Head Teacher Blog
Dear Parent/Carer
I hope you have had a good week.
This week has been a real example of the generosity of the school community. Over the course of this week, we have had dances, community appeals and charity events. The beneficiaries of these activities haven’t only been the pupils who have had a great time but also some of the most vulnerable in our community. As a school which values inclusion, the attitude of our staff, families and pupils underlines that this value isn’t just a logo but is very much alive in the school.
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.
Christmas Week at Greenfaulds
On Monday, the Senior Christmas Dance took place. On the night, nearly 200 of our pupils danced the night away. As well as looking fabulous in their finest dresses and suits, the pupils were exemplary for the entire night. A massive thank you to the staff who supported on the night with a particular thanks to the PE Team who led the dancing brilliantly. I count myself very fortunate to have such a wonderful senior school who demonstrates maturity and fun in all their after-school events.
On Wednesday, our whole school charity day took place. This enabled pupils to buy tickets for a range of events which took place across the day ranging from the Panto (including a terrible Gaston played by yours truly), a Talent Show, Gaming Sessions, Christmas Card Decorating and Inflatables.
This day is always a big money raiser for our chosen charity, which this year was the Simon Community who work with homeless people. This year, we donated £3145.30 – a staggering amount to make in 1 day! It continues to make me immensely proud to lead a school which so generously supports such a worthwhile charity.
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who donated to our annual Christmas Gift Giving Tree. Our Social Justice Committee set up our Gift Giving Tree at the front entrance of the school with handmade baubles which contained a wish for a homeless person.
On Wednesday, nearly 1000 individual gifts were donated to the Simon Community Charity and thereafter will be distributed to homeless people who are struggling a little bit more than others to help ensure that they have a merry Christmas.
A huge thank you on behalf of the school, to everyone who gave so generously to this worthwhile charity.
Ski Trip
Families will be aware that the ski trip which was due to leave on Sunday morning to Italy has unfortunately been postponed. Due to issues with the plane, the pupils and staff who were all packed and ready to go have had to store their suitcases away. Thanks to the hard work of Mr Adler and Ms Jones over the weekend, they have managed to ensure that the trip will still go ahead, albeit in January 2026.
Junior Sports Leaders Raise Over £1,200 for Brain Tumour Charity
Two of our dedicated Junior Sports Leaders Cara McCabe and Jack McNamee have been recognised for their outstanding fundraising efforts in support of the brain tumour charity Braintrust.
A few weeks ago, students Cara and Jack organised a “Guess the Teddy Bear’s Birthday” event as part of their leadership course. The activity quickly gathered enthusiasm across the school community, helping to raise vital funds for the charity’s work with patients and families affected by brain tumours.
In addition to the event, the pair launched a JustGiving page to encourage further donations. Thanks to the generosity of students, staff, and the wider community, Cara and Jack raised an impressive total of £1,211.26.
Their hard work and commitment were formally recognised this week when Carol, a representative from Brainstrust, visited the school to personally thank the students and present them with a certificate celebrating their achievement.
Massive congratulations to Cara and Jack for their leadership, compassion, and the positive example they have set for their peers.
Amazing Tyler
As families know, I’m always thrilled to hear of pupil success out with of school. This week, Mr Prentice alerted me to Tyler Short’s success.
We are proud to congratulate Tyler on achieving his black belt after years of dedicated training. This impressive milestone reflects his perseverance and self-discipline, and he is a real credit to our school community. Congratulations, Tyler, on attaining this high level award.
Jack selected from Scotland
Last night, Mr Scoular, alerted me to a post that he had seen on Facebook which highlighted that one of our incredible footballers, Jack O’Rourke in S5 has been selected for Scotland School Boys Under 18 squad. Jack, like many of our incredibly talented pupils, hasn’t breathed a word of this to me but I’m so delighted for him!
P7 Christmas Poems
I was thrilled on Wednesday afternoon when I received a lovely message from the Primary 7 class at Ravenswood.
Ravenswood Primary 7 here. We are emailing to wish you a very Merry Christmas and would like to share some poems which we have been working on. These poems are filled with festive fun and joy to get you in the spirit. We have been working hard learning about lots of poetry features including imagery, rhyme and personification and we hope you can see this in our wonderful work. Please check out our e-book in the link here.
The poems are absolutely fab – thank you P7!!
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 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.
Christmas Wishes
Finally, I just wanted to wish you all the very best for the festive period. It has been an exceptionally busy term since we returned in October with pupils and staff working very hard. However, the success of our community is only possible with your support and for that I am hugely grateful. Whilst I’m aware that for many of you, you won’t be as fortunate as teachers to have the whole festive period off, I do hope that you will find some time to spend time with your loved ones as well as remembering those members of our families with whom we loved spending Christmas with
Wishing you all the best for Christmas and for the New Year.
Moran Taing
Jamie
Jamie Vaughn-Sharp
Head Teacher
