Head Teacher Update – Week Beginning 21/10/24

Tuesday 22nd October 2024

I hope all our pupils and any parents/carers who had time off had a relaxing October break. The October to Christmas term is a busy one in the life of a school so the school calendar and key dates (available here) are particularly important.

I would like to thank the staff and parents/carers who were in Aviemore last week to support the Polar Academy group with their expedition preparation – I believe the week was demanding but very rewarding.

I hope you find this update useful and please get in touch if there is anything you would like to discuss further.

Best wishes
S. Illingworth

Calendar
24.10.24: P7 Open Evening (1800 – 1930)
25.10.24: Hadrian’s Wall Trip

Parent School Partnership – change of date: the meeting has been moved to 11th November (1900 – Art Department)

Budget Consultation
A reminder that Midlothian Council is currently seeking views about the proposals to address the budget gap for 2025/2026.
The consultation period will close on November 20th and can be found here.

Parent School Partnership
As noted above the date of the next meeting has changed to November 11th . The meeting will be used to look at the attainment data for last session, and our plans to improve attainment further.
Normally at this meeting time is given over for the head teacher to provide a school update. We have decided to provide the update in writing to all parents around a week before the meeting for the benefit of those who cannot attend and to give those who do attend time to consider the update in advance.

Home/school communication
If you contact the school to speak to someone the office will ask for some basic information about the issue to make sure they put you through to the right person. If you would like to speak to someone in person please call the office to make an appointment. If you come to school without an appointment you will be seen by the duty manager.

S4-6 Formal Assessments
Our formal assessments for S4-6 will run from November 28th to December 16th. The timetable will be published on the school website later this week. To help prepare for these assessments I would encourage pupils to attend our supported study sessions.

S1 Halloween Disco
The Polar Academy Team will be running an S1 Halloween Disco on Tuesday 29th October, 1900 – 2100. Tickets are £5 and will be on sale at break and lunch in the dining hall this week.

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