Headteacher Update
Dear Parents, Carers and Pupils of Craigroyston,
I hope you are all well and looking forward to the lighter nights from the change of the clocks this weekend! A reminder that our Easter holidays begin on Friday 3rd April so therefore the last day of term before the holidays will be Thursday 2nd April.
| Priorities and Matters Arising |
| P7 Parent/Carer Information Evening On Monday evening we held a short P7 Parent/Carer Information Evening for parents/carers and pupils. This was a great opportunity for us to meet with parents and pupils again – especially pupils coming to us outwith catchment. We’re very much looking forward to seeing our P7s at the next meeting in May and again on the three-day visit in June! Scottish Parliamentary Election – Thursday 7th May 2026 We continue on the registration drive to ensure that all of our pupils who are eligible to vote have signed up in advance. The final day for voter registration is 20th April so we’re trying to raise awareness of this with our young people and ensure as many pupils as possible sign up. We will be holding informative assemblies before the holidays to ensure that our young understand the importance of this. Some young people have been unable to sign up because they don’t have their National Insurance number with them – any help from home with this would be great! S6 Celebrations A reminder that our S6 Leavers’ Celebration will take place on Thursday 2nd April. Young people will have the morning to have their shirts signed and say their goodbyes. Families are invited in at 1215 for the official ceremony – it would be great to see as many of you there as possible! After lunch we will be having a barbecue and music in the back playground for our pupils! Easter Study The timetable for Easter Study for S4- S6 has now be sent home to parents/carers this week. Please encourage your child to attend as many classes as possible! This will really help them with revision in the lead up to the final exams. S1 Parent/Carer Evening A reminder of our S1 Parent/Carer Evening on Tuesday 31st March at 4pm. If your child has misplaced their sign-up sheet, please ask them to pick up another once from reception. If your child hasn’t made any appointments, please come along anyway and we will help you see your child’s teachers. We’re looking forward to seeing as many parents and pupils there as possible! |
| School Security |
| We continue the drive to ensure that our school is a positive, safe and pleasant learning environment for all. This includes ensuring that there is no litter lying around after breaks and lunches and that our school is not vandalised in any way. Although a little more positive this week, we still have issues around this. We will be speaking with our young people about this but any support with discussions around this at home would be really appreciated! Thank you! |
| Staffing |
This week we said a very sad goodbye to Mrs Ellis as she moves on to her next adventure as DHT at Newbattle High School. We are going to miss Mrs Ellis very much and I would like to take this opportunity to again thank her for everything she has brought to Craigroyston over the past two years! She has been a wonderful colleague and teacher who has brought positive change – and laughter – to Craigroyston! I’d like to wish her all the very best in her new role! She will always be a member of the Craigroyston family! Also, a goodbye (for now!) and good luck to Mrs Craven who goes off on maternity leave! Mrs Craven – we are wishing you all the very best for the safe arrival of Baby Craven! Enjoy every moment of the magical time to come! Can’t wait for the photos! A huge congratulations to Mr Sobolev who was successful at interview for the permanent post of Teacher of HE. I am absolutely delighted that Mr Sobolev will be staying with us permanently and I am sure the pupils will agree with this too! Mr Sobolev will take up the permanent post from August but will be here on a temporary basis until then. On Monday, we welcome Ms McIntyre to Craigroyston. Ms McIntyre is taking up post of PSO Care Experience. She will focus on ensuring the best possible outcomes for our Care Experienced young people. The following posts closed this week and interviews will take place on the following dates: CL Expressive Arts (permanent) Tuesday 21st April Teacher of English (permanent) Monday 27th April Teacher of Support for Learning (permanent) Thursday 30th April Teacher of Social Subjects (temporary) TBC The following posts are currently live on myjobscotland: Teacher of Drama (permanent) Pupil Support Leader (permanent) This recruitment drive will ensure that we are fully staffed for August! |
| Headteacher Highlights |
S6 Broomlee Residential As you know, yesterday our S6 pupils attended their S6 residential at Broomlee in West Linton. They had an amazing time and enjoyed everything including a fabulous game of rounders, a big party and just generally being together! As always, they were an absolute asset to us and it was so lovely to see them being free from any worries and just having the opportunity to be young people! They also really enjoyed playing with their water guns whilst sporting their goggles! 😊 It was a brilliant time and a massive shout out to everyone who made this trip possible! Our S6 pupils will have memories they will treasure forever!  Build Your Future – Construction Event Our S2 and S3 pupils thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to try different experiences this week at a DYW event held in school. This construction event gave our pupils the chance to try a range of different trades. It was brilliant to see them enjoying such a variety of experiences! Thank you to everyone involved with this!    CEC Instrumental Music Service On Monday evening, three of our young musicians performed in the Usher Hall as part of the City of Edinburgh IMS Fanfare Concert. Loulou Bleasdale (S6) played with the Edinburgh Schools Guitar Ensemble, Elham Najib (S5) played with the Edinburgh Schools Wind Ensemble and Anmol Kandel (S2) played with the Training Wind Ensemble. Emily Bui was also due to play with the guitar ensemble but didn’t make the concert – although it was still a great achievement to be part of the group in the first place! This was an incredible achievement and experience for our young musicians representing our school! A huge well done to everyone involved! |
| Important Upcoming Dates |
Tuesday 31st March S1 Parents’ Evening 4pm – 6pm Thursday 2nd April S6 Leavers’ Celebration P5 – P7 Thursday 3rd April Easter Holidays Begin |
| And finally… Quote of the Week |
| ‘Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.’ Pele |
Please do not hesitate to contact me at Shelley.McLaren@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Shelley
Shelley McLaren
Headteacher
Craigroyston Community High School
Craigroyston Community High School 