Greenfaulds High School

Head Teacher Blog

Dear Parent/Carer

I hope you have had a good week.

As we move to the October Holidays with a well earned week for pupils and staff, it does mark a natural break in the year where there is a chance to reflect on how the school has started Session 25/26. In my mind there is no doubt that the school continues to improve and develop. Our pupils continue to be our best ambassadors for us in a whole range of ways, inside and outside of the school. Our attainment for this year is a real source of pride and we have a range of new initiatives including staff learning programmes, pupil leadership roles and curricular offerings are all making this school better and better.

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.

Goodbye Mr Galloway

It is with an exceptionally heavy heart that we say goodbye to Mr Galloway. Due to a falling school roll we were tasked with having to reduce our management structure. This was part of an authority wide programme where some schools were given additional management posts and other schools (including ourselves) had to reduce our management posts.

As part of the authority wide matching process, Graeme has been offered and accepted a PT Pupil Support role within Chryston High School which he will take up on the first Monday after the October Break.

As I know you will agree, Graeme will be a big loss to the Greenfaulds High School Community and we wish him all the very best in his new post at Chryston. Chryston’s gain is very much our loss.

S1 Football Team

This week, thanks to Mr G Taylor (our family volunteer) and Cameron in S6 I watched the first game of the S1 Boys Football Team in the local football league against Our Ladies High School. The team were excellent ambassadors for the school and conducted themselves in an exemplary manner. At the full time whistle the team recorded a strong 9-1 victory with a number of the boys scoring multiple goals. Man of the Match was Oliver Munro but could have gone to everyone who took to the pitch. A massive congratulations to the whole squad.

Rotary Success

4 teams from Greenfaulds attended the annual Rotary Competition this week held at Kilsyth Academy. 2 teams where in the Foundation section, 1 in the Intermediate section and one in the Advanced Section.

This year the teams where asked to design and make a space launcher that had to launch the ball 3m into the air through a hoop.

2 of our teams were the winners with one from the Foundation group and the other from the Intermediate group. Amazing Stuff!!

Foundation Team Winners 2025 Kimberly McCombe (S1) Isabella Gibson (S1) Hannah Gibson (S1)

Intermediate Team Winners 2025 Lara Hughes(S4) Rosie Kerr (S4) Becky Doggart (S4) Hannah MacLeod (S4)

Pupils on holiday during term time

As you know, one of the key ways in which we can assure pupils achieve their very best in school is to be in school for as much time as possible. As such, we would always encourage families to take holidays during holiday time. However, we are conscious that this is not always possible. As such, if your family is going on holiday, we are not always able to provide individualised work for pupils. Nonetheless, there are two very helpful supports which we would direct all families to access to support learning whilst away.

Learn and Revise with BBC Bitesize As you will be aware, BBC Bitesize is a national resource of study and subject specific materials for all pupils

ACHIEVE – ACHIEVE more at National 5 and Higher As a school we have provided all pupils with access to this website for those studying at National 5 upwards. It contains a range of revision and study materials.

Watch this Space – Science Department STEM Trip

After the October holidays we will be re-launching our planned trip to Orlando, Disney World and the Kennedy Space Centre. This trip will be take in early to mid June 2027. An opportunity to sign up for this trip will be sent out directly to parents in S3, S4 and s5 who will be in S4, S5 and S6 at the time of travel. Full details will be sent out with the opportunity to sign up after the October break.

MTA Timetable

This week all families with children in S4/5/6 should have received a letter and a copy of the Mid-Term Assessment Timetable. As a school we have decided to approach our Mid-term assessments the same ways as the previous 2 years, which proved to be successful. We have spread assessments over a few weeks but tried not to eat into Assignment time which is most commonly February and March. Teachers will liaise directly with pupils in respect to assignments, and any agreed dates must then be adhered to by all pupils. English and Maths assessments will be in the halls to give all pupils this experience prior to sitting SQA exams in the halls. Other assessments will be in class over timetabled double periods, which helps avoid major disruption to teaching. It is likely that teachers will plan some smaller assessments at various times throughout the session too.

Mid-term assessment dates must be adhered to in order to ensure fairness and equality and to protect the validity of the paper. Besides this, teachers have scheduled markers meetings to moderate and agree the standard, and they have agreed dates for reporting marks. If pupils miss an assessment through illness, this must be supported by a parental letter and where possible, the assessment will be undertaken at the earliest available slot – which is likely to be a Friday afternoon catch-up slot.

SQA Timetable

All pupils sitting SQA Exams were notified that the SQA have released the exam timetable for May 2026. We will of course keep pupils updated across the year, but I wanted to ensure that families were aware that this exam timetable had been produced. To download a copy, please click on this link:

https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/nq-2026-exam-timetable.pdf

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

Weather and uniform

As the weather turns from summer to autumn, it is an opportune time to remind families regarding our expectations for uniform. Since our return this August, the standard of school uniform has noticeably improved – a big thank you for your support around this. As the weather worsens, I would stress to families that our standards will remain high, and our expectations is that pupils should be in full school uniform. However, blazers could well be placed into school bags on the way to and from school and then worn inside the building. If this presents families with an issue there is hanging rails in pupil support where blazers can be left overnight. I certainly wouldn’t want our amazing pupils to get wet on the way to and from school thinking that they need to wear a blazer in the rain.

Roblox and Minecraft

Today I received a couple of documents for advice to families around safety and these two incredibly popular sites. If your son/daughter engages with either of them I would urge you to have a quick scan over the attached guidance for family documents.

Minecraft Parental Guide.pdf

Roblox Parental Guide.pdf

Menu change

We have received notification that the menu for the 21^st of October (Tuesday) will be swapped with the menu for the 23^rd of October (Thursday).

Clubs and Activities

As well as our Future Friday’s offerings there are a range of clubs and activities which are now up and running. As you will see, there is a diverse range of activities, and we think something for everyone. There is no need in most cases to sign up to a club, pupils can simply attend on the day when the club is taking place. I would certainly encourage your son/daughter to try one or two new clubs this session.

Day	Club	Time	Year	Room	Start Date	Department	Staff
Monday	Breakfast Club	Morning 8.30	All years	G092	Aug	SfL	Mrs McMahon
Monday	Lunchtime Club	Lunchtime 12.35	All years	G092	Sep	SfL	ASNA’s
Monday	Kahoot/Blooket Club	Lunchtime 12.35	S1	F035	Sept	Social Subjects	Miss McGoldrick
Monday	Chess Club	Lunchtime 12.35	S1/2	F046	Sept	Social Subjects	Mrs Stewart
Monday	Badmington	Lunchtime 12.35	All years	Games Hall	Sept	PE	Miss Moore
Monday	Craft Club	Lunchtime 12.35	S1	Tech 3	Sept	Technical	Mr McNeill
Monday	Music Club	Lunchtime 12.35	S2	F065	Sept	Music	Mrs McKenzie
Monday	Handball Club	After School	All years	Games Hall	Sept	PE	Miss Moore
Tuesday	Breakfast Club	Morning 8.30	All years	G092	Aug	SfL	Mrs McMahon
Tuesday	Lunchtime Club	Lunchtime 12.35	All years	G092	Sep	SfL	ASNA’s
Tuesday	STEMClub	Lunchtime 12.35	S1/2	Technical Dept	Sept	Technical	Mrs McCaig/Mr Coughlan
Tuesday	Computer Games Club	Lunchtime 12.35	S2	S053	Sept	BICT	Mrs Buchanan
Thursday	Fitness Club	Lunch 12.45	S1/2	Fitness Suite	Sept	PE	Mr Prentice
Tuesday	Netball	Lunchtime 12.35	All years	Games Hall	Sept	PE	Miss Moore
Wednesday	Breakfast Club	Morning 8.30	All years	G092	Aug	SfL	Mrs McMahon
Wednesday	Lunchtime Club	Lunchtime 12.35	All years	G092	Sep	SfL	ASNA’s
Wednesday	Wind Band	Lunchtime 12.35	All years	F065	Sept	Music	Mr Ritchie/Mr Golding
Wednesday	Drama Club	Lunchtime 12.35	All years	Drama Classroom	Sept	Drama	Ms MacAngus
Wednesday	Dance Club	Lunchtime 12.35	All years	Assembly Hall	Sept	PE	Mrs Doyle
Wednesday	Shinty	Lunchtime 12.35	All years	Games Hall	Sept	PE	Miss Moore
Wednesday	S1/2 Football	Lunchtime 12.35	S1/2	Pitches	Sept	PE	Miss Moore
Thursday	Breakfast Club	Morning 8.30	All years	G092	Aug	SfL	Mrs McMahon
Thursday	Lunchtime Club	Lunchtime 12.35	All years	G092	Sep	SfL	ASNA’s
Thursday	Computer Games Club	Lunchtime 12.35	S1	S053	Aug	BICT	Ms Buchanan
Thursday	Debate Group	Lunchtime 12.35	S5/6	S025	Oct	Science	Mr Blair
Thursday	Podcast Club	Lunchtime 12.35	All years	F014	Sept	English	Mrs Logan
Thursday	Music Club	Lunchtime 12.35	S1	F065	Sept	Music	Mrs McKenzie
Friday	Breakfast Club	Morning 8.30	All years	G092	Aug	SfL	Mrs McMahon

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.

The first information poster is around support for families in relation to sleep and sleep hygene. I myself, read something about 2 years ago about the importance of the same bedtime and wake up routine every day and would certainly say I feel the benefits of a good bedtime routine. However, I’m keenly aware of the distractions that young people now face around switching off at bedtime. As such I hope some of you may be interested in the following session: