Embedded Files
HT Update 18/09/26
Thank you to all who attended yesterday’s Family Learning Event. This has proved to be a popular event year on year, and is a very positive part of the transition process. Attendees will receive a (very short) evaluation form about their experience. We really appreciate you completing this as it provides clear data for us to evaluate our practice. I am sure you would agree that this was a very positive and enjoyable way to experience learning and teaching at Rosehill.
We have a number of upcoming events that you may want to get in the diary (these are all in the key dates document on the website):
Our first Parent Council Meeting of the year will be on Tuesday 22nd September, 6.30pm for a 6.45pm start, with an 8pm finish. We will send a ‘listen in’ Google link as an option for those who can’t attend, and this is just for listening in! If you want to join in the discussions, this is an in-person event. All are welcome. If you would like to be involved in the Parent Council on a regular basis, please contact our Chair, Charlie Wood, on rosehillhighpc@gmail.com
Our S1 Parent Consultation evening will be on Wednesday 7th October. This is a bookable event and details have been sent to all main contacts.
Our next Family Learning Event is ‘Senior Phase Success’, on the evening of the 27th October. This is for S3-S6 pupils and will cover a range of topics including subject specific tricks and tips, mental health and wellbeing, study skills and next steps. Booking forms and more detailed information to follow.
Our Pupil Leadership Team is fully up and running and our Coordinators completed their first duties attending the Battle of Pinkie Clough Memorial last week, where Caleb laid the wreath on behalf of our community. The full PLT has now met to establish roles and responsibilities and undertaken some initial work on a Pupil Voice website, to better capture the experiences of learners. They have also been working towards their first whole school event, coming up at the end of October- more to follow.
A reminder that our Achievement Mailbox is up and running, on achievement@rosehill.elcschool.org.uk Our aim is to collect 100 Rosehill out of school achievements this session, so please share all the exciting things your young people have been up to.
Our 5 a Day focus has been on young people transitioning from P7 into S1, and has clearly reflected the positive experiences that young people have had. This is very encouraging given the significant amount of work that goes into supporting this transition.
In staffing, we have welcomed two new members of the team to support administration. Gemma English is our PEF funded Pupil Welfare Officer, and will have a particular focus on attendance. Although we have seen a steady progression with attendance since our opening, we remain below the national average and are keen to continue to improve this. Carlan Davie, after a period with us on supply, has joined us as a permanent member of the office team. We continue to have two remaining gaps in administration, but both should be closed by October.
One of our learning assistants, Ross Foley, will be leaving us next Friday as he is re-locating (to the big city lights of London) for personal reasons. Ross also worked at Wallyford Primary before he joined us, so has known a lot of our young people for several years, and will certainly be missed. David Greg and Bryan Burnside, who joined the learning assistant team earlier in the term, have settled in well. Arrangements are also in place for our new teachers in Modern Languages and Maths, and we look forward to welcoming them ahead of the October break.
HT Update 04/09/26
As I write, our S6 pupils are currently at Forde Castle in Northumberland for their residential experience. Huge thanks go to Zack Williams, Ashley Davanna and Orla Burrows for accompanying them over the last couple of days, we can’t wait to get all the stories when they return. We’ve had some very positive updates and are particularly proud that the S6 has embraced this as a phone free experience.
On this note, we sent an update on our in-school phone procedures, as we move towards full implementation of the East Lothian Council guidelines by October. This involves extending our current pilot scheme to all faculties from Tuesday 15th September. Please ensure that you are familiar with our school level procedures as, in the rare cases of persistent misuse that we have, we involve families immediately. This is because our research shows that almost all mobile phones in school are the property of adults, who have supplied the phone and pay the contract/ bills. Overall, we have been very pleased with the way in which pupils have adapted to the storage procedures in the pilot, and are confident this will continue.
Earlier this week, we also sent a whole school communication about our aim to collect at least 100 out-of-school achievements from our young people. To support this, we have set up the email address achievement@rosehill.elcschool.org.uk where you can share what they have been up to. Recognition of achievement beyond school is part of our School Improvement Plan this year, and works alongside existing skills profiling in our classrooms. Thank you in advance for your participation.
Booking is currently open for our Family Learning Event: Welcome to Rosehill! This is for all S1 families and P7s from our associated primary schools, Pinkie and Wallyford. This is a popular event with a maximum capacity, so early booking is advised. As always, if you make a booking but your circumstances change, do let us know so that we can offer the slots to other families.
Please be reminded that we have the long weekend coming up, with school closed on Friday 11th and Monday 14th September. Therefore, there will be no HT Update next Friday.
HT Update 28/08/2026
Thank you to all parents who attended the Family Learning session on the BGE Curriculum. The slides are here: BGE Curriculum Information Evening 26th Aug 2026 Please note that, for security, you need to be signed into your child’s edubuzz account to access these.
LEAPs interviews for eligible young people. You can find out more about the LEAPs programme here: https://www.leapsonline.org/
Queen Margaret University workshops on thinking ahead, and on writing a university application
Talks from the Royal Conservatoire Scotland and the University of the Highlands and Islands on opportunities in the arts and beyond
Ongoing work with Skills Development Scotland on training, apprenticeships and further education
In staffing, next week will be Mr Pecerrilo’s last with us, as he moves into a new post in the city centre. An advert for Teacher of Maths is currently open, and the team is currently being supported by Keith Ritchie to ensure as much consistency as possible. Making use of our Pupil Equity Fund, we are also pleased to be moving forward with specific posts supporting Literacy and Numeracy interventions in the BGE.
HT Update 21/08/2026
It’s been a very positive first full week, with lots of focus on our Rosehill Ready routines and expectations.
You may have picked up some media reports around papers on mobile phone use in school that have been considered by elected members. For clarity, please be aware that the guidelines in the paper are not for immediate implementation, as schools need to e.g. sort out storage solutions, agree local level procedures, and ensure that communications are clear with pupils and staff. We continue our pilot in Languages & Literacy, and Maths & Computing, and will be expanding this over the course of the month. A reminder that:
Young people can keep their mobile phones in silent and in their bag, or store them in the box/ pouch supplied by the class teacher
However, should they then have their mobile phone out, this must then go to the classroom teacher until the end of the lesson
If they refuse to do this, as support call is made and a disciplinary incident is begun, which may lead to contact home/ withdrawal from class/ parental meeting/ formal disciplinary warning (our message is- it’s just not worth it)
Almost all young people have managed this very well. However, we have had a small number of issues where young people have been using their phones during learning time to respond to texts or calls from parents. You can support us by keeping any communications before/ after school and during break or lunch.
We are looking forward to seeing BGE parents for our online BGE Curriculum Evening on Wednesday 26th August. As this is online, there is no need to pre-book. A mailing with joining details for the meeting was sent earlier this week, but please let the admin team know if you can’t locate this.
Our S6 residential takes place at the start of September and parents of those S6 who are signed up to attend should look out for an invitation to a brief information session coming up. Zack Williams will be able to outline the itinerary and answer any questions about arrangements.
In staffing, Kieran Ferns is currently on paternity leave, but will be back in early September. We are delighted to share that baby Phoebe has arrived safely and everyone is well. Next week, we’ll be saying goodbye to Ross MacLeod and Shona Robertson. Both have made significant contributions to our Languages and Literacy faculty in the last few years, and both are moving to posts closer to home. We wish them all the best in their new schools. We have preferred candidates for both posts, so new teachers for Modern Languages and English will join us very soon. We are also looking forward to Harry Gaughan joining us as our new Teacher of Physics on the 2nd September. We have recruitment ongoing in support roles, with interviews for ASN auxiliaries and admin coming up. We have also appointed a preferred candidate to our new (PEF funded) Pupil Welfare Officer role. This role has a specific focus on tracking and monitoring attendance, as this is an area we want to improve further.
And finally, we’ve been asked to share the following information about the upcoming SYP elections. Our link for this in school is Laura Anderson, so any young people with an interest should feel free to speak with her. All the info needed is on the link at the end:
Nominations now open for Scottish Youth Parliament election
The Scottish Youth Parliament is the democratically elected voice of Scotland’s young people. It raises young people’s voices and campaign to make Scotland the best place to grow up.
Registrations now open for young people interested in becoming a Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament. Nominations must be made before 20 September and elections will be held 2 to 15 November. Support will be offered to all candidates.
Scottish Youth Parliament constituencies are the same as the Scottish Parliament’s. Candidates will stand, and pupils will vote, for the constituency based on the schools they attend as follows:
Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent: Ross High School, Musselburgh Grammar School, Rosehill High School
East Lothian Coast and Lammermuirs: Preston Lodge High School, Knox Academy, North Berwick, Dunbar Grammar
Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament are 14-25-year-olds who are elected to represent young people in every part of Scotland. They:
take part in youth voice and participation activities in their local area or organisation
consult young people to find out about the issues they care about
meet with local decision-makers, like Councillors and MSPs, to share young people’s views
campaign for change and hold decision-makers to account.
Young people interested in standing for election to SYP can find out more and register online at elections.syp.org.uk/elections/75
HT Update 14/08/2026
It feels like we picked entirely the wrong week to come back to school, with lots of glorious August sunshine meaning a slightly sticky start to the school year!
Despite this, it’s been an absolute joy to see the young people return and re-engage. In particular, we have the excitement of our first ever S6, and around 145 new S1s starting their Rosehill journey. As noted at the end of last term, we have welcomed several new staff across our faculties; an updated staff list is available on the website.
Our two Professional Learning Days covered a variety of staff development topics, including:
Engagement with our 26-27 Improvement Plan
Beginning work to become an LGBT Charter School
A support staff conference
Rosehill Ready routines
Initial review of senior phase attainment
We are very proud of the young people’s work on the Qualifications Scotland results, with early indications of improvements in A-C passes at National 5, as well as a promising start from this year’s small Higher cohort. However, please be aware that the breadth of the curriculum means that not all attainment is ‘in’ as yet, and we need to wait for the updates to Insight (the national data hub) in September to get a full picture and accurate data. Ahead of this, faculties are looking carefully at existing subject level data to identify current strengths and any points of development for the next session.
We held an extended Welcome Back assembly for all young people on Wednesday morning, with key reminders of routines and expectations, including more support for phone free learning. A separate mailing on this was sent earlier this week, and we’ll feedback on the programme and any changes/ expansion as the term progresses.
Our first opportunity to connect with parents through our Family Learning programme will be the BGE Curriculum Evening at 6.30pm on the 26th August, online. Any of our S1-S3 families are welcome and will find relevant points for them in terms of the national and local picture, but we particularly recommend this session for parents of our new S1. We’ll look at our curriculum rationale, how we timetable (including personalisation and choice), and how you can support learning at home. Google Meet details will be sent a couple of days ahead.
Whilst our first Parent Council Meeting isn’t until September, anyone who would like to get involved can contact rosehillhighpc@gmail.com to note their interest. I promise that they are very friendly and very welcoming!
Today we say goodbye to Carys Mitchell who is moving to a post in Edinburgh. Her replacement, Carina Campbell-Welsh, will be with us from Monday. We are also delighted to have appointed Richard Watson to the temporary Principal Teacher: Pathways post. This is part of our Pupil Equity Fund planning and will focus on curriculum development to meet learners’ needs. Richard will remain in the classroom first and foremost, so this will not affect current coursing arrangements.
Page updated
Report abuse