Head Teacher Blog
Dear Parent/Carer
I hope you are well.
Whether or not you were lucky enough like me to have a couple of days this week to enjoy the sunshine, I hope you are well.
Whilst not a lengthy blog this week owing to a shortened week, I always want to ensure that the HT Blog is published each week to ensure all news/updates are shared weekly with families.
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.
Inset Day
On Wednesday, whilst our pupils were enjoying their extended February weekend, staff were engaged in a series of events and meetings over the day. We welcomed Maeve MacKinnon from Education Scotland who spoke with staff around the importance of Gaelic to our pupils and our wider school community as well as sharing her expertise around lesson observations.
We started the day with a staff meeting which was looking at our authority visit in March and shared ideas as to what to showcase to the team regarding all the many positives which exist within the school. As a staff team we identified a range of items including:
| Gold Rights Respecting School Award
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School Colours Initiative recognising pupil achievements out of school
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5-year average of over 95% of leavers moving into a positive destination |
| Gold Sports Award
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Widest Curricular Offering of any NLC High School for S5 and S6
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10% rise over the past 3 years in S5 pupils gaining 5 Level 6 awards
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| 2 x Green Flags (only high school in NLC with green flags)
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All pupils gained at least 1 qualification in 2025; 24 pupils gained no qualifications in 2022.
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41% of S6 gained 1 Level 7 Award last year
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| Silver SCQF Ambassador Award
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National and International Residential Trips running
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Sports Leaders working with Primary Schools
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| Silver LGBT Award
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Wide range of supported study in person and free online utilising Achieve and Bright Red
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Subject ambassadors (Senior Pupils) in most subject areas supporting teams and other pupils |
| Digital Schools Award
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Celebrating Success events e.g. Prize Giving, Art Exhibition, Lottery funded initiatives
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What was even more inspiring was that these items were only at the whole school level, at a departmental level the list was even greater.
I’m always mindful that these achievements are only possible thanks to the hard work of everyone in our community. As such, we should all take a huge amount of pride in the work that we have undertaken which is making the school as good as it can be for every pupil. Maeve MacKinnon talked about the fact that Greenfaulds isn’t just any school. She is absolutely right, Greenfaulds is a great school thanks to the staff, pupils, families and partners and I look forward to showcasing all our many strengths to the authority team when they visit in March.
To help us ensure that we have captured the most up to date views of families, I would greatly appreciate, if you haven’t been able to already, complete this brief survey about the school – Survey. Thank you so much.
S4 Family Night
A big thank you to all the families who were able to attend our S4 Parents’/Carers’ Night which took place last Thursday night. We were deligthed to have such great attendance on the night and I hope you found the information from staff helpful in the final push to the exams in May. If you have not had the opportunity to complete the feedback form the link is here:
S4 Parents Evening February 12th 2026 (Parental Survey) – Fill in form
Pupil Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
The SDQ is a widely used and respected tool that provides a snapshot of children and young people’s health and wellbeing. The SDQ will be used to provide a snapshot of the current mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. It is anticipated that it will provide an insight into the wellbeing of individuals to support individual level assessment and intervention planning as required as well as identifying common themes at a group/class and school level to support planning and interventions as appropriate
The survey will be completed in school between now and June. All pupils from S1 to S6 are being asked to complete this short survey and parental letters will be sent out shortly with more information including how to opt out if you choose.
Outward Bound Opportunity
As a school, we work closely with Outward Bound. A number of our S5 and S6 pupils go on residentials with them, and for a number of years now we have been prioritised for funded places on Summer Programmes. Outward Bound has a worldwide reputation for being leading providers in outdoor education, which give young people skills in team work, resilience, leadership, and problem-solving.
We have 10 remaining ‘Golden tickets’ providing 50-75% off summer programmes. See information below. There are a variety of dates, centres and lengths of residential to choose from (the most popular for us is 7 or 14 day residentials to Loch Eil or Ullswater)
If your child is interested, please ask them to speak to Ms Jones in G086 asap. Closing date is the end of February for using the Golden tickets. Information is below about the summer programmes. Please note that this is an opportunity that school are providing, however this is not a school residential and there will be no school staff going.
Outward Bound Summer Adventures | The Outward Bound Trust
Seachdain na Gaidhlig at Greenfaulds
As I’m sure you will be aware the World Gaelic Week takes place next week across the globe. As North Lanarkshire’s only Gaelic Secondary School, we are delighted to be encouraging all members of our school community to get engaged in a range of ways. As such, I wanted to share with you the whole school presentation which will be shown to all pupils on Monday: Gaelic Week.pptx
If, like me, you are a Duolingo fan there is a family option to get involved. The code for the family league for Gaelic for next week is mkzhqb
Seachdain na Gaidhlig Ceilidh
Just a reminder that the Community Learning and Development Team in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council and Comann nam Pàrant are hosting the Family Ceilidh on the 27th of Feb. This event is for the whole Gaelic community and is not being organised by the GME schools. If your child would like to perform a solo, instrumental piece, a poem or dance please complete the form below with the details. If there are duets/groups of children that would like to perform together, please email Hendersoncat@northlan.gov.uk
Performers will be allocated on a first come first served basis should we find we are time limited to include all applicants. The concert will start at 6.30pm with the first half finishing at 8pm. There will then be a 15 minute break followed by a Ceilidh dance 8.15 – 9.30pm.
There will also be performances from Norrie Maciver, Cumbernauld Gaelic Choir and 2025 and Greenfaulds very own An Comunn Gàidhealach Gold Medal winner, Caitlin Yule.
If you require any further information please contact,
Seachdain na Gàidhlig Ceilidh – child performer sign up form – Fill in form
Any adults wishing to perform should sign up via this link:
To reserve tickets for the event please use the Eventbrite link:
Bilingual Machine Learning
Next week, Strathclyde University are hosting a day of bilingual Machine Learning workshops at the University of Strathclyde in central Glasgow on 28th February in collaboration with Seachdain na Gàidhlig.
Event Details:
- Location: StrathLab, Graham Hills Building, Richmond Street, G1 1XP
- Date: 28th February
- Time: 10:00am–3:00pm
- Sessions: Two identical sessions (10:00am start and 1:00pm start)
The workshops invite students and families to explore how AI and Machine Learning work within a bilingual environment. As with all Technocamps Scotland Events and Workshops, this family day is completely free to attend, and Tea and Coffee will be provided.
Battle of the Bands – Rockfest
This years ‘NLC Battle of the Bands – Rockfest’ is going to be taking place in Airdrie Town Hall on Wednesday 25th of Feb.
Bands from schools all across NLC will be competing for top place, which comes with a free recording session as well as a cash prize!
This years band entry from GHS will be ‘Redwood’, Consisting of:
– Freyja McIntyre (6NE2) – Vocals
– Aaron Mason (6LO1) – Bass Guitar
– Calvin Kerr (4SK) – Electric Guitar
– Arran Masson (5TH1) – Drum Kit
The band have been ‘quietly’ working away on their setlist (covers + an original) and are set to put on a fantastic show! It’s shaping up to be an amazing night and tickets are going fast.
Ticket are £5 and can be bought from Mr Sharpe in Music.
Team Gym Success
Huge congratulations to Sienna Sideri and Nicole Munro in S1 and their team who got 2nd place at the Team Gym competition in Ravenscraig on Saturday 31st January. We wish them all the best for the British Qualifiers competition in Newcastle which are coming up shortly.
Languages Survey
I was contacted this week by North Lanarkshire Council to request pupils to complete a short survey as part of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle for Languages.
The purpose of the survey is to gather the views and experiences of young people about learning languages, so that their perspectives can inform the next version of the Languages curriculum.
The scope of the survey is deliberately limited and focuses on what children and young people think should be part of the Languages curriculum.
Education Scotland – Languages Pupil Feedback 2026 – Fill in form
Generation Tech – Student Opportunity (Glasgow)
This week we received information about a an event in Glasgow taking place in early March which looked like a great opportunity for a number of our pupils.
Generation Tech is an exciting one-day technology challenge designed to boost young people’s digital skills. Students will work in teams to solve coding problems, debug robots, and complete a series of hands-on technology challenges — all supported by professional technologists from JPMorganChase.
Participants will develop valuable skills including:
- Problem-solving
- Introductory Python coding
- Teamwork
- Communication
Basic to intermediate Python knowledge is helpful but not required. Enthusiasm and a willingness to learn are what matter most!
Eligibility
To take part, students must:
- Be 14–18 years old
- Have a parent/guardian complete the registration form
- Be able to attend in person on 7 March
- Agree to the AV Waiver & Additional Release Terms during registration
Date: Saturday 7 March 2026
Location: JPMorganChase Glasgow Office
Audience: Secondary pupils aged 14–18
How to Register
Students can register here: https://tinyurl.com/GenTec
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 23rd of February
Monday 30th of March
Monday 27th of April
Monday 25th of May (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
Hope for Autism
https://www.hopeforautism.org.uk
Young Scot Cards
Increasingly, the use of Young Scot Cards for our pupils are very important, both in and out of school. As such, if your son/daughter loses their card it can be problematic. We are able to apply for a replacement card on their behalf. However, we would ask that if you would like the school to do this, that parents/carers need to email Mr Adler with a photo, their address to send the card to and give permission to apply for a card.
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.
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
I am always happy to share community news within the HT Blog and this week have a few information posters to share with you. If you would like to engage with the following relevant bodies, their contact details should be noted on the information posters.
Dates for your diary
Monday 23rd: World Gaelic Week begins
Monday 23rd: Parent Council (6.30pm)
Wednesday 25th: Battle of the Bands (Airdrie Town Hall)
Friday 27th: S2 Tracking Report 2 Issued
Seachdain na Gaidhlig Ceilidh (6.30pm)
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Moran Taing
Jamie
Jamie Vaughn-Sharp
Head Teacher
