Liberton High School Bulletin (Bulletin No. 5: December2007)

It’s amazing that Christmas is just weeks away – where has the year gone?! As this term draws to a close we are busy preparing for the end of term festivities. This includes our annual Carol Concert, Ceildh for S1, staff/pupil Pantomime and preparations for prelim exams which begin in mid-January. I would encourage all of our S4, 5 and 6 pupils to use some of the holiday to prepare for their exams. Of course, they need to get a balance right. Christmas and New Year ought to give plenty of opportunity for families to spend quality time together and to think about what we want to achieve in the New Year. To that end I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a very successful New Year.

Malbet Estate. A proposal has been received from residents in the Malbet Estate that the gate should be closed at lunchtimes. Neighbours on the estate feel that litter and noise from our pupils at lunchtimes has created sufficient nuisance to merit this action. I would like the views of parents and pupils on whether the gate should be closed at lunchtimes. Responses to me please by 14 January 2008.

Dress Code. Friday 21 December will be a dress down day for charity day for all pupils and staff. This is sure to be fun and it is fitting that we use most of the money raised to help those who are less privileged than ourselves.

Staffing update. Dr Rice will be joining us in the Chemistry Department in the New Year.

A Lunchtime concert was held on 4 December. Over £130 was raised for Streetwork, a local charitable organisation.

A Sexual Health and Relationships Education (SHARE) parents’ information evening was held on Thursday 22 November. We were delighted to welcome representatives from the Health Opportunities Team to support this event and provide information to parents and carers of S1-4 pupils. The evening was enjoyed by all who attended and the school is currently looking into providing further supports of a similar nature to parents, including the possibility of setting up an internet forum on the school website to specifically allow parents to support each other and to talk about their child’s sexual health. For more feedback about the evening or the SHARE programme, please contact Miss Meighan in the Guidance Department.

Congratulations to Natasha Jacobs who has been selected for the U16 Scotland Hockey squad…an amazing achievement! We now have two girls from Liberton in this squad!

The second round of Heartstart training was carried out on Friday 30 November. We now have 17 members of staff trained in emergency life support and of these; nine are now able to deliver the necessary skills to pupils. All of S5 will be trained in Heartstart through SE classes before Christmas and we hope to offer further opportunities to pupils during Activities Week 2008.

Italy Trip 2008. Well done to the parents and pupils of our members who recently raised over £1,700 running a Race Night and a bag packing session at Morrison’s on Gilmerton Road.

Enterprise week. S2 pupils in Art produced pictures for the S3 Business Management pupils to make into colour calendars. These are now available from the school office at a cost of £3.50.

The pupils at Liberton were involved in a range of activities from recycling, working in the school garden, looking at how to reduce their carbon footprint, calendar making and Christmas card competitions.

The Health Promoting Schools Working Group has now completed the process for achieving Stage 1 status and we are awaiting confirmation to be registered as a school. Stage 2 will begin in the New Year and more information will be provided then on how we will continue our journey to becoming a Health Promoting School.

PE Stars of the Month. Well done to Jenny Hastie in 1T and Connor Spears in 2FB for being this month’s PE stars! They have both shown a fantastic enthusiasm for the subject and have performed well in both Badminton and Gymnastics.

Plastic bottle recycling is on-going - all pupils should be encouraged to bring their bottles to Lab 9 in Science.

The Attendance Working Group at Liberton is looking for parent members to help evaluate current procedures and develop future policy in the areas of daily attendance and period absence. This will involve a meeting once or twice a month from January to May. Anyone interested should contact Ian Stewart,

PT Guidance, on 664 7514, to discuss what would be involved.

LHSA update

• A Car Boot Sale was held on Sunday 9 September which was a great success and well attended. We raised £290. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.
• 100 Club – Please join our 100 Club. Fill in an application form from the Liberton Link or send your name and address to the school addressed to the 100 Club and we will send one out to you. Alternatively, pick one up from ourselves at one of the parents’ nights. All the money raised goes towards funds for the school. It is only £1 a month and the prizes are £20, £9 and £5 every month. We have just given the school rugby team £180 to buy their rugby strips.

One of the roles of the Parent Council is to represent the views of parents. The Children and Families Department are currently consulting on the draft Parental Involvement Strategy for the whole city and the draft school session dates for 2009/10. Both of the documents are available on the parent council section of the school website www. liberton.edin.sch.uk. Alternatively, a paper version can be obtained from the school office. We would like to know what you think so that we can send a response that represents the views of all parents in the school You can either send a note to us with your views/comments or e-mail them to lhs.parentcouncil@googlemail.com.

Over the course of three days in November, the whole of the S3 and S4 participated in workshops covering topics such as motivation, teamwork, study skills, and striving for success. The workshops were lively, interactive and some of the materials produced by the pupils were very entertaining! The feedback from the pupils was very positive and we hope they will use what they learned both in and outside school.

Our Scottish Champion Ryan Kinnear has finally achieved his Black belt in Judo. Please feel free to congratulate him when you see him. Message from Mr Porter to staff on hearing the news: “If there are any problems with Ryan please refer him to someone else!!’’

Congratulations to Ellie Richardson 2D and Alex Keddie 1DA who both came 3rd in the Gracemount Ibex Club championships on Sunday. This is a great achievement for both girls as the standard at this club is particularly high. Feel free to say well done if you see them.

Dates for the Diary

Thursday 13 December S2 parents/teachers consultation night (5-7 pm)

Monday 17 December Carol Concert (tickets will be available from school office)

Friday 21 December Term ends at 12.30 (charity dress down day for staff and pupils)

Monday 7 January All resume

Monday 14 January Standard Grade prelims begin

Wednesday 16 January S2, S4 and S5 Information evening for parents (letter to be sent to parents)

Monday 21 January Higher Still prelims begin

Mon 11 Feb – 15 Feb incl. February Holiday week

Monday 18 Feb Holiday for pupils; in-service for staff.

Please share any news with me that you would like me to publicise or let me know if there is anything in particular that you would like to see included in future editions of this bulletin. Many thanks.

Donald J Macdonald (Headteacher)