Penicuik High School
Parental Newsletter Summer 2007
www.penicuik.info
Dear Parents and Carers
This is the last parents� newsletter of this year and I would like to start by thanking each parent for the superb support you have given to the school throughout this session. I know that many of the events and activities that we have run this year have only got off the ground because of your support.
Parental Involvement Act
I wrote to you at Easter time about this Act which come into statute at the start of August. The Parental Forum met and agreed that the Parents� Association would be the forum for parental representation and that the regular meet the Management Team sessions should also continue. Parents were pleased with the levels of consultation which currently exist and were very definite about not having a talking shop.
I am delighted to acknowledge the work undertaken by the School Board over many years and I thank all who have served on the Board for their hard work and dedication. I would particularly thank the two Chairs of the Board that I have had the privilege to work with, Dr Les Haworth and Mr Murray Cole. Anyone who wishes to is very welcome to attend meetings of the Parents Association for further information please contact Mr Ross Hunter 01968 673381
School Dress Code
Can I once again take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support of our school dress code. I can tell you that we have a very high level of support for school dress. We have not changed anything in our school dress code which is :
Examination results
SQA examination results will be posted out to all pupils to arrive on Tuesday 7th August 2007. Pupils who wish to check their SQA exam results on line will have completed all the necessary paperwork before school finished and these results will be available from Monday 6th August.
Awards Ceremony
We celebrated a very successful awards ceremony on 19th June with a packed Assembly Hall and a table laden with prizes for every subject. Our guests of honour for the evening wereMrs Hazel Manda and Provost Adam Montgomery.
Mrs Manda is the Education Divisional Manager, Shire Highlands Region, in the south of Malawi. She has responsibility for the education of 1 million children.
Provost Montgomery is the first Penicuik Councillor to hold the office of Provost and we extend our warmest congratulations to him on a well deserved honour.
Concert
Our end of term concert took place the following evening when once again we had a hall full of proud parents and family members as well as guests. We were treated to a wonderful evening of musical talent. My congratulations go to all who took part and organised in this event.
Congratulations to our Leavers
As a school we bade farewell to our leavers from S4-S6 at a very enjoyable leavers evening. This event, which can only take place through the very generous support of the Parents� Association, is the school�s formal goodbye to those pupils who leave at the end of each session. We were able to present each pupil with a commemorative gift and certificate. We are grateful to Mr Forbes Mitchell, Head of Schools and Community Learning who presented the gifts.
Congratulations
Congratulations to the ladies in the Bite Site who won a Midlothian wide competition to have a themed day in the Bite Site. The Glastonbury style theme of rock and roll was a real hit with an appearance by Elvis and a karaoke to liven up lunchtime.
Staffing
We say goodbye to Ms McMillan our Principal Teacher of Modern Languages and to Mrs Duke teacher of Physics who are both retiring, we wish them both a long and happy retirement. We also say farewell to Mrs G Wright and Mrs Newlands in Mathematics and to Mr Burge in PE. Our large group of Newly Qualified Teachers and probationers are leaving us for pastures new and we thank them for their hard work throughout this last year. Mr Hope and Miss MacKenzie in English, Miss Miller in Chemistry, Miss MacLaren in Geography, Miss Parker in PE, Mr McAndrew in Design Technology and Mrs Mallet and Mr Irving in Mathematics. We wish you all every success in the future.
We will welcome a number of new staff to the school in August.
Mr David Innes
The end of August will see the retiral of Mr David Innes one of the Depute Headteachers who has worked at Penicuik High School for many years. Our sincere thanks go to Mr Innes who has worked in a number of roles in senior management throughout his time at Penicuik High School and we wish him a very well deserved happy retirement.
Activity week and school trips
My thanks to all the staff who worked so hard to organise what can only be described as a quite brilliant activities week. We had literally hundreds of youngsters in and out of school enjoying trying out new activities.
I was hugely impressed with the behaviour and attitude of all our participants. My thanks to those who supported this event. I do wish to apologise to you for the lateness of information going out for this week but I hope that everyone had the chance to have an enjoyable experience.
Lothian Maths Challenge competition
Well done to the following pupils, Calum Noble Chamings Sarah Law,Finlay Noble Chamings and Vicky McFarlanewho did so well in securing second place in the Lothian Schools Mathematics Challenge
Move of accommodation
A significant number of classrooms and offices are moving over the Summer holidays to accommodate to move of Jackson Street staff into Penicuik High School at the start of the new session.
Mark Edie
Headteacher
