Greenfaulds High School

Head Teacher Blog

Dear Parent/Carer

I hope you have had a good week.

As I write this on Thursday evening it is a strange feeling as tomorrow, we are closed due to the Red Weather Warning which has been issued for extremely high winds. Firstly, and most importantly, I hope that everyone in our community is safe and has a relatively trouble-free day without disruption or damage to your house or posessions. Secondly, I hope that you and your child found the resources that were signposted to you via my email on Thursday afternoon helpful.

As always, if there are any items that you would like to see in the HT Blog please don’t hesitate to be in touch with the school.

Swimming to success

I am always keen to receive news of pupil successes outside of the school and as such I was delighted to hear from Ms Pettigrew regarding the fact that 3 of our swimmers will be taking part in the Scottish Schools National Swimming Finals.

These pupils, along with several others, participated in the Regional North Lanarkshire Scottish Schools in November at the Tryst Sports Centre where they secured their place in the final.

The pupils competing in the final are:

Ava Pettigrew ( 100m & 200m Back Finals)

Euan Neilson ( 200m I.M & 200m Free)

Logan Moffitt ( 200m I.M & 200m Breast)

Ms Pettigrew was kind enough to ask me to pass on her thanks to Mr McRoberts for his support at the regional stages and would also highlight the support of the swimmer’s clubs and coaches in getting our pupils race ready for the National Final – Cumbernauld Swimming Club (Ava & Euan) & Stirling Swimming Club (Logan).

The final was scheduled for Friday, but given the weather warnings I am currently uncertain if these have been set for another day. Nonetheless, we will all have our fingers crossed for our three finalists.

Niah: The Weir Wise project

Niah Taylor of S2, took the opportunity to engage in an experiential session with Weir Wise. She very kindly wrote up her experiences so that we could share her fantastic day with everyone.

On my first day at Strathclyde, I went through the Royal College Building and into the elevator to the 4th floor. I walked to my registration class, and everyone was sitting in groups. I got assigned to group 10. After everyone was in the teacher started to talk about what Weir Wise actually is. The Weir Wise company is an engineering and mining organisation based all around the world and has been around for 153 years.

Our first class was architecture where we were given two match boxes each and glue. We then had to make a shape out of them. Then join your creation with the person in front of you and we had to keep adding everyone’s boxes until there was one big structure made.

After lunch when we got back we went to our registration class to build circuit boards like this one. Then we had to put lights and switches into it with a big battery. That was the end of the first day.

On my second day I went up to the registration class again, after that we went into a hall where we learnt about aero dynamics and marine engineering. For the aero dynamics we had to do the egg drop test. Where you need to create something for the egg to sit in so it doesn’t break when you throw it off the balcony. However, each item in the shop has a cost so you had to made it as cheap as possibly. There was also a limit on how many you could buy. You could buy paper, paper cups, lollipop stick, string, and napkins. You were also allowed scissors and tape for free. We had two hours to complete this task, when it was time to throw them off the balcony our egg didn’t smash.

After we ate lunch, we went back to that same hall to end our day with a boat challenge. We had to make a very strong boat that could float and hold as many rocks as possible. Ours only held 28 rocks which was okay buy other groups had 40. I had a very good time and would do it all over again if I could. I thought it was really fun and an exciting experience. I enjoyed talking to the other girls and feel I have learned new skills from the Weir Wise Project. I hope there are more opportunities like this in the future.

Uniform

A big thank you to all families for your support since I put out a communication regarding uniform on Tuesday. Since our return from the festive period, there has been an increasing number of young people wearing items that are not part of the uniform. This includes hoodies, joggies, tracksuit jackets and bottoms and leggings, none of which are part of the schools uniform.

As you will be aware from previous communications around uniform, wearing non-school uniform makes it increasingly difficult to identify pupils of Greenfaulds within the building and also impacts negatively on the ethos of our school community.

Pupils receive daily merits at registration for timekeeping and uniform which can lead to rewards for pupils. We would therefore ask you to support us by ensuring your child is in school uniform of black trousers/skirt (not leggings or joggies), black jumper/cardigan (not hoodies), white shirt/polo shirt and tie as well as school blazer. Pupils should not be attending in their PE kit as there is the opportunity to change before and after PE.

S4 Family Evening

S4 Parents/Carers should already have received an email about booking appointments for the Parents Evening this Thursday (30^th). Please make appointments as soon as possible and contact us if you have any issue. On the night we will be joined by Bright Red Publishing, a company which makes and sells a range of study materials. Information about their deals are available further on in the blog.

We look forward to seeing you on the evening.

World Gaelic Week (Seachdain na Gaidhlig)

I take immense pride in leading North Lanarkshire Council’s only High School which provides it’s learners with the opportunity to learn in Gaelic. As such, the World Gaelic Week which takes place this year between the 24^th of February to the 2^nd of March is an important week for us all within the Greenfaulds Community. To that end, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you some events already scheduled to take place to promote our shared Gaelic heritage.

The direct link to book is: Cèilidh Traidiseanta – Gaelic Ceilidh Tickets, Wed 26 Feb 2025 at 19:00 | Eventbrit

Note that this event is mainly aimed at adult learners and parents with music and entertainment supplied by a number of our Greenfaulds pupils.

Also a reminder that the Eventbrite page for the family ceilidh is also live: reserve tickets here: Cruinn Còmhla Family Cèilidh Tickets, Fri 28 Feb 2025 at 19:00 | Eventbrite

Mark Scott Award

Each year, a small number of our Senior Pupils take part in the Mark Scott Award. Run by Outward Bound, the Mark Scott Award combines a residential adventure in the wild with a project back in our community. The group of pupils are supported to research, design and implement a community project using all the skills they have learned in real life, so that they can demonstrate their skills to others and grow genuine experience ready for their next step in life.

To that end Natalie Masterton and her peers from other schools have organised a Community Meet Up in the Sacred Heart Church in Carbrain which may appeal to families, this weekend is the last one. If you haven’t made it along yet, please do so.

Exam Timetable

Please find below the link to the 2025 SQA Exam timetable.

https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/nq-2025-exam-timetable.pdf

Important information re’ Alternative Venue Requests

SQA wish to be clear in respect to Alternative Venue Requests for sitting exams. In the past, some pupils have been in competitions with their clubs, for example the World Dance Championships in Florida. Pupils may have requested to sit an exam there during this time. This arrangement is not permitted. If pupils choose to go to competitions with their clubs during the SQA Exam timetable, they miss the affected exams and would be withdrawn from the subject(s) missed. Pupils will not be allowed to sit the exam elsewhere or at any other time. An alternative venue request will only be considered if a pupil has been selected to represent their COUNTRY in a National Team event and this would have to be brought to our attention immediately. This is not a school decision.

Mid-Term Assessment Support

As the mid-term assessments are now underway and coursework within a range of courses will become a reality for many of our senior pupils in the next few weeks, I thought it would be helpful to remind all families of the supports available to them in school.

Supported Study

As I mentioned in the last few blogs, the range of supported study sessions is growing on a weekly basis. There are a number of departments offering either tailored Supported Study or an ad-hoc supported study system and I wanted to share the details around this with all families. The current list is available here.

For S4 pupils we have also established a quiet study room for Exam Preparation/Assignment work/Homework etc on Fridays at 12.45 pm. Pupils are more than welcome to stay until 3pm or leave whenever they want to. This will just be a quiet space to help them feel more organised and feeling better going into the weekend, with less to do on the dreaded Sunday night!

For pupils attending we will provide ICT access if they need it for Research, Notes or Past Papers etc. Moreover, it doesn’t mean they have to go every week but when it suits them.

If your child would like to access this resource, they can sign up using the QR code below or on the posters in the social area.

Bright Red Publishing

Until the February break (the 17^th), Bright Red Publishing are offering pupils of Greenfaulds:

30% off all Study Guides
BGE and N5 Level Course Books for £10
Revision Cards for £7.50 + VAT

They are also including free post and packaging with every order.

You can also find their full list of titles in the 2025 Catalogue, which I’ve linked here.

Furthermore, Bright Red are also running a sale on their website for pupils and families. Until the 31^st of January they can enjoy 25% off all resources by entering the code GETAHEAD25 at the checkout on our website here: https://www.brightredpublishing.co.uk/.

Online Study Resources

For Senior Pupils we wanted to ensure that we were providing as much support for them as possible for studying and revising. Alongside traditional supported study in school I felt it appropriate to draw your attention to two online resources.

Firstly, this year we have continued our school account to provide our pupils with access to interactive study materials via the ACHIEVE platform https://achieve.hashtag-learning.co.uk.

When signing up to create their own account pupils should use their school GLOW Email address and use the unique Greenfaulds High School Code (XQfQPVhy) to activate their account. As you will see they will have access to many resources for learning key concepts, testing their knowledge, self-evaluating etc.

Secondly the e-sgoil study resources – Pupils can access a range of resources including help with Study planners, revision tips, managing stress etc. They can also access a wide range of subject webinars every week. Details are posted each week to advise what topics are being covered each evening in the Webinars. They can Google Esgoil Study support and it’s very straight forward or can use this link. We have posted the link on Teams for them already.

Free School Meals and Education Maintenance Allowance

A reminder to all families, if your family normally receives Free School Meals or EMA (16+ yr. olds) please remember to reapply for continuation of this service as it does not automatically continue each year. Families need to apply annually. There were a few incidences today 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

Likewise, for families of young people over 16 they may be eligible for the Education Maintenance Allowance and the link is here: Education Maintenance Allowance | North Lanarkshire Council Once pupils have received their forms they should bring them to Mr Adler for a meeting about expectations to receive their EMA.

If families would like any support with these forms, please contact Mrs Foley who would be delighted to support you in completing these.

Community Information

As you know, I’m always keen to share information relating to the wider community of Greenfaulds High School and as such would like to draw your attention to the following offers.

Cumbernauld Laugh and Lunch Lounge

Triage: Parents Information Session

Next Tuesday, North Lanarkshire’s Triage Service is running a Coffee and Cake session for families at the Muirfield Centre. The Triage Service offer families a huge range of services. The full list of services and supports is available here, but includes managing health, financial guidance, increasing learning and skills, employment pathways amongst many.

Healthy Sleep Habits Workshop

As a man who priorities his night’s sleep, I’m acutely aware of the need for good sleeping habits – something that many of our youngsters struggle with. To that end, the Educational Psychology Service will be delivering online Healthy Sleep workshops on the 27^thFebruary for families. Please see the leaflet below for more information.