MGS Autumn Parent Newsletter
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Transcript of MGS Autumn Parent Newsletter
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5thSeptember2014
Insidethisissue
SQA Results ................................ 2
Working together ....................... 2
Referendum Debate ................... 3
Pupils’ Poems ............................. 3
Parent Council AGM ................... 4
Important Dates ......................... 4
Pupil Poem ................................. 4
NewstartI hope that you were able to have an enjoyable holiday during the summer. I
certainly feel that the pupils have returned refreshed and ready to go – many of
them miss the buzz of school and enjoy mee ng all their friends again. We have
had year and house assemblies in the past few days to make sure that they
make a good start to the year and get into good habits straight away. Every pu‐
pil has a ended school wearing school uniform and we really appreciate the
me and effort taken by parents and pupils during the holidays to achieve this.
It li s the spirits to see pupils coming in to school in the morning dressed for
school, smiling and ready to learn. The Senior Management Team is endeavour‐
ing to be around in the morning to welcome pupils at the start of the day.
As you know Mr Summers has now moved on to work with the Sco sh Qualifi‐
ca ons Authority and the staffed wished him well at the end of last term. I have
been in touch with him during the holidays and I can report that he is warming
to the challenge ahead as he oversees the development of the new Higher and
Advanced Higher courses! I feel very privileged to be holding the reins in the
coming months and I am determined that the school will con nue to improve
while we await the appointment of our new Head Teacher.
This newsle er is slightly different from those that you have received in the past
in that it will feature contribu ons from pupils – this me poems wri en by S2
pupils. Last session this class visited the beach to sample the ambience associat‐
ed with being beside the sea and to be inspired to write crea ve poetry pieces
and some of those are included.
Musselburgh Grammar School Parental Newsle er
Striving for Excellence Caring for All
Welcome back to
all our pupils.
We hope that you have had a
good holiday and are now
focussed on a hard‐working
new session. In par cular, we
would like to extend a warm
welcome to our new S1 pu‐
pils. It is great to see such
enthusiasm and desire to
learn as exemplified by our
new pupils.
Well done to all pupils who
have done well in their exam‐
ina ons.
Well done to all pupils on the
good start to the school year.
Keep up the good habits of
hard work, a endance, me‐
keeping and school uniform.
Keep up the good work!
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We have received a very generous dona on to the school from Mr A Slater
who organised a ‘Fes val of Football’ in memory of his late son Steven who
was a former pupil of the school. Steven loved his football and this dona on
will allow the school to purchase two more sets of kit for the pupils.
I know that many senior pupils, parents and staff contribute in a variety of
ways to support ‘educa on beyond the classroom’ and I am very apprecia ve
of the me that is given to help pupils develop and gain experience of life
beyond the school through extra‐curricular ac vi es such as concerts, trips
and sports. The school has pulled together on many occasions this past year
and has donated approximately £4600 to charitable causes – a wonderful
effort.
We are keen to encourage pupils to use the dining hall where the food is
healthy and reasonably priced. S1 pupils are being allowed out of class slight‐
ly earlier to encourage them to use the dining hall and to get to know the
excellent menus on offer. All pupils have been issued with a smartcard that
they can use to purchase lunch in the school dining hall. You can load money
on to the smartcard remotely by looking at the council website for details.
The dining hall is supervised every day to ensure good order in the queues
and that pupils enjoy their lunch.
Pupils si ng Curriculum for Excellence courses have delivered our best ever re-sults at Na onal 5 level. We have also had one of our best years for Higher re-sults, with 5 pupils a aining 5 A pass Highers a par cular highlight. S MacKinnon
SQAResults
WorkingTogether
Pupils in S4 this year sat the new
Na onal 2,3,4 and 5 examina ons.
Although we cannot compare per‐
formance in these CfEx examina ons
with previous years they s ll set the
benchmarks for pupils to progress to
higher levels of study in S5. I am de‐
lighted to say that we are very
pleased indeed with the perfor‐
mance of the year group with many
pupils gaining a wide and varied
group of awards giving them an ex‐
cellent pla orm to progress to fur‐
ther study in subjects of their choice.
This was one of the main concerns
expressed by HMI during their visit
last February so it is gra fying to be
able to report that the school results
are much be er. Indeed they are
arguably the best set of results we
have ever had!
The percentage of pupils gaining 1, 3
and 5 Highers are all at or very close
to the highest ever recorded with
almost 40% of pupils who come to
the school gaining at least one High‐
er before they leave. Five pupils
passed 5 Highers all at Band A. Stewart MacKinnon Ac ng Headteacher
Senior Prefects
The Senior Prefects have been
appointed for the coming year.
They are:
Head Girl
Jenna MacDonald
Head Boy
Murray Sim
Deputy Head Girl
Lisa Finlayson
Deputy Head Boy
Thomas Hamilton
They will lead the 60 prefects this
year in helping with parents eve‐
nings, events, supervision at
break and lunch mes and run‐
ning the Pupil Council – the pupil
voice in the school. As always the
school is very well represented
by the senior pupils and we are
delighted to have 300 in S5/6 this
year.
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When I go to the Beach by
Blair Anderson
When I go to the beach
I usually take it for granted.
But when I went to learn
About what the beach was
like I realised
It’s a beau ful place.
With it’s clear blue sea,
The rumbling of the mini
Waterfall, the birds flying in
the sky.
The shining of the beau ful
colours
At the bo om of the en-
chan ng
Mysterious sea.
I could smell the salt from
the sea,
Fresh cut grass,
Dimpled golf balls, ice white
shells
And clear sea glass.
I know it’s not a holiday
des na on
Or a beach to go and get
A smooth brown tan.
But to me it’s a magical
place,
A place to get calm,
A place for memories,
Last Friday almost all of S5 and S6 pupils voluntarily a end Musselburgh Grammar School's referendum debate. A strong panel saw four MSPs take ques ons from first‐ me voters. Shadow Educa on and Lifelong Learning Minister Kezia Dugdale MSP and Conserva ve MSP Gavin Brown spoke for Be er Together while local SNP MSP Colin Bea e and Sco sh Greens MSP Alison Johnstone spoke for the Yes campaign. Holding this debate gave our senior pupils an important forum to raise the issues they are passionate about. Feedback from the elected representa ves and pupils was very posi ve. I hope the interest our pupils have shown in this debate will lead to lifelong engagement with poli cs ‐ regardless of the out‐come of the referendum.
Referendum Debate
S2 Poetry S2 Poetry
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TheParentCouncilwillbede-lightedtowelcomeanyinter-estedparentstotheannualmeetingortojointheCouncil.Theconstitutionis lexibleenoughtoadmitmanymem-bersanditisnotfull.TheAGMwillbeheldonTuesday23Septemberat7.00pmintheSchoolLibrary.AnyproposedamendmentstotheconstitutionhavetobesubmittedtoMrsAllen,theChairoftheParentCouncil,twoweeksbeforetheAGM–sobyTuesday9thSep-tember.Theycanbesenttoherbyhandingyourproposalintotheschoolof iceinasealeden-
Parent Council Annual General Mee ng
Important dates Finally the school is now fully up and running with pupils already taking part in many extra‐curricular
ac vi es as well as se ling down to their studies. Staff and pupils are busy jointly agreeing a ainment
targets for the coming year. Musselburgh Grammar School is an exci ng place to be both as a pupil
and a teacher with so many ac vi es going on. Some of the ac vi es planned for the next few weeks
Day Date Event
Monday 08.09.2014 S2 Science Trip to Glasgow Science Fair
Friday ‐ Sunday 05.09.2014 07.09.2014
S6 Outdoor Educa on at Dalguise
Thursday ‐ Thurs‐day
11.09.2014 18.09.2014
Ba lefields trip to Northern France
Wednesday ‐ Thursday
17.09.02014 18.09.2014
CATs tes ng of all S1 pupils – le er to parents to S1 pupils to follow
Thursday 25.09.2014 Evening visit to school for all P7 parents and pupils
Friday 26.09.2014 Staff McMillan Coffee Morning in Home Economics
Monday ‐ Friday 29.09.2014 06.10.2014
S4 Work Experience (one week) S4 Work Experience (one week)
Stewart MacKinnon
Ac ng Head Teacher
I hope you find our newly restyled newsle er enjoyable and interes ng to read !