There have been a couple of notable sporting successes that I have heard about this week: on Monday we heard that Fraser Samuel (S6) and Lucy Ballantyne (S3) have qualified for the Scottish School's Swimming Championship finals. We wish them all the best for the 30th January. Also, following our Under 14 Badminton Team's success in the regional finals before Christmas, we have been invited to take 10 players - 5 boys and 5 girls to the Scottish Schools’ Badminton, Secondary Tournament on Tuesday 1st March 2016. As you can imagine, we are very excited about this, and I look forward to hearing how the team does. Whilst I am talking about sport, can I commend to you a quiz night being held at Haddington Rugby Club on the 5th February. It’s to raise funds for the Under 16 Team’s tour to Wales. The doors open at 7.30pm and tickets cost £5 per person, with a maximum of six people to a team.

Adam Linton-Main, one of our historians, will be talking about his experience of visiting Auschwitz with a talk and a mini-exhibition at the John Gray Centre on Wednesday 27th January from 4pm until 5.30pm. Free refreshments will be provided. ‘On the 27th of September I took part in a trip to the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. This trip was co-ordinated by the Holocaust Education Trust and was a truly compelling experience. I feel more awareness about Holocaust is needed and by sharing my experience with the local community, I would like to reflect on this dark period in history in hope that such atrocities may be prevented in the future.’

There are a few events coming up and they will be upon us before we know it. Next week, on Wednesday, we have the S4 Parents’ Consultation Evening. It starts at 5pm and goes on until 7pm. If any parent can’t get an appointment with a teacher (for whatever reason), please give the school a call and we will try to arrange an opportunity for you to get the feedback that you need on your youngster's progress. The week after, we have the S3-5 Course Choice Evening (Wednesday) and on Thursday it is the school’s Burns’ Supper. Tickets are on sale through the school (just ask for Mrs Ball). It is £10 for adults and £5 for pupils and pupils in S1 to S4 need to be accompanied by an adult. It’s a great evening with good entertainment. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

Have a good week.

S Ingham