Connect is an education charity which provides support for parents, Parent Councils, Parent Teacher/Staff Associations, and other parent bodies in Scotland.
The Autumn newsletter contains information about a number of topics, including:
the National Discussion on Scottish Education
the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment
Connect’s Annual Report 2021-2022
Plus there is an overview of the many consultation responses Connect has made, often using the parent/carer responses to their surveys.
You can also read a moving blog by the parent of a son with complex special needs as she tracks the slow progress of the Review of Additional Support for Learning.
17 November 2022: The NE and SE Locality Meeting for representatives of Parent Councils and Senior Education officers of the City of Edinburgh Council met on 26 October 2022.
17 November 2022: If your child is doing their National Qualifications this year, you may have questions about how they will be assessed, especially if they are doing National Qualifications for the first time.
The SQA have published a couple of latest blogs about how National Courses will be assessed for 2022-23.
15 November 2022: Parents may be interested to know that there is a current planning application for a 5G phone mast, which would be located in Whitehouse Loan, opposite the end of Bruntsfield Crescent and beside the entrance to the school.
The proposed mast would be 20m high and accompanied by a set of cabinets at the pavement level.
Details of the application can be found on the City of Edinburgh portal at:
15 November 2022: The Parent Council is a member of Connect, which is an education charity which provides support for parents, Parent Councils, Parent Teacher/Staff Associations, and other parent bodies in Scotland.
Through Connect through Connect parents can gain access to services like online Information Sessions, regular newsletters, advice and support, Parents’ Voice online surveys, dedicated Facebooks pages and other facilities.
Have a look at the latest Connect newsletter here:
11 November 2022: The Scottish Government has announced that it is their intention to reform qualifications and assessments in Scotland.
About the review
To provide guidance for this reform, an independent review of qualifications and assessments has been launched by the Scottish Government, which will run alongside the ongoing National Discussion on education in Scotland.
This review will look more closely at how learner’s achievements should be recognised and looks specifically at issues such as the role of curriculum for excellence, the balance between external and internal assessment, the use of technology and equity.
Details of the review and its background are available on the consultation website:
This reform process will seek to ensure that all learners’ achievements are fairly recognised to afford every learner an enhanced and fair opportunity to demonstrate the breath, depth and relevance of their learning.
Submit your view by 16 December 2022
The review is asking for input to the consultation. You can submit your responses via their online survey:
Once the qualifications and assessment review is completed, Professor Louise Hayward will provide recommendations to the Cabinet Secretary in March 2023.
27 October 2022: You may have seen the letter forwarded by the School about Our National Discussion on Scottish Education.
The National Discussion is a chance for everyone to share their hopes and ideas for the future of all aspects of Scottish education, from early years to options for school leavers.
Have your say
The National Discussion is being run by the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) and there are many ways parents and carers can contribute, for example:
Parental engagement charity Connect and the National Parent Forum of Scotland (NPFS) want to help families be part of the discussion too, and you can join their National Discussion Facebook Forum.
28 October 2022: The James Gillespies High School Parent Council held its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 12 October, in the school library. We were joined by approx 30 parents, for this first in-person meeting of the PC in over two and a half years.
Meeting business
The meeting addressed a number of issues, and a full minute of the proceedings will be available shortly.
Updates from previous Parent Council meeting
Headteacher recruitment
Council engagement
Donald J. Macdonald prize
School events
Rising rolls
Arrangements for future PC meetings
Chair’s Report
Finance Report
Election of Parent Council and Office Bearers
Headteacher’s Report
There was considerable discussion about the rising rolls at the School, and this situation has been taken as an action for the Parent Council to pursue in the coming weeks.
The presentation made by PC treasurer Ros Ingle is available at the link below.
The PC heard from deputy head teacher Miss McIver about the refurbishment of the new Darroch Annex, which opened for business on 27 October 2022.
Pupils and teachers alike are very excited to be moving into the new teaching and activity spaces!
The images of the new annex at Darroch: clockwise from top left – new entrance, bright and spacious classrooms, gym hall (with a sprung floor), dining hall.
New members and office bearers
The meeting also re-appointed the existing office bearers of the Parent Council, and we were delighted that a number of new members have also joined the committee.
The full committee membership is below (new members are indicated by *):
Sarah Scott (Chair)
Kirstin Leighton (Secretary)
Ros Ingle (Treasurer)
Hilary Snaith (Communications)
Laura Bird (Communications)
Tiziana Basciani*
Nicolas Boyes
Rob Dunbar
Orla Hobson
Christiane Kerlen*
Padraic Kinsella*
Ailsa Macintosh
Caroline McKellar*
Aileen Nimmo
Bec Phipps*
Kate Pinault*
Vikki Plant
Joanne Sapienza Chapman*
Steffi Schultze
Lisa Sutherland
Penny Tarsia
María Angélica Thumala Olave*
Charles Warlow
We are very grateful to all the members, new and old, who have joined the Parent Council.
Next meeting
The next meeting of the Parent Council will be held online via MS Teams at 7 pm on Tuesday 29 November 2022.
More details will be available on our website in due course.
Contact us
If you have any questions for the Parent Council, or issues that you would like to raise with us, please do not hesitate to get in touch:
JGHS Parent Council 