“Be at War with your Vices, at Peace with your Neighbours, and let every New-Year find you a better Man.” ~Quoted in Benjamin Franklin's 1755 Poor Richard's Almanac.
Happy New Year!
Despite what I was thinking on Monday morning it is good to be back at school, seeing the youngsters and colleagues and planning for the rest of the session.
We have welcomed Mr Simpson (Depute in charge of Lammerlaw House) and Ms Dornan (Physics and Science) and welcomed back Ms Mcintyre (Chemistry and Science). New starts at New Year are good but it is challenging coming into a school at this point, so I wish them all well in their endeavours to hit the ground running.
There are five weeks between now and the February Break and there is much to be done in a short space of time. Most notably the senior pupils (S5 and S6) have their Prelim Exams, starting on the 21st January. The pupils are on exam leave for that week but are expected back into school and are to attend all classes in the week beginning the 28th (unless, of course, they have an exam). I spent a bit of time with my S5 Core class on Wednesday talking about the exams and they were updating me on how they think they will do. They mostly seemed to have a realistic idea of how they might fare and I hope that they aren’t disappointed. We did discuss what support some of them need, and a few have taken up my offer of being nagged by me over the next week or so.
I spent a very pleasant half hour last night sampling the entries for the school heat of the Rotary Young Chef Competition. All the pupils did themselves proud and congratulations to Charlotte Smith and Findlay Wallace who go onto the next round. Thanks must also go to Ms Hossack for helping the pupils to prepare and Mr and Mrs Boyd who represented the Rotary Club of Haddington and were fellow judges.
Next week there is an S1 Parents’ Information Evening from 5-7pm. Pupils should have taken a letter home and be in the process of making appointments with their teachers. I look forward to meeting new parents and reacquainting myself with “old hands”.
K.A.S.G. is hosting a Burns’ Supper at school on the evening of the 24th January. Tickets are £10 per adult and £5 per pupil. Please contact the school or a member of K.A.S.G. to reserve your place.
Have a very good week.
