Well, it’s been a week of “will it? Won’t it?” with the snow – there was a point on Tuesday when I wondered if we might have to start thinking about sending youngsters home but thankfully we were spared that.  Please make sure that we have any new contact details and that your children know what “Plan B” is if they do get sent home i.e. who else they might be able to go home to, who else they should get in contact with if you’re at work, or that they shouldn't get the bus and should wait in school for you to come etc.

I received an exciting email from Haddington Rotary Club this week letting me know that Jaimee Pickard and Louis Harrodine have both made it through to the next round of the Rotary Young Musician competition.  They will have to travel to Heriot-Watt University on the 27th February to compete, so we wish them all the best for that.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the way that the youngsters have embraced the re-vamped Dress Code.  The bit that a number of them aren’t embracing fully is black shoes. Please be aware that footwear needs to be black with no different coloured eyelets, piping or other adornment.  The only exception is in bad weather when pupils can wear their wellingtons (whatever their colour or design).  Please drop me a note if this is going to be difficult for you to support and I’ll see what I can do to accommodate or assist.

Some S6 have been taking part in “Employability Skills” training over the last few weeks and that culminated in mock interviews and feedback yesterday.  All the interviewers were very impressed with the pupils and the pupils should have got valuable advice that they can use in the future.  It is great to have people from local businesses and the Council supporting the school.  Mr Flood is in the process of organising a more compressed course for some of our S4 and I hope that they get as much out of it as the S6 did.  I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the interviewers who gave up their time from their working day to help us.

Last night it was a pleasure to welcome so many S1 parents for the consultation evening.  I enjoyed talking to the “old hands” and getting to know the newer members of the parent body.  There were a couple of staff absences, so please don’t hesitate to get in contact with the school if your child is taught by someone who was absent and you’d like to catch up with them.

The S5 and S6 pupils start their Preliminary Exams on Monday.  I wish them all god luck and hope that they make the best use of their week of exam leave.  I expect all of them to be back in school on the 28th January.