Headteacher Update
Dear Parents, Carers and Pupils of Craigroyston,
I hope you’ve all had a good week! Although it’s been cold outside, we’re starting to feel spring in the air and are enjoying it being a wee bit lighter in the morning and the nights not being quite as dark!
Thank you to all the parents/carers who came along to the S4-S6 Parents’ Evening on Thursday. It was lovely to catch up with everyone and I hope that you found the consultations with teachers useful. If you weren’t able to make it but would like an update, please contact me.
| Priorities |
| Staffing Concerns We continue to make some progress with staffing and are very grateful to colleagues from other schools who have offered to help us during this time. We have been contacting parents/carers individually to make plans for young people who may need certain qualifications for university or college in the coming year. I will continue to keep you updated on our staffing but please do contact me if you would like to discuss this further. Coursing This week, a letter has gone out with more information about coursing for S2-S5 pupils. Please take some time to look through the coursing booklets on the school website to plan for your child’s coursing. Teachers are currently making recommendations for levels and coursing. These will be shared with your child. Pupils will be coursed at some point during the dates below: Monday 9th February – Friday 13th February 2026 Monday 23rd February – Friday 27th February 2026 If you have any questions about university requirements, please contact Mrs. Grant in the first instance. Her email address is: Catriona.Grant@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk. If you have any queries about college or the School College Partnership (where pupils attend both school and college) please contact Ms. Stewart at Claire.Stewart@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk. |
| School Security |
| School Gates The gates continue to be locked during the day for the safety of everyone in school. I understand this may feel like an inconvenience at times but overall the system has been successful. Please remind your child to be respectful of the security measures put in place. Ultimately we just want to ensure that all staff and pupils are as safe in school as possible. Magnetic Locks As you will be aware, our new magnetic locks have been in place for a few weeks and, on the whole, have been very successful in once again keeping the school as safe as possible. Unfortunately, over the past few days there have been a few damages to the doors. These are very expensive to fix. We will be contacting parents/carers individually to discuss these damages. This week we will be holding assemblies to remind pupils about how the doors function. |
| Staffing |
| This week we said goodbye and good luck to Ms. Hamilton (Teacher of PE) who is going on maternity leave – we’re wishing her all the very best for this new and exciting adventure and can’t wait to see photos of the baby when they arrive! We continue to work on recruitment to ensure that posts are filled as quickly as possible Vacancies live on myjobscotland this week: Teacher of Biology (permanent) |
| Headteacher Highlights |
Headteacher Meeting This week we welcomed headteachers from every high school in Edinburgh for the monthly HT Meeting. I was so incredibly proud of all our senior pupils who helped with meeting and greeting headteachers, making teas and coffees and registration. Many people commented on how smart, polite and welcoming they were! They presented our school so positively and I would like to say a massive well done to them! Keep up the great work team! Library Elim and Evelyn had their interview with author, Liz Hyder, published in Teen Titles this week. It’s an incredible article and they really shone at using their interview skills. Well done! Malachy (S1) has launched our latest club – Rubix Cube Club! It is taking place on Fridays at break time in the library so please come along! Great work, Malachy! Our Craigroyston Columbans and Journalism Senior Phase pupils visited Granton Archive to explore how archives help people tell the real history of their communities. They were all amazing! A special shout out to Lexi D who showed great confidence and curiosity about the changes in the neighbourhood over the years. P7 Transition More than 50 pupils from Forthview Primary School visited our school this week. They did literacy activities with the English faculty and heard about all the different ways the library can support them when they come to high school. They’re very excited to start in S1! PSE Thank you to Mrs Hunter who organised a fabulous residential trip to the army for Freddie, Kyle, Leon and Samuel! They all had a brilliant time and really put their all into the experience! Looking forward to hearing all about it on Monday! Whole School This week our under 16s boys’ football team played again James Gillespie’s High School at Broughton. Although they didn’t win, they really enjoyed the game and displayed excellent teamwork! |
| Parent/Carer Council |
| We are really keen to relaunch our Parent/Carer Council. This is a group of parents/carers who come together each month to help us make decisions as a school and who represent the voice of the parents and community. It is really important that we have your views and opinions as we move forward to try and improve the school. If you would like to be part of our Parent/Carer Council, please complete the form using the link below: Craigroyston Parent/Carer Council – Fill in form Please do this by Friday 13th February. It would be great to see as many people signed up as possible! |
| Important Upcoming Dates |
| Friday 13th February February Break Begins School Finishes at 1pm 9 – 13th February Coursing 23rd – 27th February Coursing |
| And finally… Quote of the Week |
| ‘Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.’ Robert Collier |
I hope you have a lovely weekend! Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Shelley
Shelley McLaren
Headteacher
Craigroyston Community High Schoolarents’ Evening
Craigroyston Community High School 