Headteacher Update
Dear Parents, Carers and Pupils of Craigroyston,
I hope everyone had a lovely February break! We have had a very busy first week!
| Priorities |
| Coursing This week has been another very busy week for coursing. We have almost finished coursing all S2-S5 pupils. If your child has not yet been coursed, they will be picked up on Monday and Tuesday to do this. If you have any questions about this, please contact your child’s Pupil Support Leader as detailed below: Mirren Summers (Acting PSL – Arran House) Mirren.Summers@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk Craig Yardley (PSL – Bute House) Craig.Yardley@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk Helen Hunter (PSL – Mull House) Helen.Hunter@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk School Toilets Since the beginning of term, we have been trialling the best options for open toilets during the school day. Unfortunately, there continues to be significant damage to the main toilets since they have been open for the duration of the day. This is very disappointing and something I have noted as a significant change since returning from maternity leave. The majority of our young people play no part in this, but a small number of pupils are ruining these facilities for everyone. Due to this, the main toilets will be closed and only opened at break and lunch. The following toilets will be open during all day: outside my room (ground floor) outside Mr. Shalaev’s room (first floor) close to Mrs. Grant’s room (first floor) outside Mr. Baxter’s room (first floor) outside Mrs. Abdo’s room (second floor) If your child requires a toilet pass or you’d like to discuss this further, please contact their PSL in the first instance. We are now in the situation where we are going to have to ask parents/carers to contribute financially if your child has been damaging school property – this is not exclusive to the toilets, but to other areas as well, such as the doors and the drama studio. The costs are so great and we want to ensure that our school is a positive, clean, safe place for all of our young people. S6 Leavers’ Celebrations Our S6 leavers’ celebrations will take place on Thursday 2nd April. A separate letter will go to S6 parents/carers about this along with information about the S6 trip. |
| 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. |
| Staffing |
| A huge congratulations to Mrs. Hamilton (PE) and her husband who welcomed baby Amelia on Thursday evening. They’re all doing very well and we’re very excited for them! We hope they enjoy every second of this magical time! We also have some sad news: Mrs. Ellis (DHT Pupil Support) will be leaving us on 27th March to take up a new post as DHT at Newbattle High School in Midlothian. We are going to miss Mrs. Ellis very much – our loss is Newbattle’s gain! A huge congratulations to Mrs Craven who was successful at interview on Monday for the permanent post of Teacher of Biology. Well done, Mrs. Craven! This week we welcome Mrs. Frew who will be here in the capacity of Acting DHT for the coming months. We hope you’ve had a great first week at Craigroyston! Earlier this month we interviewed for the permanent posts of Teacher of HE and Teacher of Business. I am delighted to tell you that we recruited two teachers – Mrs. Dow (HE) and Mr. Lyons (Business) – and they will be joining us in August! The following posts have now closed on myjobscotland: CL Languages (permanent) DHT (permanent) School Support Assistant (part-time permanent) Recruitment for these posts will take place in the coming weeks – I will keep you updated on this. |
| Headteacher Highlights |
Whole School – MSP Visit  On Thursday we welcomed Maree Todd, the Minister for Drugs, Alcohol Policy and Sport, to Craigroyston. This was part of a wider event with Scottish Swimming. It was a brilliant visit where once again our young people were outstanding representatives for our school. Everyone, including Maree Todd, commented on how welcoming, smart and confident our young people were! Ayla Aksoy, who is a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, had the opportunity to have a long conversation with the Minister about the issues affecting young people in Scotland presently. Ayla was absolutely amazing and I have no doubt that we will see her in Parliament in the future – Maree Todd could not have been more complimentary of her! A huge well done to her! A special thank you to Mrs. Grant for organising the PLT and Mr. Shalaev for being on hand to support. P7 Transition This week we had visits from young people who were out of catchment. A well done to our senior Sports Ambassadors who took the children on a tour of our school – again they were very impressive! Music A huge well done to everyone involved in the music recitals this week! The young people were outstanding even though this was their first time performing in front of an audience. There were a few pre-show wobbles but everyone performed in the end and we’re all very proud of them! |
| Important Upcoming Dates |
| Thursday 19th March S3 Parents’ Evening Thursday 2nd April S6 Leavers’ Celebration |
| And finally… Quote of the Week |
| ‘Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible!’ Audrey Hepburn |
I hope you have a lovely weekend! 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 