Assemblies:  A few weeks ago two pupils from S2 approached me looking to run a set of assemblies called “Make Harlaw a Better Place”.  We were able to run these this week and I attach their presentation here: Make harlaw a better place

It is great to see pupils willing to take the lead and speak with their peers about issues such as uniform, litter, climate change, identity, body image etc.  I am sure pupils listen to every assembly I do but even more sure that they related better to the messages when they were written and delivered by their classmates.

Absences:  At the end of the assemblies I mentioned a small but important change we are doing with our absences.  from this week we will be changing our group call message to ask you to urgently contact us if your child is off school without our knowledge.  If we do not hear back urgently we will try to contact you and if we do not hear from you then we will ask someone to visit the house to check your child is safe and well.

Parent Evening and Parent Council:  On Tuesday we had our S4 Parents’ Evening and it was great to see the high numbers who came along to hear how they can help their child improve.  It was also very good to see a few new faces at the Parent Council meeting on Thursday evening.  I have attached for reference the slides we used in the school report that evening  Parent Council November 2019

Retirement:  I was not able to mention to the Parent Council on Thursday or the Pupil Assemblies on Friday my intention to retire in February.  I started teaching in 1980 and had always planned to work for around 40 years and retire in 2020.  As the HMIe inspection report will be published around February it made sense to step aside at that time so that my successor can work on any areas for improvement with staff, pupils, parents and the wider community.  I know there will be many areas of strength but it is also important to acknowledge that there will be things we will need to all work on.  It is important that the person who succeeds me is involved in working with you on shaping that plan.  I sent a message out to parents on Friday afternoon at around the same time as the job was advertised.

Retirement: