Author: hilarysnaith

CCwP meeting held 24 February 2022

22 March 2022: The Council’s Consultative Committee with Parents (CCwP) met on 24 February 2022 to discuss the issues which would be considered at the Education, Children and Families Committee the following week.

This included:

  • The Council’s strategy on school attendance
  • An update on SQA plans for exams this year
  • An update on Council figures on school leaver destinations

Shared documents from meeting

CCwP ECF report

Attendance in Edinburgh

SQA Update, February 2022

Edinburgh Learns Pathways report

A recording of the meeting can be viewed at the link below.

CCwP meeting 24 February 2022

New projects supported by the JGHS Small Sums Fund

20 March 2022: Applications to the JGHS Parent Council Small Sums Fund were submitted in September 2021. In conjunction with the JGHS Trust, we were able to fund all the bids made.

After this process, for the first time ever, we had not spent all the surplus funds from the school year 2020-21, and had £1600 remaining. We have therefore run a second supplementary round of applications to allocate the remaining funds.

Projects funded in the new round include new textbooks for the maths department, basket ball strips for PE, and materials for the knitting club. The documents linked below give details of all the applications received and the allocation decisions made.

Applications to the Small Sums Fund February 2022

Funds allocated by the Small Suns Fund February 2022

About the Small Sums Fund

Next round of applications in May 2022

Applications to the Small Sums Fund for the school year 2022-23 will be invited in May 2022, earlier than in previous years, so that staff can plan their activities further in advance.

However, we are unable to allocate the funds until we know how much money we have available at the end of the school year on 31 July 2022, so the applications will be reviewed and allocated after that date.

Input into the  process is welcome from any parent/carer – if you would like to help, please contact the PC via its email address.

Email the Parent Council

The more funds we raise this school year, the more we will have available to allocate for staff projects such as those described in the applications document, so please consider donating to the PC via ParentPay if you are able and have not already done so.

Donate to the Small Sums Fund on Parent Pay

Forum for parents with children with Additonal Support Needs

12 March 2022: The Council has set up a forum for meeting with parents with children with ASN in mainstream schooling, which feeds into discussions with Councillors and senior Council staff at the CCwP (Consultative Committee with Parents) before each Education, Children and Families Committee meeting (6 per year).

The last meeting was on 31 January and looked at Digital Learning and Pathways for Support.  The minutes and presentations can be found here.

Minutes of Meeting on 31 January 2022

Empowered Learning – David McKee 31 January 2022

Terms of Reference for ASN in Mainstream Schooling Forum

Get involved

The Parent Council would like to hear from parents who have issues they would like raised via this this group.  Please contact the PC email to be put in contact with our rep on the group.

Email the Parent Council

Choice, attainment and positive destinations research project

5 March 2022: James Gillespies High School is taking part in a research project being led by Stirling University on the impact of Curriculum for Excellence on attainment, subject choice and student experience. 

Take part in the project

As part of the research, the investigators would like to speak with a group of 4-6 parents with a child/children in S4-S6 to learn about their experience of supporting their child to make subject choices. 

There will be an online meeting with the group on Monday 14 March at 7 pm (about an hour). If you would be interested in participating, please contact the Parent Council by email:

Email the Parent Council 

Further information is available on the project website and on Twitter:

Choice, Attainment and Positive Destinations

Twitter

NE/SE Locality Parent Engagement meeting

11 February 2022: The NE/SE Parental Engagement Locality Group Meeting with City of Edinburgh Council was held on 1 February 2022 via Microsoft Teams.

You can read the minutes of the meeting and access presentations on the Learning Estate and the CEC Digital Consortia below:

Minutes of NE/SE Locality Meeting 1 February 2022

CEC Learning Estate Update – January 2022

CEC Digital Consortia Update – February 2022

Recording of Parent Council meeting on 26 January 2022 available

28 January 2022: Many thanks to everyone who was able to attend the meeting of the Parent Council on 26 January.

If you were unable to join us, or you want to listen again to any of the items, the recording is now available on YouTube.

Recording of Parent Council meeting 26 January 2022

The meeting covered the following agenda:

  • The current Covid situation in the school
  • Prelims at JGHS
  • The Council’s new group to meet with parents of children with ASN in mainstream schools
  • Progress in discussions on Active Schools provision
  • The consultation on a new GME secondary
  • Concerns raised with the Council by Parent Councils on parental engagement in schools

Impacts of Covid-19 on school communities

26 January 2022: The City of Edinburgh Council is holding open meetings for parents in January and February to discuss the impacts of Covid-19 on school communities and parental engagement.

The first of these meetings was on Tuesday 11 January 2022, and was followed by similar discussions on Tuesday 25 January.

A report from the first meeting is now available:

Covid IIA Meeting: Lessons Learned  11 January 2022

The last opportunity to attend a meeting is on Tuesday 22 February 2022, at 6.15 – 7.15 pm. 

Parents should join via MS Teams through this link: 

Click here to join the meeting

These meetings let the Council hear from parents about how changes, such not allowing parents to attend events in school, are affecting school communities.

For more information please contact: Parental.Engagement@edinburgh.gov.uk

First Parent Council meeting of the year is this Wednesday 26 January

21 January 2022: We are delighted that the first meeting of the Parent Council for 2022 will be held this Wednesday 26 January at 7 pm.

Once again we will be using MS teams to host the meeting and details of the joining link will be circulated by the School next week, so please look out in your email.

There will be updates on: 

  • The current Covid situation in the school
  • Prelims at JGHS
  • The Council’s new group to meet with parents of children with ASN in mainstream schools
  • Progress in discussions on Active Schools provision
  • The consultation on a new GME secondary
  • Concerns raised with the Council by Parent Councils on parental engagement in schools

If there any particular issues you would like to raise at the meeting, please contact the PC:

Email us at jghscouncilcomms@gmail.com

Information about meeting on 30 November 2021

The recording of our last meeting and summary of the Q&A are now available:

Listen to the meeting on 30 November 2021 on YouTube

Q&A from meeting on 30 November 2021

Events and Fundraising group

There will also be a Parent Council-led meeting (online) on Thursday 10 February for parents interested in joining an Events and Fundraising Group, with the hope that we can look forward to more in-person events in the coming year. 

If you would like to be involved, contact the PC on jghscouncilcomms@gmail.com.

Latest newsletter from Connect is now available

20 January 2022: Connect is a long-standing parents’ group, providing links for parents and families with teachers, third sector organisations, and local and national government in Scotland.

Connect website

You can read their latest newsletter here (January 2022

The newsletter has information on a range of topics including:

  • Connect Survey Report
  • Early Learning and Childcare
  • Education Reform 
  • Introducing the Equality and Equity Toolkit
  • Connect Campaigns: Letter to the First Minister on the Health and Wellbeing Census
  • Latest Education Updates

You can subscribe to the Connect newsletter here