Head Teacher Blog
Dear Parent/Carer
I hope you have had a good week.
So for me, a week where I have unfortunately not seen much of our amazing staff, pupils and school building. I have however, seen an awful lot of Glasgow as I visited twice this week. Firstly, an interesting course about improvement science which is one of my secret loves and secondly as part of a group of staff involved in the revised curriculum which will be rolled out to schools in the next few months – less of a secret love and more of a passion of mine which all my colleagues know as I bore them about it an awful lot.
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.
School Leaver League Table
If like me, you have news stories which your phone’s algorithim sends to you, you may have received an update about the North Lanarkshire Schools data for school leavers this week. If you missed this, the publicised data has shown that Greenfaulds has continued to make strong progress in ensuring more pupils are leaving school with more qualifications than before. This year, the school has moved up over 30 places nationally in the league table to being 67th nationally. This is a testament to the hard work of pupils, staff and families in ensuring that over 50% of school leavers are now leaving school with 5 or more Level 6 qualifications. Whilst there are problems with league tables as they don’t fully capture the wide range of pupil achievements in terms of peer mentoring, volunteering and activities outside of school, the fact that the school continues to be recognised for its strong improvement is something we should all take heart from.
Authority Visit Report
As you know, the school was involved in an authority visit on the 16th to the 18th of March. This week, we received our finalised report, which I’m delighted to share this with you. What has shone through from the report, has been the recognition of the positive ethos and culture within the school and the opportunities that we all continue to work hard to provide to all our young people. The report has also supported our plans for improvement for next session including, capturing wider achievement of pupils (in and out of the school), ensuring the consistency of learners’ experience in every classroom and further develop opportunities for staff to work together to improve learning and teaching.
I will of course share the full plan for the school for next year in the next few weeks, but if you would like to read a full copy of the report, it is available here: Greenfaulds_VSE_Report (1).pdf
School Show Tickets Now on Sale!!
Tickets are now on sale for GHS’s production of Little Shop of Horrors.
Show nights are the 9th, 10th and 11th of June with a 7.15pm show start time. The kids have been working really hard and it promises to be a fantastic evening!
Tickets are £5 and can be purchased from Ms Duncan or Mr Sharpe in Music.
Goodbye Mrs Lawson
Today sees the departure of the much loved and respected Mrs Lawson from the Gaelic Team. She leaves Greenfaulds as she and her family are returning to the Western Isles. Kirsty joined Greenfaulds from Condorrat Primary School and had made a huge impression on the Gaelic Team and the wider school since she became part of the school. They often say that you should leave things in a better condition that when you found them and the greater integration of Gaelic into the school and the improvements that we have made to the teaching and supporting of Gaelic in our community is a testament to the work that Kirsty led and worked on. She will be sorely missed by us all.
S1 Trip to London
Last week, our S1 pupils embarked on the annual Social Subjects trip to London. They explored a variety of different landmarks, including the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and the London Dungeons. They even had a unique opportunity to engage directly with our local MP, quizzing them about important issues and gaining valuable insights into the workings of government. The pupils were absolutely fantastic throughout the trip and showcased excellent behaviour. They were a real credit to themselves, their families, and the school.
Blackpool Trip
This week a large number of our S1-S3 were whisked away to Blackpool to ride the rides on the Pleasure Beach. A brilliant (albeit) long day was had by all with Mrs McCaig who was the trip leader being delighted with all the pupils who were brave enough to ride all the roller coasters. A particular thanks to Mrs Bonar, Mrs Gallagher and Mr Gallagher for their support of one bus load of pupils who had a slightly longer stop at Gretna on Wednesday night owing to a bus breaking down and needing replaced.
P7 Art Sessions
This week we have welcomed Westfield Primary and Eastfield Primary in the Art and Design Department and the team are due to see P7s from the other associate primaries for some activities over the next few weeks. Here are some pics of artwork from Eastfield’s visit today – pupils produced some lovely drawings and paintings, character designs and prints.
Scottish Cup Handball Winners
Congratulations to Sienna Robertson S1, Emily Quinn S1 and Neve O’Rourke S2 who won the Scottish Cup with their Handball team at the weekend. The final was held at the Edinburgh Oriam Performance Centre, where both Tryst teams in that age group made it to the final! Handball continues to have good following in Cumbernauld due to the hard work and volunteered hours by the coaching staff, providing a rich experience for those involved. Well done girls!!
James’ Art Success
A massive congratulations to James Haggerty, who beat over 700 pupils from across Scotland to reach the final in the Schools Jewellery Design Competition held by City of Glasgow College.
Access to the school
As part of a review on building security, we have now moved to the main doors at the front and rear of the building being locked during class time. This is to ensure that only people can access our school via the visitor entrance and sign in at reception. If your young person is running late for any reason can you remind them of this and that they need to come in through the guest entrance. Thank you.
Qualifications Scotland Exams – Good luck to all of our pupils!
The exams are well-underway. Pupils are reminded to arrive in plenty of time to check seats – at least 15 minutes before the start time. Pupils must be in school uniform when accessing the school for an exam or for any other reason eg study sessions, to visit teachers etc.
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 18th of May at 6.30pm (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.
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
Young Scot Cards
Increasingly, the use of Young Scot Cards for our pupils are very important, both in and out of school. As such, if your son/daughter loses their card it can be problematic. We are able to apply for a replacement card on their behalf. However, we would ask that if you would like the school to do this, that parents/carers need to email Mr Adler nladlerp@northlan.org.uk with the students full name, date of birth, a photo, their address to send the card to and give permission to apply for a card.
Child Protection and Safeguarding
If you have concerns of a child protection or safeguarding nature, we would encourage you to use the following information.
Community Consultation
On Friday 20th March, North Lanarkshire Council and partners launched the Community Priorities Consultation, giving residents across the authority the opportunity to identify the issues that matter most to them. The feedback gathered will help us develop a clearer understanding of the challenges affecting our communities and inform future activity to improve health and wellbeing, create safer neighbourhoods, and tackle poverty.
To give your opinion on your and your families priorities could you please complete this Community Priorities Survey?
The survey is now live for all residents and will remain open until 1st October 2026. As noted in Friday’s bulletin, all young people from S1 to S6 will also take part in the consultation from August 2026.
Summer Safety
NLC have been in touch with me this week to request that we pass on the following information to all families regarding keeping safe in the summer. If you are interested in more details, the QR codes on the posters should take you to the necessary information.
Currently we are building ties with the Cumbernauld Theatre to develop opportunities for our pupils. This week they reached out to let us know of an upcoming opportunity.
Cumbernauld Theatre is organising a Community Open Day/Gathering on Sunday 10 May.
Everyone is welcome but we have been working with NLEMA and our local South Asian networks to create an event that encourages more diversity in and around our venue, with a longer term hope that we can learn more about how to build artistic and participatory programmes that are more inclusive.
The weblink for more information is here: Community Gathering
The event runs from 1-7pm.
Workshops are from 1pm – 4pm and the film screening of Umrao Jaan, as part of the UK Asian film Festival 2026, is at 4.30pm.
We are really keen to find young people and families interested in signing up for the dance and drama workshops.
Everything at the community gathering event is free, but places must be pre-booked for the workshops and film screenings.
Dates for your diary
Friday 8th May: S2 Tracking Report 3 Issued
Friday 15th May: S1 Tracking Report 3 Issued
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Moran Taing
Jamie
Jamie Vaughn-Sharp
Head Teacher
