Firrhill High School

S1 Transition Information

S1 Parents & Carers Information Padlet – Click Here

Dear Parent/Carer

I am delighted to be writing to welcome your child to the start of their journey at Firrhill High School.  This journey begins with their participation in the 3-day visit to Firrhill from Tuesday 17^th – Thursday 19^th June 2025.  The school day will start at 8.30am and finish at 3.10 pm.

Conversations between the P7 Transition Team at Firrhill, and your child’s primary school have been ongoing.  Relevant information about pupils’ learning will be shared with our staff, prior to the pupils starting. Alongside school staff, our S6 Helping Hands will be in place to support your young people on their arrival at Firrhill in August.

We will be hosting a P7/new S1 information evening on Monday 16^th June at 7pm. We will send out more information about this nearer the time but please book it in your diaries. This is a brief information evening aimed at parents and carers, so please leave children and young people at home.

If you need to contact us because of an individual change of circumstances, then please head your email: New S1 and send it to this address: admin@firrhill.edin.sch.uk.

It is a very special experience to be the depute to welcome our new S1s and to watch them as they turn into the impressive young adults they invariably do. Learning from our choices and coming back stronger is a key skill we want to encourage.  Mr Ewan Brodie will continue to be the Pupil Support Leader overseeing transition alongside Mr Alasdair MacLeod, our Head of Support for Learning. I really enjoy working alongside this excellent team and I know they are very excited about this part of their remit.  You will get a chance to meet them at the information evening.

Pupils in previous years have told us that they prefer to come to Firrhill wearing our uniform during the three day visit. This allows them to feel part of the school.  On Tuesday 17^th June and Thursday 19^th June, pupils should wear school uniform.  If this is a problem for any reason, please revert to the usual primary school uniform. I have attached the Firrhill High School dress code for your information.

Please see the information leaflet that details the school dress code for 2025.  Our S1 pupils always make a fantastic effort with their uniform and we look forward to seeing them smartly dressed on their arrival at Firrhill.

Plain black and white uniform items are available from a wide range of suppliers, and you should use whichever is most convenient for you. Please follow the expectations set out in our school dress code. If you wish to purchase polo shirts or sweatshirts with the school badge you can find them at https://www.border-embroideries.co.uk . School ties can be purchased from the school office and cost £6 – it should last for all your years at Firrhill. You will be able to purchase a tie on Monday 16^th June at the parent/carer information evening.

 

On Wednesday 18^th June, pupils will be involved in a Health and Wellbeing day. All pupils should come to school wearing PE/sports kit.  There will be no need for school bags or personal items such as mobile phones.  A packed lunch is required for this day.  Young people who receive free school meals will be provided with a school packed lunch upon arrival.  The day involves social activities as well as sports; it is a popular part of the programme and there will be something for all pupils to take part in.

ALL pupils will now receive a lunch during the 3 day visit. Therefore pupils will not be required to bring a packed lunch. We will provide information on the options for lunch on Tuesday (17^th June) in the morning. All our primary schools will provide us with all the required dietary information, including any allergies.

New S1 pupils and their parent/carer also need to complete the iPad agreement here:

https://forms.office.com/e/RgDkZnbv1j

We understand that our school needs excellent parent/carer and teacher relationships to help our pupils achieve their potential. We look forward to our first steps towards establishing this vital partnership with you. It is one of the rocks (Air Carraig) on which we build our success as a school.

 

I look forward to meeting you on Monday 16^th June at 7.00pm and to welcoming our new S1 pupils on the 17^th of June.

Please continue to read this letter, as there is important information below.

Kind regards

Mr J. Else

Depute Headteacher

Firrhill High School

 

 

Easy Fundraising

Turn Your Online Shopping into Free Donations for Firrhill!

Did you know you can raise money for Firrhill High School just by doing your usual online shopping and it won’t cost you a penny more?

Thanks to easyfundraising, your everyday purchases from thousands of well-known retailers can help fund important extras and experiences for Firrhill pupils. Whether you’re buying school shoes, booking a holiday, or ordering your weekly shop, you could be earning free donations for the school every time you click “buy now”.

 

💡 How does it work?

easyfundraising partners with over 8,000 retailers including Tesco, John Lewis, eBay, Just Eat, and Booking.com, who will donate a small percentage of what you spend to a cause of your choice. In our case, that’s Firrhill High School.

It’s completely free to use, and the donation comes from the brand not your pocket!

 

Here’s the magic:

• You visit your chosen retailer via the easyfundraising website or app
• Make your purchase as normal
• The retailer gives a donation to Firrhill as a thank you for your custom

✨ Easy, free, and genuinely makes a difference.

 

🛠 How to get started in 3 easy steps:

 

1. Sign up
   Go to easyfundraising.org.uk and select “Firrhill High School – Edinburgh” as your cause.
2. Add the donation reminder (for desktop)
   This handy browser extension will pop up whenever you visit a participating retailer’s site and remind you to activate the donation. You’ll never miss a chance to give!
   👉 Install the donation reminder
3. Download the app (for mobile)
   Shop on the go! Just open the app, search for the retailer, and start shopping through it.
   👉 Download for Apple
   👉 Download for Android

 

 

🎉 Why it matters

With school budgets under pressure, we rely more than ever on fundraising to support trips, equipment, and enrichment activities that benefit every year group. The more people who join in, the bigger the impact we can make without asking you to give any extra money.

So whether you’re doing a big Christmas shop, renewing your insurance, or just grabbing a pizza please do it through easyfundraising and help Firrhill with just a click.

 

Thank you for your support and happy shopping!

 

Firrhill FSG Committee

To access information all about our school, please click on our Firrhill in Focus Padlet below. The Padlet is a ‘one stop shop’ for everything Firrhill has to offer and includes the following sections :

• Firrhill weekly parental updates
• What is my child learning? An overview of all subjects taught S1 – 6 along with Assessment details and revision materials
• Support for Parent and carers
• Support for our ASN pupils
• In school wellbeing support
• Post school transition support
• Careers
• Mental health and wellbeing at Firrhill High School – pupils, staff and parents

S1 Information Session 24/25

FAQs – Click Here

House Team Information – Click Here

Parental Engagement at Firrhill

Our Strategy

In May 2024, we launched our first ever parental engagement strategy, following an extensive consultation process. At the heart of our strategy are three key activity areas – connect, collaborate and community. Please click here to read it.

Our parent/carer resources

How to Pass Nat 5: In September 2024 we hosted our second event entitled ‘How to Pass Nat 5’ for all parents/carers, S3-S5. Click Here  for the resource booklet and Click Here for the PowerPoint from the evening.

Life After S6: This event for all S6 parents and carers took place at the end of August 2024. Click Here to access the Powerpoint.

 

Help I’m a Parent! How Do I Support My Young Person’s Study Skills and Wellbeing: Our Study skills guide is in it’s second edition!  Please click here to access.

Ever wondered what it is like being a Firrhill pupil?

For all parents please see ‘a Life in the day’ of an S1 pupil. Click on the picture to discover insider knowledge of life in Firrhill written by parents who took part in our first Bring your parent to school day!

 

More Information about our Parental Engagement journey to date:

Please click here to find out more about our parental engagement action plan for Firrhill High School.

If you would like to read more about the policy landscape around parental engagement (theory, practice, research, policy) please click here

 

Please click here for our September parental engagement update.

 

What opportunities are there for wider achievement at Firrhill?

A full list of extra-curricular clubs is available in our booklet which can be accessed here: FHS Extra curricular programme 202425

 

TES Awards 2023

Firrhill High School Shortlisted for UK Secondary School of the Year

Watch our Awards Night video here.

P7 Virtual Tour

Please click here to take you to the P7 virtual tour. 

Active Schools

Access Free Sport & Physical Activity sessions 4pm daily from Active Schools At: Active Schools Edinburgh YouTube Channel

NHS on exercise videos which are ideal for high school pupils. These include yoga and pilates, so a range of activities.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-fitness-studio/

SAMH Booklet

SAMH-ParentCarer-Booklet

Useful Websites for Parents (S1-3) is here.

Useful Websites for Parents (S4-6) is here.