media where S5 students from schools across Edinburgh are taught as part of the ‘travel-column’ option. This experience was a fantastic way for our students to envision life beyond school and begin to explore their future paths in the Creative Industries. We’re excited about continuing our strong partnership with Edinburgh College, opening doors to even more exciting opportunities for our young people in the years ahead!
It was certainly back down to earth on Monday with the commencement of the senior phase Formal Assessments! The week started off with our biggest exam (Nat 5 English) and we were so proud to see the young people show up ready to demonstrate all they have learned both one day one and throughout the week. As we’ve said before, our S4 are always going to be the oldest year group and we really appreciate the way in which they have led from the front through another series of firsts.
In staffing, Joe Spence will be entering a period of paternity leave for the last part of term. Neil Finlayson, who is Chemistry specialist, will be taking Joe's classes.
Sales of or Festive Showcase close at 4pm on Monday the 9th. There will be no option to purchase tickets thereafter, so don't miss out!
To finish, a date for your diary. We will be hosting our third Family Learning Event of the session on Tuesday 28th January, from 5.30pm-7.30pm. This event is open to all year groups, and focuses on the theme of mental health and wellbeing. Further information and booking details will be out in the new year, and we hope to see as many of you as possible to learn together around this important topic.
HT Update 28/11/24
Further to previous information, a reminder that our senior phase formal assessments take place during the week beginning the 2nd December and the week beginning 9th December. These apply to all courses with examinable content. Attendance at these assessments is a vital part of SQA procedures as these results inform our predicted grades, as well as ensuring that we have evidence in place should we have to enact an exceptional circumstances procedure with the SQA for the final exam. Thank you to all the parent volunteers who are supporting invigilation with us, and to all staff for preparing, marking and moderating the assessment evidence. All classes run as normal during this period to protect learning and teaching time.
As parents of senior pupils will be aware, there are already numerous ad hoc provisions for study support beyond the classroom. In the new year, we will refine and collate these offers and share the programme with you. However, it’s important to emphasise that our core expectation is that the main support for academic attainment is being in class, on time, each day and engaging fully in the learning. It’s also a good time to remind all families that the library is open until 4.30pm Monday-Thursday to support young people who would like either PC access or just a pleasant space to get homework or study done.
We had a visit from Magic Breakfast this week to reflect on our progress since beginning this partnership in September. We were able to outline the different ways in which we are ensuring that our young people are accessing a positive, nutritious start of the day through our Meet and Eat provision, our Wellbeing Groups, and our responses to needs as they arise. Our breakfast provision is still a targeted approach, but we are aware that family circumstances can change over time. If you would like you child to be included in the 8.20am breakfast provision, please do get in touch with your child’s House Team who can arrange this.
It was lovely to hear from our Active Schools Coordinator, James Sloggie, that Rosehill has achieved a Silver sportscotland School Sport Award. This is so well deserved. We have the smallest PE team in East Lothian but, in partnership with Active Schools, the largest percentage uptake of co-curricular opportunities. The sportscotland School Sport Award is a national initiative designed to encourage schools to put young people at the heart of decision making, planning and implementation of extra-curricular school sport. It also encourages schools to self-reflect and continuously improve and recognise and celebrate successful school sport models. The award also encourages sporting links between schools and the communities around them, providing opportunities for young people to progress.
A wee note that our Festive Showcase tickets are currently on sale, and they really are going fast! Please remember that sales will close either at 4pm on the 9th December, or when they sell out, whichever is first.
This update is being published on a Thursday rather than a Friday, as tomorrow is our official opening. We’ll reflect on highlights next week. What is beyond a doubt though is that the team of staff, pupils and partners have worked very hard to put our best foot forward and to show that, contrary to a lot of what you read in the media, there is still plenty of joy to be found in education.
HT Update 22/11/24
On Tuesday, I had the absolute privilege of presenting at the Learning Places Scotland event at the SEC in Glasgow, sharing the stage with JM Architects to discuss the complexities that abound in delivering a brand-new school. To quote one cross young person from this week, ‘All we do here is learn!’ (CORRECT!), so I thought it would be useful to summarise the key lessons I shared with delegates:
1) There is not such thing as building a school from scratch; parents/pupils/teachers may be new to the building, but they are not new to education, and unlearning old habits can be even more challenging than learning new ones.
2) You don’t know what you don’t know. Very few people have done anything like this, so you have to make your peace with the lack of easy and obvious answers sometimes.
3) A big part of leadership is telling people something, and then telling them again. It’s better to over communicate than to assume anything.
4) Everything will take longer than your community wants it to, because the interactions between people, policies and procedures are often more complex than those looking in realise.
5) School buildings need to reflect their users. Schools have changes massively in the last 5 years in particular, and this should be fully reflected in design processes.
6) We have a beautiful building, but it’s the people who make Rosehill. I say this all the time, because it’s true.
Credit goes to all the young people who contributed to our supporting video on what it means to be a learner here, and thanks to Ms Mitchell for pulling it together. The fact that their comments focused on their teachers and the support and opportunities they have says a lot.
It’s worth noting that the Wallyford Learning Campus was shortlisted for the associated awards in both the Inspiring Learning Spaces and Project of the Year Category, with East Lothian Council nominated as Client of the Year. JM Architects, who led on our building design, also won Practice of the Year. Once again, it’s important that we all remember just how fortunate we are with our learning environment.
Next Friday is our Official Opening Ceremony and preparations are well underway. House Teams have nominated young people to make up the pupil audience, who will sit with dignitaries during the service and join in with refreshments afterwards. We also have some of our pupils hosting the event, delivering their reflections, and mixed year groups involved in our musical items. Our tech team will once again be going over and above making sure it all runs smoothly! We look forward to sharing some of the highlights with you in due course.
Tickets are currently on sale for the Festive Showcase, and we would encourage families to book early to avoid disappointment. Please be aware that bookings close either 4pm on the 9th December, or when all tickets are purchased, whatever comes first. There will be no tickets available thereafter.
Our Eco Group has been hard at work as they move towards securing our Green Flag, with their Action Plan ongoing. A reminder that, in order to support our bee garden, we welcome donations of tools and seeds. These can be handed in to the school office at any time, but please don’t send large items without adult supervision!
It was also busy week for working with parents. Parent Council was ably attended and supported by the DHT team this time round (as I was on stage in Glasgow!), who updated attendees on our progress with key improvement priorities. We also welcomed young people and their families for an information session on our Duke of Edinburgh programme on Wednesday. This is fast becoming a real success story in the school, and we are so grateful to the staff who make this happen.
Our latest staffing update is around ASN auxiliaries. Due to a change in personal circumstances, Debbie McCraw will be leaving her role at the end of the month. Debbie has been with us throughout the Rosehill journey and I know how much she will be missed by the young people (and how much she will miss us!). We hope to have Debbie join us on supply when caring responsibilities allow. We also say goodbye to Jane Lindsay at the same time, who is moving to work in Enhanced Complex Needs. Again, I know how much the young people have valued her support. Interviews for replacement roles took place on Wednesday and these moves, along with an expanding population, meant that we have been able to identify 3 preferred candidates for ASN auxiliary positions, who are due to start just after Christmas.
Lastly, something we hope you can help us with. As you know, one of our key mantras is ‘class time is class time’ and we’ve had some feedback from staff as to any frequent barriers to learning. One point that came up was around drinking water. We are very happy for young people to access drinking water throughout the day. To support this, they should bring a full water bottle each morning. These can be topped up at rest breaks if required. However, young people should not be leaving classes to access drinking water beyond these times. Please support us by ensuring that they have a water bottle each day.
HT Update 15/11/24
Senior leaders undertook two significant meetings this week with the central Education team, giving us opportunities for dialogue around the progress we made in year 1 at Rosehill, and our plans across the rest of this session. The first focused on Quality Assurance and the evidence we gather to ensure that the work we do have the maximum positive impact on the learning of the young people. This includes activities like undertaking learning visits and observations in classrooms, sharing strategies to meet learners’ needs, and evaluating partnership working. The second was around Attainment and gave us a chance to dig into our achievements in Literacy and Numeracy, and the progress of our first senior phase cohort. As always, having space to reflect and learn from others was hugely valuable, and another reminder that we have come a long way since this time last year! We also get to visit neighbouring schools as part of this process, which always leads to coming away with new things to think about.
In terms of staffing, we are welcoming two new members of the Languages and Literacy faculty. Kieran Noel-Paterson has joined us on a part-time basis as a literacy interventions specialist. Kieran has a wealth of experience of similar roles in both primary and secondary schools and will be taking a targeted approach with young people whose literacy barriers make accessing the rest of the curriculum a challenge. Mark Houston is then joining us as a Teacher of English. Mark has been working in West Lothian for a number of years, but has been looking out for the right opportunity to serve his local community in the East, and we are delighted to have him with us at Rosehill.
You will be aware that, in common with the local and national picture, we have experienced some challenges around staff absence this autumn. As many of you already know and appreciate, we do all we can to minimise impact on the learners by:
· Ensuring that all learning materials are easily accessible for pupils and cover teachers via Google classroom so that planned learning can continue
· Re-organising class timetables where needed so that, in the event of a longer-term absence, all young people continue to have access to a subject specialist on rotation
· Wherever possible, securing the services of regular, reliable supply teachers who know or young people and what helps them to learn
Thank you for your understanding.
Thank you to all the families who attended our Curriculum Evening (senior phase) on Wednesday. There’s always so much to get through in these evenings that it can feel like a bit of a whirlwind, so we have added the slides here for your reference: Curriculum Evening (Senior Phase) 13th November 2024.
These will also be added to the Parent Engagement section of the website.
As noted last week, your opportunity to attend our Festive Showcase is fast approaching, on Tuesday 17th December. Please look out for your letter today, with full details and booking instructions. Booking will open at 4pm on Monday 18th November.
And finally, it’s Parent Council on Tuesday the 19th November. An agenda will be set out ahead of schedule. I will be ably represented by my deputes at this meeting, as I will be in Glasgow for the Learning Places Scotland event, speaking on behalf of East Lothian Council on what it means to grow a school from the ground up.
HT Update 08/11/24
As part of our work around wellbeing, equality and inclusion, Rosehill is now signed up to the Halo Code. This supports the rights of all young people to wear their hair in the way they choose, and you can find out more about the Halo Collective’s work here: Halo- School
We conducted out first school photographs on Monday, with Coldwell Art spending the morning working through individual photos for every pupil in Rosehill mainstream and the Brae. We were hugely impressed by the swift and well organised service, and equally impressed by the conduct of our young people. Staff from the Brae noted how kind and patient young people were with those who might find it hard to get photographs taken, and the photography team said that the young people were a credit to us. This is a lovely example of the things we do every day that may not make it into statistics, but that say a lot about who our young people are.
We’re no stranger to big days at Rosehill, and there another one coming up with our Official Opening scheduled for the 29th November. This will be run in such a way that impact to young people will be minimised, though pupil representatives will be asked to form part of the audience to hear from those closely connected to the project. Those involved will be informed in good time.
Brace yourself for our first mentions of Christmas… Stogie has asked me to let you know that our now traditional Christmas meal will be served on Tuesday 17th December. The cost will be £2.50 and this will include a the main course and a dessert. As well as the traditional turkey with all the trimmings, vegetarian and gluten free options will also be available. Please contact us directly to make an order for the gluten free option if your child requires this. Please also note that any young person who does not want to have the Christmas option should make alternative arrangements for lunch, The usual fare will be available for morning rest break.
Further to this, Tuesday the 17th December will also be the date of our first ever live Christmas concert. The evening will start at 6pm with an opportunity for refreshments before we begin performances at 6.20pm. Further information, including booking instructions, will be with you soon.
Thank you to the parents who attended our Parental Engagement session on Mental Health and Wellbeing last night. This discussion will help us to inform the shape of our next Family Learning Event, scheduled for later this session. Your next opportunity to connect with us comes via The Curriculum Evening (Senior Phase) at 7.45pm on Wednesday 13th November. Joining details have already been sent via a separate communication but do please let the admin team know if you need a reminder. We will also have the final Parent Council Meeting of 2024 on Tuesday 18th November. Guests are welcome to join us from 6.30pm for tea, coffee and chat, with the meeting starting at 6.45pm prompt. The listen in option will be made available ahead of time for those who cannot make the meeting in person.
Finally, our colleagues at Skills Development Scotland have asked us to share the following message:
Scottish Careers Week is returning from 11 to 15 November 2024
Coordinated by Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Careers Week showcases the wide range of career support and opportunities available to everyone in Scotland.
The week will shine a light on the support that’s available across Scotland from SDS, and offer an insight into a range of industries, the types of exciting careers on offer, and how to get in. It will be delivered by Skills Development Scotland (SDS), and a wide range of national and local partners.
There will be lots of activities and events on offer for young people, adults, parents and carers so save the date and get involved in the week. If you’d like to find out more, please visit Scottish Careers Week | My World of Work
HT Update 01/11/24
It’s November, and time to dig deep as we start to enter a busy period of assessment, especially for our senior phase, who are beginning to prepare for their first round of formal assessments next month. It’s also the time of year when we have to start firming up or plans for next session!
Whilst Lynsey Stewart-Young will send out more detailed information in due course, we thought it might be helpful to give a summary of the main activities that will support senior phase course choice over the coming months:
· Around the end of November, we will share our course choice booklet for 25-26, with descriptors for all our proposed courses
· After the December Formal Assessments, we will share course choice forms with young people to give them space and time to consider these alongside current progress
· In early January, we will ask for the ‘first round’ of course choice submissions (free choice) and then begin the processes of looking at numbers, staffing, and columns to construct the timetable for 25-26
· S3 pupils will receive advice on likely levels of study to support them in undertaking courses that give them the best chance of success. In the majority of cases, we would expect most young people in S4 to carry on with what they are currently studying at the next level in S5. Remember, senior phase is treated as one year group with 6 options each year. However, there will always be exceptions to this, and our House Teams will help to guide young people through the process.
Please remember that we have our Curriculum Evening: Senior Phase online meet on the 13th November. An invitation to this/joining details will come out next week. We particularly welcome S3 and S4 families undertaking course choice, but everyone is welcome if they want to find out more about this stage.
Lynsey and I were asked to present at a School Leaders Scotland Professional Learning session last week, exploring curriculum innovation. We loved being able to share the work we do with a national audience, and highlighted key approaches including Curriculum Mapping, Knowledge Organisers, Pathways, Metaskills, Outdoor Learning, and Learning for Sustainability. It’s always good to remind ourselves just how much we have achieved in such a short period of time and to reflect on the ‘why’ of our choices.
We have already had some interest from people who would like to become invigilators for the SQA during the exams in 2025. We are keeping a note of contacts for us to connect with you later in the session. If you would like to find out more about the role of the invigilator, please see this information from SQA, and get in touch via the admin if it sounds like something you would like to do: Invigilator - SQA
Our Rights Respecting Schools team has been making good progress as we move towards Silver accreditation. You can see their latest update on the website page linked here: https://sites.google.com/edubuzz.org/rosehill-high-school/living-our-vision/thriving/rights-respecting-school
You will also receive a communication this week about our Eco Group and their plans to create a Bee Garden. At this early stage, they would love to make use of any of your unloved garden tool/seeds. There is a form here that you can complete if you can help: Eco-group bee garden
Our Cost of the School Day lead, Caitlin McRobbie, has asked us to share the information below about an event that is designed to promote sustainability and to make financial sense, too. Please note that this is an external event not connected to Rosehill in any way:
LIL ReUse Festival
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 10:00 - 14:00
Last year, over 1,000 kg of items were kept in circulation, along with 12 bikes and a paddleboard! This event is a great way to get a head start on Christmas shopping and a perfect excuse to declutter for donations beforehand.
Donated items can be taken to the LIL Lorry at Knox Academy (Haddington) starting Monday, November 11.
Everyone on the day pays with vouchers. A large blue Ikea bag filled with toys, clothes, homewares, etc., costs £20.
To avoid queues on the day, you can buy your vouchers online (https://lilreuse.sumupstore.com/product/reuse-vouchers-donation)
And finally, a small change to our communications processes. In order to support staff training and development, our office phonelines will now close at 3.45pm each day rather than 4pm. Call made after this time will link to answering machine and be checked by the team first thing the next day for response. You can of course continue to email us at any time that’s convenient to you.
HT Update 25/10/24
We hope everyone had a lovely October break. It’s important to acknowledge that we now head into what can be a really challenging time of year for everyone, with darker mornings, changing weather, and lots of seasonal pressures. You will know already that, as a school, we see wellbeing and learning as two sides of the same coin and know that we must be as mindful of one as the other.
This was reflected in our professional learning day for staff on Monday, which began with some reading, listening and reflection around the ways in which we can support each other, and our young people, when times are hard. We then moved onto some focused work around Equality and Diversity. In previous communications, I have mentioned the uptick in incidents of racist language that we have encountered since returning to school in August, so this session helped to support all staff in understanding how we can respond to these consistently and how we can best support anyone experiencing any anti-equalities incident. Staff evaluations indicated how useful this session was in terms on understanding the bigger picture around challenging discrimination, and particular thanks go to Nathan Moore for pulling this together as our Equalities lead.
We welcomed S3 and S4 to our Senior Phase Success Family Learning Event last night. After initial input in the hall around the evidence we have of successful study skills, they were then able to visit faculties for two workshops exploring subject specific skills in more depth. Over the next few days, we will publish the resources in the Parent Engagement section of the website. A request will come out today for participants to complete a (very short!) evaluation of the event. We really appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete this to help us to continue to shape our practice. Please may we also make a plea? If you book onto an event but then cannot attend, do let us know ahead of time. Staff spend a huge amount of time planning targeted activities for those they are expecting.
To further support you to support your young people, we are now able to share our Senior Phase Summary Slides, which you can access via our website: Senior Phase Summary Slides These have been produced for every senior phase course currently running and, in a similar way to the Knowledge Organisers in the BGE, gather together the key information and resources required for success. Most of these cover Unit 1 of the senior phase courses, and we will continue to expand and update these as the year progresses. We hope these are a useful way of supporting continued conversations with your young person about their learning.
This may also be a good time to flag in advance the Senior Phase Curriculum Evening, which will take place online on the 13th November (7pm-8pm). This is directly aimed at young people and their families in S3 and S4, but we also welcome attendees from younger year groups if you want to enhance your understanding of what this stage looks like. This will allow us to then move into sharing initial information about the coursing process for 25-26. I know how far in advance this seems, but we are already having to project our numbers and staffing needs for next session, and we want to make sure that our young people have a voice in all our planning.
Some of our current Senior Phase pupils benefited this week from direct industry input to further develop their understanding of the Creative Industries. Ross Crichton, from LDN Architects, spent time with the young people outlining his current role, pathways into architecture and associated jobs, and sharing examples of recent projects that have been delivered in Edinburgh and beyond.
Our Learning for Sustainability classes have been working hard on ways in which we can encourage people to use the right recycling opportunities for their rubbish. A huge well done to Charlotte W in S1who designed the poster that will now be added to the recycling areas to help everyone remember what goes where!
An additional shout out must also go to Seth F and Tyler S in S4, who represented Rosehill at the recent Sports Scotland Young Ambassadors event. This is normally the responsibility of S5 or S6 pupils but our S4 are well used to stepping up now!
We are continuing our focus on timekeeping by honing in on lateness after rest breaks. On day 1, almost 10% of our school roll was late after either morning or afternoon rest break, and we have been communicating this directly to families. We’ve been pleased to see this has gradually reduce throughout the week (down to 3% by Thursday!) as we continue to be clear with our young people about the relationships between missed learning and progress. Thank you to all of those who we know are supporting this messaging at home.
In terms of staffing, we were not able to appoint to the part-time Art and Design post vacated by Mr Thomson at this time. We are now working with the Expressive Arts team to ensure that all young people can continue to access their full entitlement within the faculty whilst we consider next steps. However, despite this being a tricky time of year for recruitment, we have been able to move forward with our preferred candidate for the post of Teacher of English and look forward to them joining us once pre-employment checks have been completed.
HT Update 11/10/24
We were so pleased to have members of our newly formed Eco Group to this week’s Parent Council Meeting. Martha and Rhea spoke with us about their strategic plan and how they and their team are working to support sustainable environmental practices across the school. Our Parent Council members also spent time reflecting on our core data (available here Rosehill Core Data: Parent Council 8th October 2024) as well as having the opportunity to focus on the senior phase curriculum offer with Lynsey Stewart-Young.
Our Family Learning Event: Senior Phase Success is currently open for booking to families of S3 and S4. In order to organise workshop numbers for staff ahead of the holiday, this closes at 12 noon today.
As planned, we did our first ‘spot check’ of the session for Smartcards this week, and have sent communications to any family whose young person did not have their card. As well as enabling building access and purchases from catering facilities, the cards are also a part of building security. If cards are deemed to be missing, we have to cancel these immediately or the safety and security of the building could be compromised, as we don’t know whose hands they might be in. We will continue these checks throughout the year. Please continue to support us by ensuring your young person has their card accounted for each day.
We have also been issuing additional communication to families whose young people are coming into school late first thing in the morning, with a clear emphasis on the impact on learning. It remains the case that almost all pupils are with us and ready to start the day ahead of 8.30 registration, so thank you for supporting the positive morning routines that allow this to happen.
In terms of staffing, we have identified a preferred candidate for our post of Teacher of Support for Learning: Literacy. This is a 12 hours per week post which is in place to boost the support we can offer to young people who have specific challenges with their literacy, opening up more small group opportunities in reading, writing, and listening and talking.
Young people have been fully involved in our recruitment processes, as is now well established at Rosehill. You can read more about some of the key Pupil Voice activities during this Quadrant here: Pupil Voice Update Q1
We want to give thanks to Sam Tassiker-Dowson, who joined us during quadrant one as part of staff redeployment in ELC. Sam is now moving on to a post in Support for Learning in Edinburgh City Council, and we wish her well with this. This does mean that we now move to open recruitment for our growing Languages and Literacy Faculty, with a full-time permanent Teacher of English post currently advertised.
And finally, here’s wishing everyone an enjoyable October week. I am looking forward to a few days in London and, in amongst the theatre trips and art gallery visits, have also been informed that I will need to spend a full afternoon in Brandy Melville. Parents of teenage girls: if you know, you know…. Sigh. We will have a staff Professional Learning Day on the theme of Equality, Wellbeing and Inclusion on Monday 21st October, and look forward to welcoming young people back for an 8.30am start on Tuesday 22nd October.
HT Update 04/10/24
We have to start with a big well done for our bronze D of E group, who completed their assessed expedition last weekend. They began their journey at North Berwick, before splitting the group in two to follow slightly different walks along the coast. They camped near Aberlady overnight and did the stretch back to Wallyford the next day. We are very proud of their tenacity and resilience. Hannah and Phil have been doing and incredible job and, to allow this programme to grow, we are funding the required training for two additional staff to support the programme in reaching the next stage. It’s particularly rewarding to note that both the East Lothian Courier and the national Duke of Edinburgh programme have picked this up as a good news story to share more widely.
Our colleagues from HMIE visited East Lothian last week to take an authority wide look at activities around improvement planning. It was a pleasure to be part of the headteacher focus group, which explored the ways in which we connect beyond our schools to share practice and learn from each other. It was also a pleasure to have Rosehill staff included in core discussions from the perspectives of class teachers, middle leaders, and members of professional associations. Being invited to tell our story is always an important reminder of the pace of growth with which we have all had to content this session, and the progress that we can ably demonstrate.
We are continuing with our focus on the core value of respect. Having spent some time considering respectful language, we are now moving on to focus on timekeeping. As noted in my letter to all parents this week, this has an immediate and measurable impact on learning time. Even 5 minutes each day leads to considerable gaps across the school year. We are doing a specific data check around morning arrivals over the next few weeks, and will contact parents directly where any patterns of concern emerge. Thereafter, we will focus on timekeeping after rest breaks, then timekeeping around class to class transitions. To be clear, all of our young people are welcomed warmly into the learning whenever they arrive, but that doesn’t negate the necessity of taking appropriate, proportionate action when it is holding them back from making the best level of progress in their learning.
Our next Family Learning Event is Senior Phase Success, and is open to families with young people in S3 and S4. As noted by mail earlier this week, this takes place between 5.30pm and 7.30pm on Thursday 24th October, and booking information will be out early next week. Please also be reminded that our Parent Council Meeting takes place on Tuesday 8th October. You are welcome to join us for teas/coffees from 6.30pm, for a 6.45pm prompt start. In this session, we will be hearing from our newly formed pupil Eco Group, who will be sharing their strategic plan. We will also be looking at core data from our school census, and discussing the next stage in the expansion of the senior phase.
HT Update 27/09/24
Thank you to everyone who has so far taken the time to fill in their evaluations for or Family Learning Event last week. Some of the lovely feedback has included:
· [A highlight was] how enthusiastic all the staff are about teaching our kids
· My son and I felt warm and welcomed and now I’m aware of the school learning process
· It gave me the confidence that I was making the right decision sending my daughter to Rosehill
We also appreciate all the thoughts and suggestions around how we can continue to develop these events in future. Our faculties have started adding their slides from the evening to the website, with more to be added over the course of this week: Parent Engagement August-December 2024
Thank you also to the parents who have volunteered to help to support our senior phase Formal Assessments. This really will make a huge difference to the support and structure we can give our young people. We will be back in touch shortly with the dates and times applicable.
Our current focus with the young people is, ‘language that’s appropriate for school’. Since returning from summer, staff and pupils have noticed an uptick in the amount of inappropriate language being used on a daily basis, and in particular from our S1 cohort. This links into our school value of Respect, and a recent Homeroom activity saw Homeroom teachers work with their classes to think about alternative ways they can ‘use their words!’ to express frustration rather than resorting to swearing. I was really impressed by the maturity of their answers, which included:
· If someone has made me really angry: ‘I’m going to be the bigger person here, and walk away”; “They’re not respecting my views”
· If I have had a really bad day: “Today has been really tough so I need to take a minute”; “There’s a lot happening so I’m finding today hard”
· If I’m not enjoying the learning: “Can you help me to understand the purpose of the learning?”; “Is there another way we can do this task?”
· If I disagree with your opinion: “That’s not a bad idea, but I prefer…”; “I realise you might think that, but we all think differently.”
I’m sure that you would agree that there are plenty of adults in public life (and even more on social media) who would benefit from having some of these responses to hand. We are going to continue with our theme this week by looking at language associated with inclusion and equalities, and how we can challenge negative examples of this if we encounter them.
The senior leadership has been busy on Learning Walks over the last two weeks and, by the time you read this, will have visited every classroom teacher to join in with the learning across the year groups. This work serves several purposes:
· It ensures that we as a senior team have a good understanding of what is being expected of and offered to our young people.
· The young people generally rather enjoy it, and are often proud to tell us about what they are learning.
· It helps us to identify our priorities in terms of the continuous improvement of learning, teaching, and assessment.
We are currently analysing our results, but there are a couple of messages coming through loud and clear. In terms of our climate and ethos, we are who we say we are. Our values are on show across multiple interactions, and the relationships between staff and pupils are warm and encouraging. We will share some other headline messages before the end of term.
Some of our S2 pupils had the chance to be part of work with the Smashed Project this week. This is an organisation that supports young people’s understanding of issues related to alcohol education, and you can find out more about their work here: https://www.smashedproject.org/ This included a live performance followed by the chance to explore the issues in the play. We were keen to pilot this with smaller numbers and evaluate the work before exploring how we can extend this in future, and we’ve had lots of positive responses from the young people.
Mr Pearson in the Maths and Computing Science Teacher has asked me to draw your attention to the work of Dresscode, a charity with the aim of closing the gender gap in Computing Science. Their website is here: Choose Computing Science It provides amazing information for pupils around jobs within the technology sector, the skills and opportunities available, and why pupils should choose computing science as a subject.
As an early reminder, please note that the next meeting of the Parent Council takes place on Tuesday 8th October, 6.30 for 6.45pm-8pm. This time we will be joined by our Eco Group, who have been working hard with Mrs Anderson to develop their Action Plan and who will be looking for some help from our parents and carers in supporting the biodiversity of our grounds.
Please also be aware that we will be undertaking Smartcard spot checks over the next couple of weeks. Our catering team has noted that a significant minority of young people do not have their cards when using the food court. This causes delays for others as, rather than a quick scan, they are having to say (and sometimes spell out!) their name and have it searched in the system before being served- and no one wants to keep teenagers hungry for any longer than necessary. Whether eating in the food court or not, all young people need their cards to be able to enter and exit the building. Whilst staff are on hand to support if there is an issue with a card, it’s another case of consideration for others, as it causes delays at busy times. We appreciate your support in ensuring your young person leaves their house with their card each day.
HT Update 20/09/24
Thank you to the 100 or so participants for our first Family Learning Event of the session. It was an absolute joy to see parents and young people learning together as they experienced a series of workshops across a range of faculties. We hope that, of nothing else, you will at least know that when your child says they have learned ‘nothing’ at school, that’s not quite the full story! Thanks also go to the staff team who prepared and led the activities at the end of a busy teaching day. To quote one parent at the end, ‘That was a lot more fun than I remember from when I was at school!’.
As we’ve said before, learning doesn’t only happen in the classroom and this link provides a summary of the co-curricular opportunities available weekly at Rosehill Rosehill Co-Curricular Opportunities 24-25. We will also add this to the website as part of its weekly updates. As you will appreciate, co-curricular opportunities change and grow throughout the year, and young people can check in with their class teachers at any time about what is on offer within the different faculties. Please also note that, in line with our commitment to the Cost of the School Day, we keep these co-curricular opportunities free to families, with staff volunteering their time to support.
As noted in our letter earlier this week, we received the great news that Rosehill has now been accredited as a Bronze Rights Respecting School, far ahead of our planned target of March 2025. This reflects the huge amount of effort that goes into our culture and ethos every day. We don’t do things to get awards, we get awards because we do the things! Given that we like a challenge, we have now revised our timeline and will be aiming at Silver by March 2025 instead. This takes most schools at least a year, but we are confident that we are in a good position to undertake this next stage. Please look out for further information about how everyone in our community can get involved.
Well done to Orla and Callum in S3, who represented the school at the recent Battle of Pinkie Cleugh event. This was the first opportunity for Rosehill to be involved in this way, and we were delighted to hear such positive reports around how well they reflected on our school. We were also very proud of our S4 Social Justice Ambassadors this week (Lucy, Corryn, Tyler, Tapha and Aidan), who supported this year's Youth Philanthropy Initiative launch. They were able to reflect on their own experiences of the programme, including participation at a national level. Our Eco Group is also up and running and I currently have some big plans on my desk to review!
In terms of staffing, it was an end of an era for Pete Thomson last week as he opened a new chapter and stepped back from teaching after 25 years in the classroom. We all enjoyed hearing about his plans for this next stage and appreciated his kind words around having ended his long teaching career on a high. Due to recruitment dates outwith our control, this means that we will have a gap in Art and Design over the next few weeks. Claire Wright (who is currently part time) will be helping to close some of these, and we have additional subject specialist supply in place, so anticipate minimum disruption. Elsewhere, we have been able to welcome Louise Smith to the Support for Learning team, as an ASN auxiliary. Louise has been enjoying getting to know staff and pupils and made a great start in a busy team.
S1 Consultation calls are the 1st and 3rd October. Look out for booking links to follow!
HT Update 06/09/24
We’ll start with a big well done to our first ever Duke of Edinburgh participants, who successfully completed their practice expedition last weekend. I am sure some of you saw the photos of the lovely sunshine they got on Twitter, and a very good time was had by all. They will undertake their assessed expedition later this term.
Thank you to everyone who attended the first meeting of the Rosehill and the Brae Parent Network. I contribute an in person Headteacher Update at each of these sessions, and the slides for the most recent one are here: HT Update for Parent Council 3rd September 2024 Amidst wide ranging discussions there were also some very supportive suggestions around how we can mobilise our parent community to support the school in practical ways, which we will scope out further over the course of the term. We also look forward to welcoming the Parent Engagement Group to our first ‘single item’ discussion next Wednesday, when we consider the topic of Transitions.
You will recall Hannah Berg’s recent letter on the Rights Respecting Schools programme, with which many of you will be familiar from your children’s previous schools. Rosehill registered as a Rights Respecting School upon opening and, as you may be aware, all of our police and procedures are already directly linked to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). We are confident that, with Hannah as identified lead, we are in an excellent position to make timely progress through both the bronze and silver levels over the course of the next year. Hannah is currently forming her pupil steering group, so look out for future updates as to our progress.
Our most recent focus fortnight has been around ‘class time is class time’ as we work with young people to ensure that they are maximising their opportunities to learn. Arriving at each lesson promptly and settling quickly to work leads to the best chance of success. Our SEEMiS information system updates attendance on a period-by-period basis, with registration taken every 50 minutes. If you receive a truancy text, this means that your child is not in the classroom/learning space they have been allocated, and we have no valid reason as to why. Where hundreds of students attending scores of lessons is involved, it is of course possible for human error to occur on occasion in picking this type of absence. However, please believe me when I say that the most likely reason for receiving a truancy text is that your child is truanting! It is also worth bearing in mind that repeated period absences are now added up to impact on overall attendance. Therefore, even if your child has come into school every day, their attendance will reach an intervention trigger point if they are not where they should be, when they should be there. As always, if there is anything that doesn’t seem quite right, please contact the admin team and we will look into it.
And finally, a reminder around parking at the campus. Public parking is available in the large (and currently spacious!) car park by the Astros. Please do not attempt to pick up/drop off at the back or side of the school. There are two issues with this. Firstly, there was actually a prang in the ‘mini’ car park this week, as there simply is not space for multiple vehicles to come in and out. Secondly, we have had repeated access issues in the turning circle at the Brae, with young people with significant health conditions unable to appropriately access their transport to and from school. Please continue to be mindful of other users, and use active travel options wherever possible, as we are only going to get busier.
Due to the holiday, there will be no HT Update next week. Therefore, we’d like to take the opportunity to wish you an enjoyable long weekend. I am looking forward to spending time catching up with my eldest daughter, who is currently training to be Teacher of English. Hearing about the learning she is undertaking each week really is an important reminder that, despite the numerous challenges our schools face at the moment, the profession is still drawing in individuals who believe they can be the difference for young people.
HT Update 30/08/24
Following on from last week’s reflections on the visit from the First Minister, we had some lovely feedback for our school from our Head of Education, whose comments focused on:
· The passion and enthusiasm of staff in how they adapt the curriculum to engage and meet the needs of all learners
· Our young people’s ability to articulate what Rosehill means to them and how they are supported in their learning
· The purposeful ethos and ‘buzz’ about learning across the building
If you have not yet had a chance to do so, you may wish to watch the video that was shared via the First Minister’s social media: The First Minister at Rosehill
We hosted our first online Curriculum Information Evening of the session on Wednesday, with a focus on the BGE. Thank you to the 44 families who were able to join us live for their engagement and discussion. If you were unable to attend, or want to follow the links we mentioned in the session, the slides are here: BGE Curriculum Evening August 2024 We will be following up this session with a Curriculum Information Evening focused on the senior phase on the 1st of November; details will be out nearer the time.
Our 5 A Day programme has started for the session. For new parents, this is a pupil voice programme whereby members of the leadership team spend time each week speaking with young people about their experiences at Rosehill. Pupils are selected on a random basis to ensure that all voices are heard. We are currently exploring how our S1 have settled in and key themes emerging are:
· It's much bigger and busier but we love it!
· The work is more challenging
· We are enjoying activities such as gymnastics, baking scones, working together in drama, and using the Bunsen burners in Science
· We feel safe in school
A few of the young people also asked question about co-curricular activities. A number of these have already started and are being advertised at faculty level. However, around the September weekend, we will publish a finalised timetable of all activities and share with home, so that you can discuss this directly with young people. So whether their passion is eco schools, arts and crafts, dungeons and dragons or badminton, we are confident they will find something they enjoy.
We have our first ever Duke of Edinburgh practice expedition being undertaken this weekend, with 12 young people in S4 heading off to the hills under what looks like it might be some decent weather conditions! Huge thanks to Phil Gilholm and Hannah Berg who are doing this on an entirely voluntary basis, giving up their weekend to support.
Preparations are well underway for our first Family Learning Event of the year, on the 18th September. This event is for S1 pupils and their families, and we are also sending invitation links to our associated primaries for the current P7. The booking link for the event will come out by email today (Friday 30th August) and will be live from 1pm. Booking will remain open until noon on the 6th September, but please be aware that this was a very popular event last year that filled up quickly! As with all our events, we are unable to accept any bookings after the deadline. Please read your information email carefully before signing up.
We are looking forward to our first Parent Council meeting of the session, which takes place on Tuesday 3rd September. Doors are open from 6.45pm for tea/coffee/an informal chat before the meeting proper starts at 7pm, and finishes at 8pm. Don’t forget that any questions/comments for the team can be sent to parentcouncil@rosehill.elcschool.org.uk
23/08/24
After our first full week back, there are plenty of wee wins to share from an important period of transition.
Our S1 have done brilliantly in navigating the school and engaging with a wide range of new subjects. I have been very impressed by the courteous way in which so many communicate and the sense of responsibility shown when help is needed.
Our school roll is now just short of 480, and this means a very full atrium during social times. However, through young people queuing sensibly in their lines, and making good use of outside space and our library, we have maintained a busy but positive atmosphere.
Our senior phase is up and running successfully, with any minor course alterations taken care of. S4 are responding very well to stretch and challenge, with all 97 currently coursed into their 6 options at appropriate levels.
Our new staff have settled in marvellously, and we have had some lovely feedback on how friendly everyone is, and the collegiate way that we work together.
In order to continue to support this transition as parents you can:
· Ensure that your young person has their SmartCard with them on a daily basis. This isn’t only for food court purchases, it’s also their entry/exit to the school and key areas within it. This should be in school and easily accessible (e.g. on the lanyard provided) on a daily basis.
· Supplying, where possible, a change of clothes for PE and suitable containers for Food and Health. We are very relaxed about the PE wear and shorts/leggings/trackies/T-shirts/hoodies are all fine. We want to support good hygiene, and it’s also worth remembering that a lot of our lessons happen outside!
· Completing all paperwork that has come home with your child e.g. photo permissions, user agreements and, most importantly, the annual data check sheet. If you think you have missed anything or need an additional copy, please contact the admin team.
We are currently working on the theme of ‘place’ within our core messaging and young people have been reminded of the areas that are and aren’t accessible to them as part of the overall campus, as well as the importance of looking after all that we have.
Our wonderful campus was certainly appreciated by the First Minister John Swinney during his visit yesterday. Mr Swinney has followed the story of the campus with interest, and requested the opportunity to undertake a tour and to meet with staff and pupils to talk about how they were finding their new building and the learning within it. As I think I’ve said before, events like these are an important reminder to us all of how fortunate we are, and certainly create a buzz. The young people in our pupil voice group were exceptional and handled a high pressure situation with absolute grace, and our staff team spoke passionately about a range of topics including curriculum innovation. Mr Swinney also got to see several classes in action. The First Minister very quickly picked up on the importance of our core values and commented on how society as a whole might benefit from more respect, kindness, and responsibility. Scottish Government will be sharing photographs of the event in due course, which we will of course share in turn.
HT Update
We are so happy to be back and all set for Year 2 at Rosehill.
Over the last few days, there has been a lot of reminiscing about ‘this time last year’, when we had no phones, no radios, no photocopiers, no printers, and most people were still learning their way about! Whilst it’s been an unavoidably busy start to the term, I appreciate how much easier it’s been than August 2023...
It’s been lovely to catch up with S2-S4. I know how many our young people thrive on school routine and look forward to being with friends and teachers, even if they are finding the early starts a bit of a shock to the system. Our S4 have made a strong start to a crucial year and staff are really enjoying being able to get into the depth of learning in the senior phase.
It’s also been delightful to have our new S1 with us, with so many taking everything in their stride. As one of our core values is responsibility, we have given them the opportunity to find their own way around the school (with lots of adults out and about to answer questions!), and they have done brilliantly. As I said to them when they visited last term, they are not the only new people in the building. We are joined this year by 13 new class teachers, and multiple new support staff, all of whom have been warmly welcomed.
We began the week with our two Professional Learning Days for all staff. The theme of Day 1 was ‘The Way We Do Things Round Here’ with extensive inputs around culture and ethos, policies and procedures, and how we work as a coherent team. Day 2 delved deeper into learning, teaching and assessment, with a particular focus on adaptive teaching and meeting learners’ needs through the CIRCLE Framework, a resource which supports inclusive teaching practices.
Our Improvement Plan for this session focuses on the following priorities:
Priority 1: Further developing our genuine Broad General Education and introducing our new true senior phase curriculum, underpinned by high quality learning, teaching and assessment for all
Priority 2: Working in partnership to ensure equity, wellbeing and inclusion, with a clear commitment to children’s rights
Priority 3: Enabling leadership at all levels to support achievement and attainment
We will be launching the full version of the Improvement Plan with staff during our development time on August 30th, and will send out to families thereafter.
In case you missed it, our admin team has sent a copy of our Key Dates 24-25 In particular, parents may wish to note the following opportunities to engage with their young person’s learning:
· 28th August: BGE Curriculum Evening (invitation to follow). This online event will provide an overview of our curriculum in S1-S3. All parents are welcome (we know a lot of young people joined during the session this year!) but it will be of particular interest to parents of our new S1.
· 3rd September 6.45pm: First meeting of our Parent Council: Rosehill and the Brae Parent Network. All are welcome.
· 11th September: Parent Engagement Group (invitation to follow). This is a sign-up online event, and procedures will be shared next week.
· 18th September: Family Learning Event: Learning at Rosehill. This is a sign-up in-person event, and procedures will be shared by the end of the month.
We are doing a small-scale launch of our new breakfast provision during this quadrant, supported by the Magic Breakfast organisation. The project supports us in providing a free healthy breakfast from 8.20 each morning. This is available only to ‘pilot’ families at present, who will be contacted directly. However, it will expand over the course of the year, so look out for further information via these updates.
Our staff team is also considering their co-curricular offer for this coming session. Many of you will recall that we had a huge range of offers last year, which will get started in the next few weeks. It’s worth noting that Rosehill is the secondary school with the highest level of Active Schools involvement in the whole of East Lothian, so I am sure there will be a strong appetite for this and many other opportunities this year.
In terms of staffing, we are very pleased to have all our subject specialists in place for the start of session. I am also able to share that our Teacher of Art and Design, Pete Thomson, will be retiring shortly. Pete will be with us until the September weekend, and work to recruit his replacement is ongoing. I know what a difficult decision this was for him after so many years of service, and we will of course be marking the occasion as a school.
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