Student Voice

Student Voice at Penicuik High School is an opportunity to give all students a voice in issues concerning the school community.  We encourage students to voice their opinion but also feel confident in putting their ideas forward to our Senior Leadership Team to help promote positive change now and for future students. 

Student Voice is split into three different student councils run by the following teachers:

S1/2 Student Council with Miss Campbell.

S3/4 Student Council with Mr Milligen.

S5/6 Student Council with Miss Tavakoli.

There are meetings every month and this alternates between Student Council meetings that then feeds into the Student Parliament meetings. The issues raised at the student council are taken to the Parliament meetings for further discussion and agreed action. The Parliament meetings have representation from two members of each council with two representatives from SMT – Mr Biddick and Mr Dewar. We also invite representatives from each of the student groups in the school e.g. Eco Schools, Equalities Group etc. 

As a school we highly value the contribution young people make and constantly seek ways to improve our partnerships with them. Please see the documents below of Parliament minutes and action logs.

November 23 Parliament Minutes

Parliament Action Log – Nov 23

January Parliament MinutesParliament Action Log – Jan 2024

Penicuik High School – Senior Awards Ceremony 2023

Last week we held our annual Senior Phase Awards Evening for 2023. This event has been reformatted and is now held in October instead of June as it better reflects the attainment of young people in the SQA diet from the previous session.  Our Academic Achievement Awards were also a great way to celebrate students working to the best of their ability and ensuring the evening was inclusive. It was also great to celebrate some of the success stories through recognising students who had achieved success in areas such as volunteering and the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. The feedback we received on the evening was very positive and we have also taken on some feedback around the management of the awards to continue to build on the evening and make improvements for the next session. I would like to sincerely thank the following staff for helping and attending the event:

Craig Dewar – for developing and managing the new event

Cal Hind and Ava Fox – for their amazing job hosting the evening

Beth Holwell Ellis – for her excellent administrative support 

Office and janitorial staff for their support

Keith Murphy – for technical support with sound and lighting

Morven Murphy – for the two music items by the Junior Vocal group

SMT

Margaret Brandie – for organising the Prize Table

Staff assisting / attending

Sam Preedy

Leigh Wood

Alice Tinning

Sandra Van Aswegen

John Berry

Shannon MacDonald

We look forward to celebrating our Junior Award winners S1 – S3 in June.

S1 Dragons Den Event

February saw the first part of Penicuik High School’s ‘Dragons Den’ activity. The S1s recently began
the topic of Entrepreneurship as part of their Employability curriculum. 6 local business owners, who
all work in or around the Penicuik area, were invited to speak to students about why and how they
set up on their own. Students took part in workshops from the Dragons on how to create successful
businesses and also gave pupils an invaluable insight into skills and qualities needed for their
projects.

Since then our S1 Employability classes have been working hard to come up with new business ideas
and pitches as part of the Dragons Den project. All classes produced some fantastic new business
ideas and each class decided upon a finalist to present to the whole year group as well as face the
panel of Dragons.

Our fantastic Dragons – Angelina Coffee Snug, Sandra Vick Artist, The Jordan Murray Band and
NuGen returned to form the judging panel today for the Final. The pupils presented their very
impressive and creative pitches, some even involving websites and products they had created for
their projects.

Our winners were:
1st place:

Cats and Co – Atanas Yordanov, Josh Anderson, Christopher Dunlop and Alex Crawford

Joint 2nd place:

Totally Truffilicious – Dominic Young, Finlay Carter, Hunter Milne, Struan McGregor

Little Miss Lashes – Rheia Black, Lily Dunbar, Lily Millar, Erryn Anderson Hogg

Well done to all involved, the event was a real success and was a great experience for pupils to put
the content they are learning in the curriculum into practice!

Careers Convention – Thursday 9th March

Once more, we are planning to organise our Careers Convention following the lifting of Covid
restrictions. This event is a feature of our school calendar, with the venue alternating between
Penicuik High and Beeslack Community High School.

This year, the Convention will be held in Penicuik High School and all parents/carers in the
Penicuik area are invited to attend with their children to discuss career matters with experts.

This convention has traditionally attracted a wide range of consultants who give valuable advice
to parents and students on a range of occupations and further/higher education courses.

Invitations have been issued to universities, colleges, apprenticeship providers, service and
manufacturing industries, the armed forces and the professions, the intention being to provide
you and your child with a unique local opportunity to obtain advice on career pathways.

Whilst there may be some value in your child attending the Convention unaccompanied by an
adult, we believe that much greater advantage is likely to be derived from the evening if
students attend with parents/carers to find out more about the sort of opportunities available.

Admission tickets (free of charge) will be supplied to all those who wish to come along and are
available from Mrs Brandie in the Guidance Base. Students only need one ticket per family.

Should you wish any further information please contact Mrs Brandie at Penicuik High School.

ACHIEVE Information Session for Parents

Student Voice

As you will be aware we have a very active student voice in Penicuik High School where we have student council meetings every two months and then a student parliament meeting every alternate month. This is student led and students can bring agenda items to the meetings.

At our most recent student council and student parliament meetings the students requested that if they have PE period 1 that they can attend school that morning in their PE kit to allow more time in their PE lessons. I can now confirm this has been agreed and the guidance around this agreement is below:

• If a student has PE period 1 then they can attend school that morning in their PE kit
• All students must bring their full school uniform in their bag so they can change after their PE lesson
• All students must attend the rest of the school day in their full school uniform
• If students do not bring their full school uniform then this will be challenged based on the uniform protocol which can be accessed on the school website – https://penicuik.mgfl.net/school-uniform/

Parent / Carer Awards Evening Consultation – October 2022

Penicuik High School is a values based school and we want to celebrate the success our students achieve throughout each academic session. We are hoping to introduce two separate awards evenings, a BGE Awards Evening and a Senior Phase Awards Evening. We would  therefore like to consult with our wider school community and ask our parents / carers to share their opinion by answering the questions below.

Careers Breakfast

Each month we will be running a ‘Careers Breakfast’ , open to all S4, S5 and S6 students. This is a chance for students to find out more about jobs and careers in an area they may be interested in. This will typically take the format of a guest speaker from a specific career sector followed by the opportunity for students to ask questions.

Penicuik High School – S6 Leadership Team 2022/23

I am delighted to introduce to you the S6 Leadership Team for 2022/23. This amazing group of students successfully came through the selection process and I am sure they will do a fantastic job in representing themselves and their fellow students this session. Please see below the roles they have been assigned. (Megan Webster is missing from the photo as a result of a family holiday)

School Captains

Alexander Moffat – Clerk Maxwell

Lara Moodie – Clerk Maxwell

Vice School Captains

Chiara Mann – Clerk Maxwell

Sarah Black – Clerk Maxwell

House Captains Liddle

Ethan Manson – Interhouse

Iona Ogilvie – Citizenship

Antonie Taylor – Promotion

House Captains Clerk Maxwell

Aimee Allan – Promotion

Maia Bulik – Citizenship

Megan Webster – Interhouse

Performing Arts specific House Captain role

Ailsa Blott

Exam Results / Appeals Information and Re-coursing information

SQA Appeals

Please read the information below which will help you decide whether an appeal is something you would like to request.

Before submitting a request for an appeal, please read the information below to make sure you are eligible for an appeal.

You should also read the SQA’s appeals guide for learners which was sent to all candidates by the SQA.  You can also access this on the SQA website.

SQA Appeals Requests 2022

To be eligible for an appeal:

1. Your grade on your certificate must be lower than the estimate your teacher gave you. This was sent to you or you can check with your teacher when you return to school.
2. You must have completed all elements of the course – this includes all coursework that is sent to SQA, such as Assignments, and the exam.
3. At least one element of the course must be marked by SQA, eg. The exam or a piece of coursework. (It is not possible to appeal for Practical Woodwork which is assessed by staff in the department and verified by SQA)

You can submit an appeal request via Learner Direct on the SQA website if you prefer.  The school will be informed.

You do not need to submit a request to both SQA and the school. Both ways will reach the school and your teachers.

What happens next?

1. All requests will be passed to the Principal Teacher of each subject who will inform the relevant teachers.
2. You should ask to discuss your appeal with your teacher.
3. They will explain the evidence they have for you and how strong they think this evidence is based on SQA requirements.
4. After this discussion, the final decision to appeal is yours. If you need time to think, you must confirm if you want to go ahead with your appeal with your teacher no later than 30 August to give your teacher and the school time to organise this.  Should you require an urgent appeal to ensure you secure a UCAS place, College place or an apprenticeship please make contact with the school or submit a learner direct appeal no later than 16th August.
5. The school will submit your appeal to SQA and the result of your appeal will be shared with the school by the end of October. If your grades change you will receive your replacement certificate by mid-November from SQA.

Please make contact via the school office by email or telephone or directly via my email l.wood4@midlothian.education at the earliest opportunity should you wish to make an appeal and certainly by the dates above.

Re-coursing as a result of exam results

If you need to re-consider your course choices for S5 or S6 because of your exam results then there will be a short window of opportunity to do this. Please remember, any re-coursing will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and where a student requires a particular course / grade for specific reasons e.g. entry to further/higher education, modern apprenticeship, employment etc. We will not be considering any re-coursing requests because a student has changed their mind at this stage.

If you would like to arrange a re-coursing appointment with your guidance teacher or SMT on Tuesday 16^th August between 13.30 – 16.30 then please contact the school via phone or email and ensure you give the following information:

Name

Class

Teacher you wish to see

Time slot

Re-coursing request and reason for the request – This must include subject, level, predicted result and actual result.

School Contact details below:

Telephone – 01968 674165

Email – Penicuik.H.S@midlothian.gov.uk