Head Teacher Blog
Dear Parent/Carer
I hope you have had a good week,
And just like that, suddenly it’s December and the first Santa hats were spotted in corridors this week! A very full blog this week with lots of events taking place across the school as well as some very important information regarding events upcoming. As Head Teacher of Greenfaulds I always look forward to this time of the year as our community has a unique ability to blend the spirit of Christmas with a continual focus on hard work and determination. For all your support in striking this balance I am always hugely grateful.
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
If you visited the school this week, you will have seen that our Gift Giving Tree is now up 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. The charity is coming in on the 8th of December to talk to the parliament about their work.
All monies raised on the whole school Charity Day on the 17th 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 17th 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. A copy of the presentation shared with all pupils is available here. In order to keep the process as smooth as possible and to continue our school drive to move to an entirely cashless system we will be reaching out to families with instructions on how to purchase these tickets. Please note that this is the only way to buy tickets for the events. If this does present you with a problem, please contact your child’s PT of Pupil Support.
Christmas Dinner
On Thursday of next week (11th December), the Catering Team will be holding our Christmas Dinner for pupils and staff. The menu is for Turkey, Steak Pie or a Vegetarian Option with a range of puddings. On the day there will be no pre-orders. Pupils should be aware of this via the posters shared across the school, but as always, I’m not always sure that all news reaches home, so I wanted to share this information with you.
Course Choice Evening
On Thursday evening from 6pm – 7pm we hosted our Senior Phase Course Choice Information Session for pupils in our current S4 and S5, who will become our new S5 and S6.
On the night, Mrs McNaughton took families through the process of course choice as well as encouraging young people and their families to think through their steps beyond school and to work this back to ensure that they are making the best choices for next year.
I fully appreciate that due to other commitments not all families were able to attend and as such a copy of the presentation is here:
If you or your child has any questions relating to Course Choice, please do not hesitate to be in touch with us.
P.7 Ceilidh
So as you read this, the soon to be newest members of the Greenfaulds High School community will be demonstrating their best Dashing White Sergeants and Strip the Willows in the Games Hall. Today, we introduced a new item as part of our transition process by hosting our first ever P.7 Ceilidh. This gives another opportunity for all P.7s to come together as a group and to spend time in the school. I’m sure by this evening, I will be nursing sore feet!
Shakespeare in Schools
I received confirmation this week from Mr Gillespie that the pupils he has been working with on a Shakespeare in Schools project has had their film published. The link is in the text below and well worth a watch! Amazing stuff!
Dear Greenfaulds High School,
Congratulations!
I have the great pleasure of getting in touch on behalf of CSSF to say a huge well done.
Together you have taken on the serious challenge of turning a Shakespeare play into a piece of cinema. You have developed new skills, persevered through setbacks and embraced your creativity to produce an original piece of cinema.
I hope you are extremely proud of yourselves and that you have the chance to celebrate in style.
Your film is now live on the Film Festival website here – enjoy watching and sharing with friends, family, adoring fans, and the rest of your school community.
Pupil Success
One of the incredible things about Greenfaulds is that many of our pupils do amazing things out of school but don’t mention it. As Head Teacher, I’m always desperate to find out about things which take place so I can rightly praise the young people. One such example of this I discovered last week was that Rosie Kerr’s success from British Nationals this year . She took Gold in her category which was B class woman’s -55kg. Now despite taking Gold, she didn’t utter a word of this until her mum spoke with me. As such, I was thrilled to hear this. Go you Rosie!
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.
Dates for your Diaries
Monday 15th S1 Christmas Ceilidh (Afternoon) & S5-6 Christmas Ceilidh (Evening)
Wednesday 17th Charity Day
Thursday 18th School Closure for Festive Break 2.30pm
Moran Taing
Jamie
Jamie Vaughn-Sharp
Head Teacher
