December 2012
Dear Parent/Carer
Parental Update
Another year is almost over but school life is still proceeding at a pace with Christmas events, prelims and packing for the new school. As in the past this is a good opportunity to give you some news of past events and achievements and give you notice of future events.
Earlier this week I was concerned that a student had brought tablets into school. The tablets eventually turned out to be harmless. However I would ask that you reinforce with your son/daughter the need to take care and on no account should any young person ever take something from another student or adult that they are unsure of. At all times be safe.
Arrangements for the Last Day of this Term This school term runs until Friday 21 December 2012 and will finish at 12.15 pm that day. As in previous years three Carol Services will be held in the Assembly Hall during the morning. School lunches will be served after the third service at 11.30 am approximately and the buses will be available at 12.15 pm. Arrangements for the Start of Next Term The new term will start for students on Monday 7 January 2013 at the normal time of 8.30 am for registration. Fifth and Sixth Year Prelim Examinations The senior prelim examinations will begin on Monday 14 January 2013 and are due to finish on Friday 25 January 2013. Inspection HMI were in school on the week beginning Monday 5 November 2012 inspecting the Education and Community Learning. The reports are due to be published at the start of the year. All parents/carers will receive a copy of the report through the post. The school, Authority and parents/carers will then be able to study the report and take forward any recommendations. Achievements Over 300 students were presented with certificates at Achievement Assemblies this term. The achievements were for a wide range of activities and contribution of good work.
Sports Centre During the Christmas and New Year holiday period the Sports Centre facilities will be closed on Tuesday 24 – Thursday 27 December 2012 and Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 January 2013. Reduced opening hours will be in operation on Monday 24, Friday 28 and Monday 31 December 2012. The Sports Centre will be open as normal on Thursday 3 January 2013. Charities Wear it Pink The school managed to turn ‘pink’ in October and raised £2,000 for Breast Cancer Research. Children in Need A non-uniform day meant students raised £1,000 for Children in Need.
Movember Congratulations to those involved in Movember and who raised £225 by growing moustaches.
With victories over Newbattle and Balerno, the U16 team won the Edinburgh and Midlothian Bowl.
Proud to be a Scot!
They now have a fixture in the National Bowl competition against Buckhaven.
The culmination of our ‘Proud to be a Scot’ week was a Ceilidh. This was a crosscurricular event for all 270 S2 students. We had pipes and drums to start and finish the event and the Games Hall was resplendent in Saltires and tartan. We hope this will become an annual event on our busy calendar.
Chinese New Year On Monday 11 February 2013, the school will help celebrate Chinese New Year, the year of the snake.
Shanghai –October 2012 Students from Lasswade visited our twin school Tianlin No. 3 Middle School in Shanghai.
Beijing – October 2012 Students from Lasswade visited Dulwich College in Beijing.
Visiting Longhau Park, near the school.
The students spent time in Beijing - here at the Forbidden City and at the Great Wall.
Visiting Shanghai, the students are pictured here on “The Bund” with a view of the modern buildings of Pudong.
In school the students were able to take part in Tai-Chi.
Learning Traditional Chinese painting.
Old town Shanghai, near YuYuan gardens.
Auschwitz Trip We recently took part in a one day trip to Auschwitz in Poland, where we were shown exactly what the conditions the prisoners who were kept there lived in and just how inhumane and cruel they were treated. What shocked us the most was the fact that the difference between life and death was a random selection. Prisoners were taken onto the platform in Birkenau and sent to either the left or the right. For most, this meant a one way trip to the gas chambers. But the ‘luckiest’ were then registered and kept as prisoners, however, the average life span in the camp, shockingly, was just 6-8 months. To sum up what we experienced in just two paragraphs seems impossible. However with the help of the Holocaust Educational Trust we are working on our next steps and undertaking the role of becoming ambassadors of the trust. We plan to deliver the two most important messages we learned. They came from a very special man who managed to survive the Holocaust, Ziggi Shipper, and we sincerely hope that we can pass these messages on to our school and community in the coming months. ‘Do not hate.’ Hate is what caused the Holocaust. ‘Never give up.’ We must remember there were survivors who fought long and hard for their lives; they never gave up. Charlotte Jones and Caitlin Wood
New School Building I am pleased to advise that work on our new school is on schedule. Visit the school’s website, www.lasswade_hs, and follow the links for the new school where progress being made can be viewed.
Mr Mitchell giving a Maths lesson in Chinese.
Are you a former student of Lasswade High School Centre? Which students do you remember? Head Boy/Head Girl, Dux Medallist,Sports Champion? Is a relative or neighbour a former student? Contact us @ Telephone : 0131 663 7171 Email: lasswade_hs@midlothian.gov.uk Link to our Facebook page @ www.lasswade.info
Forth Crossing Competition
Uniform – School Blazers Following consultation with students, we are in negotiation with a number of companies regarding the introduction of school blazers next session. Items for your Diary 2012 21 Dec Assemblies 21 Dec
Opportunity for you to win a VIP invitation to attend the opening of the new bridge over the Forth Estuary Transport Scotland, an agency of the Scottish Government, has launched a campaign to find the permanent name for the new bridge over the Forth Estuary, Scotland’s largest infrastructure project in a generation. As part of this campaign, we are running a competition for all Scottish schools. Teachers, students and parents/carers simply have to add
their school name (in the panel provided) when nominating a bridge name or commenting on names they like at the website www.namethebridge.co.uk The schools which nominate or comment on the winning name will be entered into a prize draw to attend the official bridge opening ceremony in 2016 as VIP guests of Transport Scotland. There will be one prize for primary school entries and one prize for secondary school entries, with seven students and
two teachers from each school invited to attend the ceremony. Each student from the primary school will also be allowed to bring a parent/carer. In addition to the invitation to attend the opening ceremony, the selected schools will also be given the opportunity for 25
students (accompanied as appropriate) to receive a VIP tour of the Forth Replacement Crossing site within the school year 2013/14. The Transport Scotland project team will work with the schools to provide a visit appropriate to the ages of the students attending and agree a suitable date.
Multiple entries are allowed and the closing date for entering names and comments is 31 January 2013. The announcement of the winning bridge name and school is likely to be made in summer 2013. For further information visit www.namethebridge.co.uk email enquiries@namethebridge.co.uk or telephone
0845 259 1113.
2013 7 Jan 14 Jan 24 Jan 11 Feb
S5/S6 S5/S6
Yours faithfully
Albert Jaster Head Teacher
End of Term Non-Uniform Day – Christmas Appeal New Term Prelims begin Prelims end Chinese New Year