Staffing
PT Guidance (Pupil Support Leader) - Interviews took place on Monday and our preferred candidate, based on pre-employment checks, is Iona Holmes. It is hoped she will start on Monday 18 May 2026.
Rebecca McHugh will also start with us, next week, as our new Pupil Support Worker in our Inclusion team.
Wendy Doig, Pupil Support Leader for Traprain House, leaves us next Thursday after 10 years a Knox Academy. She has been an amazing asset at our school and I would like to express our thanks for all she has done for us – pupils, families, staff and wider community. Wendy will take her expertise on to her new post. We would like to wish her all the very best for the future.
S5-S6 Study Support
E-Sgoil Easter Study Support
2026 Registration for e-Sgoil's 2026 Easter Study Support programme is now open. This is accessible to all Senior Phase learners and is completely free. Study Support comprises live, interactive webinars and are delivered online by experienced, GTCS registered teachers. Almost 60 different webinar subjects are on offer during the week of 6th – 10th April, covering the most popular curricular areas as well as an extensive range of other subjects.
As well as their Easter Study Support programme, they continue to deliver weekly Evening Study Support webinars during term time. Please note that if learners are already registered for the evening programme, they will need to register separately for the Easter programme. Please can parents/carers encourage their young people to make use of this programme to help them with their studies over the Easter holidays too.
Chromebooks
Most of our young people are amazing at bringing their new Chromebooks every day. However a number of young people do not bring them and this hampers them in lessons where these are being used for learning and teaching. Please can we ask for parent/carer support in reminding them to pack them the night before and in ensuring they are fully charged for use.
If your young person is in S4/5/6 and leaving school this year, they must return their Chromebook after their last exam as part of the Leavers process (they do not get to keep them as they belong to ELC). They should return them, fully operational, with the charger, to Miss Patterson. These will then be passed on to other pupils. Thank you for your support in ensuring this.
Uniform
All parents/carers should have received information about our new blended uniform as of August. I would also like to highlight that our Hub/Uniform Bank, of both new and pre-loved uniform, will be available for all to access – just contact the school office to let us know you wish to access it and we can arrange a time for this or, alternatively, young people can also access it too through their House Teams. We have loads of uniform and it would be great to have families accessing it.
Blazers
Even with our new blended uniform approach from August, young people in our senior phase will still be able to elect to wear blazers. Therefore, if any S5/6 pupils wish to purchase a blazer to wear as part of their uniform, they will be able to do so on Thursday 23rd April from 2-7 pm in the library. Borders Embroidery will be in attendance to help measure sizes.
Rights Respecting Schools (RRSA)
Our Article of focus this week is Article 26 - Governments should provide money or other support to help children from poor families.
Deaf Awareness
This week's sign is please and thank you! Very useful for our young people to get to know. Did you know that some signs can look the same but have different meanings? Lip pattern is super important
Events/Trips
Spring Concert
It was an absolutely fabulous evening last night with our talented musicians taking to the stage. Our S6 compéres, Keelan Woodhead and Maya Borkowski, were superb at leading the event, which was arranged and run entirely by our pupils - headed up by Bella Gold & Emily Westgarth and supported by their Concert Committee (Iris Pathirana, Brodie Wallace, Imogen Dale, James Gorman and Chloe Milazzo). What great leadership as these concerts take so much organisation! A huge thank you to all who attended and supported our young people and to all those involved in the concert, from performers to stage crew and tech teams. Everyone gave it their all to make it the amazing night it was!
Half of all funds raised will go to the running of future events and the other half to Homestart East Lothian – demonstrating our commitment to supporting our local community. Thank you to Mandy Hockey who attended last night on behalf of this charity.
S6 Leavers’ Ceremony
This is taking place next Thursday afternoon (2 April) and will be a celebration of their time here at Knox Academy. After a formal ceremony at 12.15, and a farewell from me on behalf of all staff, pupils will head off for activities in the PE Dept. We will all then come back together afterwards for a buffet lunch with all staff invited to join S6 for this.
On behalf of all staff here at Knox Academy, we would like to wish them all the very best for their Qualification Scotland exams and in their future (even though we will do this again for the day they are back after the Easter break and before they go on exam leave on the Wednesday). We will also look forward to catching up with them at their Prom. I am sure many of them will also adorn our stage at our Awards Evening in June. I do hope they will all keep in touch with us. They have been a truly amazing year group and I am sure I speak for all staff when I say I really will miss them. They have been great ambassadors for the school and done so much over their time here for both our school and local and wider community.
S4/5 Leavers’ Ceremony
We will also have a gathering for our S4/5 leavers next Thursday morning so we can wish them all the very best in their next steps in life. Even though they are leaving, like the S6, they can continue to seek support from Skills Development Scotland, if they need any support with their pathways over the coming years.
Pupils’ Successes
Please do contact admin@knox.elcschool.org.uk to tell us about your young people’s successes so we can share these with our school community.
Staff Successes
Assist FM
Congratulations to Maria Millar, our School Meals Supervisor, who won the best main course award in the Assist FM Scottish Local Cook of the Year Competition yesterday. We are so lucky to have such a talented cook in our school as the meals she produces her are top notch too.
General Information
PTA Family Quiz Night - Friday 20th March
What an absolutely fantastic evening! We’re delighted to share that the event raised £436. A huge thank you to everyone who came along, to all the parents and carers who donated raffle prizes, and to The Loft, Castle Park Golf Club, and Tesco for their generous contributions. An extra special thank you also goes to the Rugby Club for kindly letting us use their venue for the quiz — we’re incredibly grateful for their support.
The competition was fierce from start to finish. Going into the final picture round, just 2 points separated the top 4 teams. In a dramatic finish, The Ruthless Gibbons clinched the win by a single point after a brilliant final round. Congratulations to our champions, and a big thank you to all 13 teams who took part and helped make the night such a success.
Easter holiday opportunities
Edinburgh Science Festival Edinburgh Science Festival is back for another year of family fun and discovery over the Easter holiday! The theme of this year’s Festival, Going Global, recognises that scientific discovery is rarely made in isolation – it requires as collaboration of people and cultures from around the world. The Festival is on from the 4th – 19th of April 2026, and 35% of the Festival’s family-focused activities and events are FREE. This year’s Festival includes a talk with CBeebies star Hamza Yassin and lots of STEM powered activities for young people to enjoy. Parents can browse the full programme of events on the website.
Secondary Schools Surf & Adventure @ Belhaven Surf Centre
Sessions:
Days: Monday
Dates: 20th/ 27th April & 4th May
Times: 4:30pm-6:30pm
£75.00
To book your place please click on this link to book
Any issues please get in touch with Thomas Salkeld
Artificial Intelligence – What parents need to know
Education Scotland have partnered with The University of Edinburgh to provide a three-part webinar series on Artificial Intelligence (AI) – What parents need to know.
Please note:
Parents can fill in their own personal email address and don’t need a Glow email. It will however, then ask for a second email. At that stage they can either add in a work email address if they have one or they can repeat their personal email address. As long as there is one character at least in that second box it will let them continue. For example, they could put in a dot or an x.
Tuesday 21st April 2026: 12:30 – 13:30
What every parent should know about Artificial Intelligence
To register, click here.
Wednesday 13th May 2026: 16:00 – 17:00
Ethics and Children’s Rights
To register, click here.
Thursday 4th June 2026: 16:00 – 17:00
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Children’s Learning
To register, click here.
Dates for your diary:
Friday 2 April – Monday 20 April (inclusive) – Easter Break
Start of summer term – Tuesday 21 April for staff and all pupils.
Wednesday 22 April – exam leave begins for S4-S6 pupils
Our school calendar is updated regularly and should be used to access all information throughout the year and allows you to plan ahead too.
This will be the last HT's update of this term, so on behalf of all at Knox Academy, I would like to wish you all a lovely Easter break.
*Remember the clocks spring forward an hour on Sunday as we welcome in British Summertime.
Sue Cook
