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.
Minutes from this meeting are now available.
Edinburgh Council
5G Mast Planning Application
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:
5G mast planning application information
If you would like to make a comment on the application, the closing date is Friday 18 November 2022.
Free half-term activities for families in Edinburgh
14 October 2022: The City of Edinburgh Council 1 in 5 project, which seeks to raise awareness of child poverty across the city, has just published its 2nd newsletter.
In this edition there is information about free family activities happening through out October, including storytelling, bug hunting, and the Big Draw.
Read all the details in the newsletter:
1 in 5 newsletter, October 2022
About the newsletter
The 1 in 5 Newsletter supports the work of the Equity Board and Equity Network groups, and aims to:
- Bring together information on services that education and lifelong learning services can link with to support families experiencing poverty.
- Provide updates and reminders about welfare benefits and grants available to families, resources and staff CPD
- Share case studies and top tips across schools and services of good practise in poverty prevention.
Mr Neil McCallum to be Acting Head Teacher at JGHS
10 June 2022: Today parents and carers at JGHS received a letter from Jackie Reid, Acting Senior Education Manager at the City of Edinburgh Council, to say that Mr Neil McCallum, currently Head Teacher at Balerno High School, has been appointed as Acting Head Teacher at JGHS from August to December, 2022.
The letter went on to say that “Mr McCallum has previously worked in James Gillespie’s, which provides him with a well-established knowledge of the school context. His extensive leadership skills and experience will augment the strength of the existing senior leadership team to provide the continuity and stability needed at this time”.
Update on recruitment of new Headteacher at JGHS
27 May 2022: The post of Headteacher at JGHS was advertised by the Council at the beginning of May, with the hope that a replacement for the school’s retiring Head, Donald Macdonald, could be put in post as close as possible to his departure date in August.
That advert has now closed, and the Council have decided that the post should be re-advertised to allow more time for all prospective candidates to register an interest. This will take place after the summer holidays at the beginning of the 2022/23 school session.
For the period up to Christmas, the Council are planning to designate an Acting Headteacher, and are hoping to recruit a suitable candidate from amongst the secondary Headteachers in Edinburgh.
Parent Council involvement
Parent representatives have been working with the Council to find the best way forward in this process. The Parent Council has emphasised the importance of a capable, committed and enthusiastic acting Headteacher being in place as soon as possible so they are able to work with Mr Macdonald in the run-up to his retirement and can take over smoothly after the summer.
They have also stressed that the new recruitment process should be a dynamic and open one, which is advertised as widely as possible and will maximise the possibility of a competitive range of candidates being attracted to the role.
Please send any comments you have about this matter to the Parent Council.
Edinburgh EIS Local Elections Hustings
27 April 2022: In the run up to the local council elections, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) will be hosting an opportunity to ask representatives from the main political parties about their priorities for education in Edinburgh.
Online Any Education Questions next Tuesday 3 May 2022 at 6.30 pm (via Zoom)
Please come along to show our politicians that schools and children matter!
Click here to register
Please Note:
- All attendees will be given the opportunity to submit questions in advance, so that we can try to ensure that we cover the full range of concerns. The EIS will email those who register with more information about this, as well as sending them the zoom link etc
- EIS are trying to secure BSL interpreters, but cannot guarantee that they will be able to have this in place. They aim to set up captioning. If there are other things they can do to make the meeting more accessible, please get in touch with then directly (via edinburghla@eis.org.uk).
- *They have invited spokespersons from each of the parties represented at Holyrood/who are part of COSLA.
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
Edinburgh Learns Pathways report
A recording of the meeting can be viewed at the link below.
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.
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
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
JGHS Parent Council 