Staffing
In the absence of Mrs Leighton (Curriculum Leader of Health and Wellbeing), Mr Paul Gleeson will be acting Curriculum Leader.
Assemblies
We had two assemblies last week.
House Assemblies focused on raising awareness of the additional new House which will begin next year, and Mr B Maxwell will be the Pupil Support Leader for that House (currently the PSL for S1 Learners). Learners were told about the new House by Mr Maxwell and Ms Holmes. They were told we would like their views on a few ideas and they have been asked to respond to these by this Friday, Our young people have been asked for their opinion on whether they would like to simply add the name of a new House or rebrand and rename all Houses in the school. They have also been asked to consider if they would like to have register groups, which are simply year group classes (as they are at present) or whether they would like register classes with a mix of year groups each of these. This would allow siblings to possibly be in the same register group. So far, we have 300+ responses to our questionnaire.
Our assemblies on Friday were for all pupils (in year groups), where we had a visitor from Soluna, a Mental Health Support Service ( Soluna ) which is available to all East Lothian young people. Thomas from Soluna told our young people all about this service, which is a free, requires no referral or no travel to appointments. The support is accessible online 7 days per week, until 10pm in the evening. An App is available for young people to access this support easily and quickly (by Mrs Falconer, DHT).
Rights Respecting Schools (RRSA)
The right of the week is Article 3 - Best interests of the child
All adults should do what is best for children. Governments should make sure children are looked after by their parents or if others if this is needed.
Prelim Diet for S4-S6 Pupils
There will be an assembly next week for senior pupils and the focus will be on study skills and preparing for prelims.
A reminder that the timetable is on the school website and was also emailed to senior pupils. Those pupils with any additional arrangements for their exams will be issued with their specific timetables very soon.
e-Sgoil Evening Study Support 2026/27
Registration for the 2026/27 National e-Learning Offer Evening Study Support programme is now open and S4-S6 pupils can sign up here. Please note: pupils will require their GLOW user name and password to access this so if you need this, please ask your teachers.
S4/5/6 Pupil Profiles (Self-reflection)
Staff have been working with our senior pupils to set up their Self-Reflection Profiles in Google Drive. These folders will be used throughout the year to help pupils celebrate their achievements, reflect on significant pieces of work, including prelim examinations, and identify their next steps for improvement.
As part of this process, pupils will be encouraged to think carefully about their learning, recognise what they are doing well, and set goals for future progress. Learner conversations with teachers will help support and guide these reflections.
We would be grateful if parents and carers of pupils in S4, S5 and S6 could ask their young person to share their Self-Reflection Profile with them on a monthly basis. This will give you the opportunity to see their progress as it happens and discuss the goals they are working towards.
As we have removed written comments from Senior Phase reports, we hope these profiles will provide a more meaningful and up-to-date picture of each young person's learning journey. We also hope they will encourage pupils to take greater ownership of their progress by reflecting on feedback and actively planning their next steps.
Thank you for your continued support. By working together, we can help our young people develop the confidence, skills and self-awareness that will enable them to achieve their full potential
Scottish Careers Week – 9-13 November
There is a search page available on My World of Work to view all events offered during Careers Week. You are able to search by audience. The link below takes you to a search for all events for parents and carers.
Search Scottish Careers Week events | My World of Work
Investment 20/20 are hosting 3 free webinars for parents and carers to help families better understand school leaver opportunities in the investment management industry – during Scottish Careers Week. Laura Wilson has asked if these webinars can be highlighted to relevant partners as well as parents and carers directly.
Parents and Carers Information Session: Careers in asset management
Join employers and apprentices for a free 30-minute online session and learn more about:
- Apprenticeships and trainee programmes
- Career opportunities in asset management
- The experiences of current apprentices
- What employers look for when recruiting young people
Registration link
Tuesday 10 November
11am - 11.30am
https://bookings.theia.org/register?sgid=72ee57687da64c1eb892a730195cd77e
Wednesday 11 November
4.15pm - 4.45pm
https://bookings.theia.org/register?sgid=6a6f9e1d95184be09453b2ed1917643a
Thursday 12 November
6.00pm - 6.30pm
https://bookings.theia.org/register?sgid=f4b3cf35bf274e5a9c872376132073d8
Please note:
- These sessions are for parents and carers only, not for young people. Investment20/20 works separately with schools to deliver workshops and activities for students.
- When you click the registration link, please choose the option ‘skip and proceed as guest’.
Location: Zoom Webinar.
Once registered, an email confirmation will be received with the Zoom link that can be used to join the webinar.
Parent/Carer Webinars: School Leaver Opportunities in Asset Management | My World of Work and
Parent/carer webinars: School Leaver Opportunities in Asset Management | My World of Work and
Parent/carer webinars: School Leaver Opportunities in Asset Management | My World of Work
Health and Safety
A reminder that all school pick-ups/drop offs, (at whatever time of the day), must be off school premises unless your young person has a disability or an injury that requires them to be dropped off on the school grounds (please let the House Team know so we have your car registration number). There has been a recent increase in drops offs/pick-ups in the school car park area (particularly one Friday when the weather was inclement and parents/carers were parking or turning in the disabled parking bays and parking in the yellow zone off area). Cars were leaving as pupils were entering and leaving the school car park as pupils were exiting the school at the end of the day. School buses were forced to stop/pull over and movement ground to a halt. Some cars were even bumping up on pavements/kerbs to let the buses through. This is a real safety issue as this presents a risk to our young people and staff/visitors exiting the school. Also, many of the cars were driving through the car park area faster than the 5mph maximum speed. Beyond the school buses, there should be limited vehicular movement during this time and all pick-ups/drops off premises (unless otherwise agreed). Thank you for adhering to this.
Events/Trips
BT Work Ready Event – S2
On Monday 5th, Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th October - the Numeracy and Computing faculty were fortunate to welcome in BT to work with learners in our S2 cohort, as part of their 'Work Ready' program
The BT 'Work Ready' event is designed to help young people develop an understanding of the skills, behaviours and digital competencies required in the modern workplace.
The programme focused on employability, teamwork, problem solving, communication and digital skills, while helping pupils make connections between their learning in school and future careers.
Further information for parents and carers about the initiative can be found on the BT Work Ready webpage: BT Work Ready.
The event ran over three days for all S2 pupils, split by house group, and provided a valuable link between Computing, digital learning and Developing the Young Workforce.
Feedback from staff and pupils was very positive, and it was great to see the level of engagement across the sessions.
S3 Pupils
A group of S3 pupils attended the Careers Hive at the National Museum of Scotland all day on Monday 26th October 2026.
All of our S3 pupils are involved in the Career Inspiration Event this morning. This involves them taking part in activities led by various companies and also hearing about what their jobs entail and how the subjects/qualifications required to follow these pathways.
S5 English
On Wednesday 4 November, a group of S5 pupils will be going on a trip to the Lyceum Theatre to see 1984. This supports the reading of the novel as part of their Higher English curriculum.
S5/6 Trip to Torness
The EDF visit to Torness nuclear power station with our senior girls was a success. The pupils wrote
'It’s a wonderful educational experience, we learnt how the reactor works to create electricity for 2.2 million homes in Scotland. We had fun doing the many workshops that showed us, how working in the industry might look like. It was also interesting to see the different career paths from the staff there too'
S5/6 Higher Modern Studies
Some of our S5/6 Higher Modern Studies class will take part in a trip to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 10th November.
Pupils’ Successes
Inspire Awards
It was great to have our Jazz Band invited to play at the inspire awards on Monday evening.
Welfare Update
It’s not too late for your child to get their flu vaccine in December.
Flu can be serious, even for healthy children. That’s why NHSScotland recommends the flu vaccine is offered to all young people in secondary school.
Your child received their consent pack from school back in August. It’s very important to complete, sign and return the form if you haven’t already.
If you’ve lost the consent form, don’t worry. Ask Alison Swallow for another one.
If you missed the deadline to return the consent form, your child can still get vaccinated. Just make sure they bring the form back to school or along to the vaccination session on the day-Thursday 10th December-and give it to the vaccinator.
The flu vaccine is usually given as a painless nasal spray which is over in seconds. Getting your child vaccinated can help prevent them from getting sick with flu and needing time off school this winter.
Please visit www.nhsinform.scot/childflu for further information."
Dates for your diary:
5 November S4-S6 Parents’ Evening – 4.30-6.30pm
10 November S4-S6 Parents’ Evening – 4.30-6.30pm
19 November Parent Council - 6.30-8pm (School library)
Our school calendar is updated regularly and should be used to access all information throughout the year. This will also allow you to plan ahead too for Parent/Carer consultations and other events too.
Sue Cook
