Head Teacher Blog
Dear Parent/Carer
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.
S4-6 Reports
Today (Friday) all families with pupils in S5 and S6 should have received their second of three tracking reports for this session via Parent Portal. This report contains working grades (the grade your son/daughter is currently working at) and their target grade (the grade that your son/daughter has agreed with their teacher as an ambitious but realistic target). We hope that you find this information helpful. Please note that in line with our reporting pilot for this session we have moved to more regular reports and only to include comments when required.
S5/6 Parents’/Carers’ Night
A reminder to families that the S5/6 Parents’/Carers’ Night takes place on Thursday 22nd of January at 4.30pm until 7pm. All families should now have received the booking instructions. If you are having any issues making appointments, please do not hesitate to contact the school for support. We are looking forward to seeing you there.
Emergency First Aid
All pupils in S4, S5 and S6 are currently being offered the opportunity to study for an additional Level 6 (equivalent to another Higher) in Emergency First Aid. This course which takes approximately 10 hours will be delivered through Future Fridays. As well as gaining the equivalent of another Higher, it will also provide all pupils who take part in the course with a highly desirable and nationally recognised first aid qualification. If your son/daughter would like more information please ask them to speak to Mr Vaughn-Sharp by the end of day on Tuesday.
Course Choice – Upcoming
One of the key messages to pupils at assemblies this week was that in the next 10 days, pupils will begin making decisions about their subjects for next year. This can be a tricky time for pupils and families. Over the next few weeks we will be in touch with families with a number of pieces of information, but if you would like to start the discussions at home, our Course Choice section of the website (S2 pupils, S3 pupils, Senior Pupils) is an excellent ‘one stop shop’ of resources and conversation prompts. Whilst some of the information is in the process of being updated, the details contained in the different sections are still very relevant.
Ski Trip
This week the postponed ski trip from December has been taking place in Italy. Whilst I will share a much more detailed account with you next week, I thought I would share with you some of the photos that have been taken so far. It certainly looks to have been a fantastic week. The link to the photographs is here.
Girls in Physics Trip
The event was aimed at S1 pupil with the purpose of raising the profile of Physics amongst girls to try to encourage them to think about pursuing it in school and as a career. There were workshops on ultrasonic imaging, where they got hands on with trying to take images and work out what the hidden objects and animals were. They then worked on building a simple motor from a set of gears which could provide the most energy in 30 seconds. At lunchtime the got a tour of the University of Glasgow Campus followed by a workshop on 3D imaging where they got to build anything the liked from Lego and take images of it to be viewed through 3D glasses like at the cinema. The final workshop was on Civil Engineering where they had to build the tallest tower which could hold a golf ball. I’m happy to report that our girls were definite winners!
The girls were all exemplary and threw themselves whole heartedly into each activity. One girl said the trip had been “ten out of ten” and another “it was the best trip I’ve ever been on”!
Pupil Successes Continue
I was notified this week by Mr Gardiner that Liam Noble (2LO1) has qualified for the Winmau Junior World Darts Masters and will play in the finals in Aylesbury at the end of January. Absolutely amazing stuff!
End of Year Trips
In June of last year, we ran two very popular trips to reward pupils with high merits and high attendance. One was to Alton Towers and the other one was to Blair Drummond Safari Park. Ms McCaig has notified pupils that our intention is to run the trips again this year. Blair Drummond will be open to pupils in S1 and S2, whilst the trip to Alton Towers will be open to pupils in S3-S6. Whilst I’m sure most families will be aware of this from their son/daughter, I’m also aware that information does not always flow as efficiently home all the time. As such the permission letters are available here:
YPI
On Tuesday afternoon, all pupils in S1 were involved in an assembly about the Youth Philanthropy Initiative that they are about to undertake during their Social Subjects Classes. YPI is the opportunity for pupils to work in groups to research a local charity. Thereafter, they build a presentation around this charity and compete via presentations to win a £3000 award for their chosen charity. This work is entirely pupil led with pupils reaching out to the local charities, finding out more about what they do and how the money would help their chosen organisation. The YPI final involves the winning team from each S1 class presenting to the whole year group and a group of judges who make the final decision on which group and charity will win the money. As well as raising the profile of a number of local charities, pupils develop skills including researching, team work and presentation skills. I look forward to sharing the progress of this hugely worthwhile endeavour.
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 26th of January
Monday 23rd of February
Monday 30th of March
Monday 27th of April
Monday 18th 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
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.
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
Friday 16th January: S4-6 Reports Issued via Parent Portal
Thursday 22nd January: S5/6 Parents’/Carers’ Night
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Moran Taing
Jamie
Jamie Vaughn-Sharp
Head Teacher
