Capacity

Rising rolls and capacity at JGHS

1 February 2023: Following discussion at the JGHS Parent Council meeting in October 2022, it was agreed that the Parent Council would seek to engage with the City of Edinburgh Council about future accommodation requirements at the School.

The Parent Council has now sent a letter to Edinburgh City Council outlining the our concerns and asking for meaningful dialogue with the Council to address the issues raised.

A copy of the letter is available at the link below:

James Gillespie’s High School Capacity Planning

If you have any comments to make about the issues raised, please send them to the Parent Council.

Email the Parent Council

City of Edinburgh Council response to JGHS deputation concerning capacity issues

19 March 2021: The Parent Council has received a response to the deputation it made to the meeting of the Education, Children and Families Committee on 2 March 2021, which raised concerns about the lack of provision of additional classroom accommodation for 2021/22.

Parent Council Deputation (2 March 2021)

City of Edinburgh Council response (18 March 2021)

At the Council Committee meeting it was agreed that further investigation would be carried out to ascertain whether additional accommodation for August 2021 would still be a possibility, even at this point in the school year.

It was also agreed that consortia arrangements to share senior level courses between schools would also be looked at.

The response deals in part with these issues, but the Parent Council will be considering whether further steps should be taken to pursue the points raised in the deputation.

All Parent Council documents relating to the S6 capacity issue and plans for flexible digital learning in 2021/22 can be found on the Useful Files page

Useful Files

Deputation to City of Edinburgh Council about capacity at JGHS

26 February 2021: The Parent Council has submitted a deputation to the meeting of the Education, Children and Families Committee on 2 March 2021, raising concerns about the lack of provision of additional classroom accommodation for 2021/22 for consideration by Councillors.

JGHS parent Council Deputation to Education, Children and Families Committee

If you would like to support the deputation, please contact members of the Committee to let them know:

Contact Education, Children and Families Committee members

Since submitting the deputation, we have also received a reply to our letter to the school (below) which restates the Council’s position that additional accommodation will not be made available in 2021/22 and provides further details on how the school thinks FDL will work.

Headteacher response to Parent Council letter of 5 February 2021

The Parent Council will continue to pursue the points raised in the deputation next week to underline the parents’ preference for ensuring accommodation is in place for next year.

Capacity issues at JGHS

5 February 2021: Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting hosted by the Parent Council on Tuesday 2 February 2021 on capacity contingency proposals and to all those who put forward comments and questions before, during and after the meeting.

Link to recording of meeting on YouTube

It is clear that there are significant concerns about the plans and in particular about the fact that the Council has ruled out additional classroom accommodation, on the lack of specific communication on the proposals to S5 pupils and their parents, and on the potential effect on next year’s S6 pupils, both from a social and an educational point of view.

The Parent Council has written to the school, Council officers and councillors to highlight these concerns and asked for an early response – see below. Any replies will be posted here when received.

JGHS PC comments on capacity contingency proposals 5 February 2021

Parents submitted a number of comments and questions, prior to the meeting on 2 February 2021, a summary of which can be found below:

Capacity Contingency Plans – Parental feedback and questions 25 January 2021

Parent Council meeting to consider S6 capacity issues

29 January 2021: On Tuesday 2 February 2021 the parent council will host a meeting considering proposals to deal with school capacity problems in 2021/22.

The meeting will be held online at 7pm; the link for the meeting will circulated via school email next week.

Parents have already submitted a number of comments and questions, a summary of which can be found below:

Capacity Contingency Plans – Parental feedback and questions (25 January 2021)

Further details and links to other documents can be found at the 18 January entry below.

This meeting will be of particular interest to those parents with students in S5 as the proposals will particularly affect those going into S6 next year.