Last week I commented on good news around the building works and SQA results, I also mentioned bad news around staffing issues.  This week, under blue skies and sunshine, we welcomed teaching staff and pupils back to school.  It was a really encouraging start with our pupils showing attachment to their school by wearing their uniforms.  Our seniors pupils have been brilliant buddies to the new S1s and overall people have got straight into their work and done well.  I held a set of assemblies looking at the past present and future of the school and this is summarised here Newsletter August 2016

I cannot emphasise enough the importance of the work we are taking forward with the City Council and the City Centre masterplan.  This has the potential to offer our pupils meaningful curriculum links and real job prospects for the next 40 years.  It could provide them with a place to live and work long after they have left school.  I attended 3 meetings around this on the first week and already it has delivered opportunities – on Monday 20 pupils will attend a session looking at success and marginal gains led by Judy Murray.  We are currently planning an event for September which will be a marketplace setting out aspects of the city centre masterplan and promoting jobs and opportunities with the City Council and in the City Centre.  Parents asked if we could run a careers evening – this event promises to offer much more than a standard careers event.  But we will only get these opportunities if our pupils look smart, learn smart and behave smart in and out of school.  Get it right and we will walk into jobs, get it wrong and employers will be at the back of a very long queue.

I was delighted with almost all of our pupils but in particular;

• our new S1s who settled quickly and enthusiastically into things
• our senior buddies/prefects who helped S1s and who planned/ran their own prefect training session

This year we broke a mould by moving away from the gender based prefect roles of ‘head boy/head girl’.  In discussion with pupils we now have a merit based ‘senior prefect team’.  Congratulations to Skye (senior prefect), Kyle and Astrid (depute senior prefects) who ran the prefect training and who will lead the development of pupil participation through to pupil senate and forum.