It has been a very busy term so far for pupils and staff with S4/5/6 pupils completing their prelims prior to the February break. The results of these will be confirmed shortly and we will be reporting to parents in the coming weeks in order to confirm final levels of study.

To further support our senior pupils, we are also starting after school study support sessions for Higher, Intermediate 2 and National 5 pupils from Monday 24 February. Please encourage pupils to attend these sessions as they prepare for their final exams in May/April.

Our S1-3 pupils have also had a particularly successful start to 2014. They have read 1262 books and a whopping 61 million words in Accelerated Reader. We’ve also challenged Knox Academy to beat our totals and are now competing to see which school can reach the 100 million word mark first. It is great to see so many of our young people are becoming more engaged with reading. Last year, Ross High pupils read just 40 million words across the whole school years, so we are delighted at this progress. Please look at our ‘Reading for Gold’ parent guide for further information on our reading scheme.

Mr Foley and Ms Barry also joined the department shortly before Christmas and they have been busy involving themselves in a number of new extra-curricular activities.

Wednesday lunchtimes are all about the Media Club with pupils currently exploring journalism and working towards BBC School Report news day on Thursday 27 March. Keep an eye on our website for their news reports in the coming weeks. Several staff have also been trained in the use of green screen technology, with further training in video editing planned for next term. We are excited about sharing this new technology with pupils and enhancing the learning experience through this.

Miss Bradley’s classroom is also a hive of activity on Tuesday lunchtimes with Debating Club. Pupils are currently preparing for a debate with a number of Edinburgh secondary schools in March. This will shortly be followed by the inaugural East Lothian Schools Debating Competition which Ross High will be hosting on Friday 28 March.

Please continue to keep up to date with news from the English department via our website. You can also follow our Twitter feed @rosshighenglish where we will continue to communicate with parents and pupils.