Headteacher Update
Dear Parents, Carers and Pupils of Craigroyston,
As we work towards the exam diet, the weeks are becoming busier and busier! We’re delighted that the sun has been shining – the young people are in good spirits and have been enjoying being outdoors at break and lunch!
| Priorities |
| Staffing As you know, we continue to be faced with staffing challenges but we are working very hard to remedy this. We are in the process of securing full time permanent staff for August to ensure that we are fully staffed by then. We have secured a number of regular supply staff to take us through to the summer term which will ensure consistency for our pupils. Study Leave Study leave will officially begin on Thursday 23rd April. There will be more information to come on this and the process for exams. 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. Easter Study We are currently putting together a timetable for Easter Study and this will be sent to all parents/carers. There will be classes available during the Easter holidays for a range of subjects for S4-S6 pupils. I would strongly encourage young people to attend these in preparation for exams. |
| School Security |
| Although we are putting many measures in place, we continue to experience vandalism to the toilets, drama studio and assembly hall. Furthermore, some young people are leaving their litter lying around the school or throwing food/juice down the corridors/stairs. We want our school to be a pleasant, safe learning environment for everyone and equally want to focus our funding on education and not repairs. We will speaking with our young people about this but any support with discussions around this at home would be really appreciated! Thank you! |
| Staffing |
We are very busy on the recruitment front and I am very excited about us moving to a full staff team in August! We are now in a position to appointment a further permanent Teacher of Biology. Congratulations to Ms. Smith who will be (re)joining us as part of the science faculty and was successful at interview for this post! Ms. Smith previously worked here as a Teacher of Biology and a Pupil Support Officer. She will start with us after Easter. Please find below interview dates for the following posts: CL Languages – Thursday 12th March Teacher of HE (permanent) – Thursday 12th March DHT (long leet) – Monday 16th March The following post is currently advertised on myjobscotland: School Support Assistant |
| Headteacher Highlights |
Mobile Phone Focus Group On Thursday we welcomed Andy Welsh from the Scottish Youth Parliament who led focus groups about the use of mobile phones in school. He was supported by Ayla (S4) and Jackie Barr. Well done to the following pupils who took part in these focus groups: S1-S3 Harper Emily Charmaine Precious Rebecca Eren Lizzy Lily Scarlett Olivia Ryder Taylor Senior Phase Halle Morgan John Lilly Tina Girls’ Football Festival A huge well done to our girls who took part in a football festival today. Today they lost one game, won one game and lost two but came in third overall! A special shout out to Hannah who won Player of the Tournament! Brilliant effort! A massive thanks to Mr. Irving and his team for all their hard work and the time committed to this! The girls who took part today were Precious, Hannah, Lily, Rebecca, Ayla, Lily and Nicole.  Library Mama and Hawa are volunteering every Friday in the library as part of their Duke of Edinburgh – today they have been making a beautiful display about Islam celebrating the enormous diversity and richness of global Muslim culture during the month of Ramadan! Well done girls!  START Hackathon 2026 This week several of our Senior Phase pupils attended the START Hackathon which was a day event designed to encourage and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs! They were an absolute credit to our school and showed great confidence in their presentations! Well done to Rafail, Alexander, Yash, Kaspar and Andy! Languages In November 2025, six of our S4 pupils attended a trip to Paris with Ms. Macrae as part of the Franco-British Youth Ocean Conference. The British Council have just shared a video of their experience. Please find the link below: https://youtu.be/p1XqqViIeng?si=-UHsr5RYhLoouXbp A HUGE well done to the girls and to Ms. Macrae. The following S4 pupils attended the trip: Ayla, Vivienne, Michelle, Amelia, Joy and Maria. Music Our very own LouLou (S6) represented the City of Edinburgh in the National Final of the Scottish Young Musicians Ensemble of the Year Competition on Sunday at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Loulou was among 16 guitarists in the city who were selected to be part of this elite ensemble for the occasion. Only 5 Edinburgh schools were represented within the group: Boroughmuir, Royal High, Trinity, James Gillespies and CCHS. An outstanding achievement for one of our young musicians! In other Music news, Rafail Borisov (S4) took part in the City of Edinburgh Piano Festival at Broughton High School last weekend. He performed a solo and played brilliantly! |
| Important Upcoming Dates |
Thursday 19th March S3 Parents’ Evening Tuesday 31st March S1 Parents’ Evening Thursday 2nd April S6 Leavers’ Celebration (12 noon for parents/carers) |
| And finally… Quote of the Week |
| ‘Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.’ Nelson Mandela |
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 