Greenfaulds High School | Provider of Mainstream & Gaelic Education For North Lanarkshire

Head Teacher Blog

Dear Parent/Carer

I hope you have had a good week.

One of the things about this week in Greenfaulds is that the week before our final week is always full of preparation and anticipation. Next week the Christmas Festivities will be in full effect with Ceilidhs, Charity Days and end of term celebrations. The thing which makes next week so special for me is the fundraising aspect that takes place. As a school we always have a valuable, pupil identified, good cause to work towards next week and I look forward to sharing the culmination of all this work with you next Thursday.

As always, if you have any questions in relation to the information contained within this blog or any other school matter please do not hesitate to be in touch with the school. Moreover, I’m always delighted to share good news of pupil achievements outside of school as many pupils are participating at an exceptionally high level in a range of activities. If your son/daughter is involved in something, please do share this with me.

Gift Giving Tree

A massive thank you to all pupils, staff and families who have already donated to our Gift Giving Tree. If you have visited the school in the last 10 days, you would have seen that our Gift Giving Tree is in the main entrance. It is decorated with hand cut out baubles with suggested gifts for pupils and/or families to provide for people who are homeless over the festive period. This year’s chosen charity is the Simon Community, who work to support people who are homeless.

All monies raised on the whole school Charity Day on the 17th of December will also go to support the work that they do. Additionally, all the gifts we are asking for are gifts that will go to support people who find themselves homeless this Christmas and will be donated to the charity. If you would like to donate to our collection more details are available here.

Whole School Charity Day

On Wednesday the 17^th December, pupils are invited to take part in a whole range of events taking place over the course of the day to help raise funds for Simon Community. Activities ranging from Afternoon Tea to FIFA sessions to a Lip Sync Battle and a Panto are all available at incredibly reasonable prices. All families should have received instructions on how to purchase tickets for their son/daughter last week and I hope that you found the process relatively straightforward. This system has been adopted this year to ensure a cashless and paperless system in the school. In the build-up to the day, there will be further information shared with pupils and families, and I look forward to sharing with you our overall contribution to the Simon Charity in the HT Blog next week.

Modern Language Ambassadors

This week I was delighted to receive an update from Mrs McAdams about the work of the Modern Language Ambassadors.

Over the last month, 14 of our S5/6 pupils have been working hard as our Modern Languages Subject Ambassadors to deliver French lessons to our associated primary schools. The pupils listed below have delivered well prepared, fun & engaging French lessons to P7 pupils at Baird, Eastfield, Condorrat, Ravenswood & Woodlands Primary Schools. They have done an amazing job, with the help of Ms Henry, representing the Modern Languages Department and Greenfaulds High School.

Félicitations à tous!

Chloe Adamson, Morven Burns, Sofia Gillespie, Molly Hamilton, Abbie McDonald, Brandon McGuigan, Moono Michelo, Leo Quinn, Dania Shams, Jess Tierney, Jess Watson.

Maia Duffield, Duncan Love, Jessica Peacock

Christmas Dinner

On Thursday this week (11^th December), the Catering Team held our Christmas Dinner for pupils and staff. As a total ‘pigs in blankets’ devotee I, like all the pupils, had an amazing lunch. A big thank you to the catering team for all their hard work in ensuring our Christmas Activities are well fuelled!

S3 Core Class Charity Appeal

Mr Britton’s S3 Core Skills recently held a raffle which raised £180 for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Care. They run a Baby Bank, Clothes Bank, School Uniform Bank and a Hygiene Bank. On their Facebook post the charity praised the pupils for the amount they raised and for choosing to support a small local charity. They explained they could buy essentials for their referral packs with the money. A huge well done to the class and Mr Britton.

S1-3 Ceilidh

So as you read this, the S1-S3 Ceilidh has just come to an end. Pupils in S1-S3 put to practice all their dancing lessons that have been ongoing over December in PE to good use. A big thank you to the PE team and to the pupils who made the event such a memorable one and a lovely way to start our school dances.

Senior Ceilidh

On Monday night our Senior Pupils will be dancing the night away in our annual Christmas Ceilidh. Pupils were able to buy tickets up to today (Friday). On the night doors open at 6.30pm and close at 7pm sharp for a night of Virginia Reels and Boston Two Steps. We look forward to seeing everyone on the night.

Music Concert

Owing to staff absence, we have had to cancel the music concert which was scheduled to take place on Tuesday night. Whilst staff and pupils are disappointed, I was really looking forward to seeing the range of musical talent on show, the level of staff absence has meant that it was simply not possible.

Ski Trip

This Sunday, our biannual Ski Trip is leaving to the snowy slopes of the Italian Alps. Ms Jones is leading a group of just over 40 pupils on to the pistes. As someone who only ever learned to ski, thanks to a school trip, I know how positive and enjoyable experience such trips can be. If there is time, I hope to share with you a short extract next Thursday about the progress of the pupils who will be returning to Scotland on Saturday 20^th of December.

Mental Health Support

We understand the festive period can be a difficult time for pupils and their families for a variety of reasons. Kooth is an online Mental Health Support resource available to pupils over the holiday period and beyond.

Truth About Youth survey

I was contacted this week from Young Scot regarding a survey that they are running in December.

Young Scot gathered views from over 2,500 young people across Scotland in the Truth About Youth Survey 2024-25.

And this year, our revamped Truth About Youth survey asks young people for their views on subjects from cybersecurity to scams and safety to politics to help Young Scot and our partner organisations develop services with young people’s voice at their core.

The survey should take no more than 15 minutes and young people who complete the survey will be automatically entered into a draw to win a Nintendo Switch 2 or a Jellycat bundle. They will also earn 250 Young Scot Rewards points which they can use to claim discount cards and win prizes from Kindles to Chromebooks.

The QR Code below should allow any young people to complete the survey.

SQA Timetable – Update

This week, we were notified of a slight change to the SQA Timetable. Mrs Beattie has shared this in the S4 and S5/6 Teams Page, but I wanted to share this with you as families.

We’ve received feedback from centres, learners, parents, carers and stakeholders about the exam timetable since we published it in September. We’ve considered their views and have made some changes to the timetable.

The start and end dates of the timetable remain unchanged, with exams starting on Wednesday 22 April and finishing on Tuesday 2 June.

Please ensure learners who are studying the following subjects are made aware of the updated timetable.

Health and Food Technology

All Health and Food Technology exams will now take place in the morning of Monday 27 April at 9 am. These exams were previously on Friday 1 May.

Music and Music: Portfolio

All Music exams will now take place in the afternoon of Monday 27 April. Advanced Higher Music and Advanced Higher Music: Portfolio were previously in the morning. We have also brought forward the start times of National 5 and Higher Music by one hour which will help you to manage accommodation requirements in your centres.

National Qualifications 2025 Exam Timetable (I know it says 2025 timetable but it is the timetable for 2026!)

Parent Council Reminder

The Parent Council is a hugely helpful and informative body for me as Head Teacher and for the wider school. If you would like to attend any or all of the sessions this year the dates are as follows:

Monday 26^th of January

Monday 23^rd of February

Monday 30^th of March

Monday 27^th of April

Monday 18^th of June (in person and always a bring a dish night for a catch up and some lovely food).

If you would like to find out more, please contact me at the school.

Evening Study Support 2025-26

Registration for this year’s evening webinars is now live. Study Support | e-Sgoil

Study support is for Senior Phase learners (S4-S6) who are working towards National Qualifications.

This year’s programme offers 55 weekly webinars covering 29 subjects across N4 to Advanced Higher levels.

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL NEED TO BE LOGGED INTO GLOW TO ACCESS THE REGISTRATION FORM.

If you do not know your Glow username and password, please speak to a member of staffwho will be able to provide you with these.

Webinars will start week beginning 27th October 2025 and will run through to the SQA exams. Timetable is below:

Support for pupils with ASN

As a parent with a child who has an additional support need, I know that information can be particularly helpful to ensure you are supporting your young person in the best possible way. The Support for Learning department work closely with Speech and Language therapy, Occupational Therapy, Hope for Autism and the Neurodevelopmental Team. If your child is on a waiting list to see any of the services, or have been given an identification of an Additional Support need, the following Facebook pages may be useful to you. They share hints and tips, have rolling programmes of local workshops for parents and children on common themes such as Sleep, Anxiety, language processing, sensory difficulties.

NHS Lanarkshire Children and young people, Occupational Therapy

https://www.facebook.com/share/19hopRtsiN/

Speech and language therapy NHS Lanarkshire

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BevUC39FW/

Neurodevelopmental service-CYS NHS

https://www.nhslanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk/services/neurodevelopmental-service-for-children-and-young-people

Hope for Autism

https://www.hopeforautism.org.uk

Free School Meals

A reminder to all families, if your family normally receives Free School Meals please remember to reapply for continuation of this service as it does not automatically continue each year. Families need to apply annually. There have been a few incidences since we returned of pupils not having money on their cards. We did of course ensure that they received lunch but please do ensure that you have reapplied for Free School Meals. Please apply here: Free School Meals and Clothing Grant Application | North Lanarkshire Council

EMA 2025-26 session

The new EMA form is now live on the NLC website for the new session 2025/2026 starting in August. Any students who got EMA last years has to reapply this year.

https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/additional-support-families-and-children/education-maintenance-allowance

To apply you must meet the following criteria

Gross Taxable income	No. of dependent children in household	Award
Up to £24,421	1	£30
Up to £26,884	2+	£30

Please note – dependent children are all those up to the age of 16 and those over the age of 16 and up to age 25 if they are in full time Further or Higher Education (proof required).

Once students have their form completed and a letter confirming they are getting EMA they should bring their EMA contract to Mr Adler who will then discuss attendance requirements with the students, but to get EMA students must have excellent attendance and be on time to school.

Community News

As always, I’m delighted to share the following pieces of community news with you.

I was contacted this week regarding a Free drop-in information session taking place this Monday 15^th December 10:00 – 13:00 at the Muirfield Centre, Cumbernauld.

Triage, who are working in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council, are a private organisation who offer free support services to families in the North Lanarkshire area.

They have asked us to raise awareness of their upcoming free drop-in session on 15^th Dec in The Muirfield Centre. They are hosting a very informal information session to raise awareness of the free support offered to them, in our comfortable friendly & inclusive training centre, based in Cumbernauld.