JGHS Trust

English reading circles

9 January 2026: Many thanks to all parents and pupils who have contributed to the Book Drive fundraiser.

The Parent Council is working with the James Gillespie Trust to raise funds for pre-owned book sets for S1–S2 English reading circles. Purchasing books through the Trust allows us to claim Gift Aid on donations, increasing their value.

So far, 70 books in sets of 5 have already been purchased. Our aim is to build a collection of 160 books in total, covering 32 titles, to support reading activities in class.

Titles include Wonder by RJ Palacio; The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, by Victoria Williamson; Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet by Zanib Mian; The Call of the Wild by Jack London; One of us is Lying by Karen McManus; The Crossover by Kwame Alexander; Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys; and the Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.

Any further contributions will help us continue expanding this resource and encourage a love of reading among pupils.

Donations can be made online, and there is also the option to “sponsor” a book. If you wish, donated books can include a short personal inscription.

Please donate through the Trust’s justgiving page:

JG Trust Bookdrive justgiving page

Happy New Year 2026

5 January 2026: Welcome to the New Year, hopefully rested and refreshed after the festive break.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Parent Council will be held on Wednesday 28 January 2026 at 7 pm in the JGHS Library – as always, all parents and carers are most welcome to attend.

The agenda will be available shortly.

If you have any questions or comments that you would like to share, please contact us by email:

Email the Parent Council

Book Drive

Many thanks to those who have been able to donate to the Parent Council’s Bookdrive fundraiser.

About the JGHS bookdrive

If you would also like to make a contribution, the JustGiving page is still available:

JGHS bookdrive Justgiving page

JGHS bookdrive fundraiser

7 December 2025: The Parent Council’s Small Sums Fund distributes funds raised by the school back to the School Community. 

Small Sums Fund

English reading circles for S1 and S2

This year we have been raising funds to buy books that will support pupils in S1 and S2 to (re)discover a love for reading and literature, in reading circles in English classes.

The English curriculum team have develped a fantastic list of books across all genres that small groups of pupils can get together to read and discuss. Titles include books from mystery and detective fiction, contemporary fiction, adventure, comedy, graphic novels, thrillers, and science and historical fiction – truly something for everyone.

The funds raised will buy packs of 5 copies of the same book, so that all pupils in a reading circle will have a copy to take home and read.

To make the funds go as far as possible, we are buying pre-owned, as well as new books. We have already bought sets of Nancy Springer’s “Enola Holmes – the Missing Marquess”, Katherine Rundell’s “The Explorer”, and Malorie Blackman’s “Robot Girl”.

Please support if you can

We are working with the James Gillespie’s Trust, a registered charity, so that we can claim gift-aid on any donations made, and make the funds go even further.

JGHS bookdrive fundraiser – Justgiving

If you are able to donate, please visit the Trust’s justgiving page – all the funds that come through this appeal will go directly to buying books that will go into school.

Many thanks!!

Report from Annual General Meeting 2025

8 October 2025: The Annual General Meeting of the Parent Council was held on Wednesday 8 October 2025 in the library at James Gillespie’s High School.

Election of office bearers

The meeting elected the office bearers for the Parent Council in 2025-26.

  • Co-Chairs: Tiziana Basciani and Liz Hilton
  • Vice-chair: Samantha Ross
  • Secretary: Padraic Kinsella
  • Treasurer: Kirstin Leighton
  • Comms: Kate Pinault
  • Refreshments: Julita Burgess

Hilary Snaith stepped down as co-Chair of the Parent Council.

The full list of members of the Parent Council for 2025-26 (* indicates new member for this session):

  • Duncan Bell (PC representative for James Gillespie’s Trust)
  • Laura Bird
  • Shane Buckeridge
  • Adam C
  • Orla Hobson
  • Gidona Henderson*
  • Barbie Lyon
  • Thomas Perc*
  • Ulrike Peter
  • Bec Phipps
  • Lucy Picken*
  • David Pollock
  • Hilary Snaith (website)
  • Séamus Spencer
  • Penny Tarsia
  • Garrick Wagner*
  • Hazel Wilkinson*

People – JGHS Parent Council

Reports

Annual report 2024-25 from Parent Council (opens as pdf)

Gaelic Learning Board report 2024-25 (opens as pdf)

PC presentation from PC meeting 8 October 2025 (opens as pdf)

Minutes of the PC meeting 8 October 2025 (draft, opens as pdf)

Next meeting

The next meetings of the Parent Council will be on Tuesday 25 November 2025 (online) and Wednesday 28 January 2026 (in the school).

Reports from Parent Council meeting

5 June 2025: The JGHS Parent Council held their last meeting of this school year on Wednesday 4 June – many thanks to all those able to attend.

Agenda and reports

Meeting agenda:

  • Focus on Maths teaching at JGHS – Miss Ashling Dolan, CL Maths
  • Report and updates from the Parent Council, including:
    • capacity and rising rolls
    • finance and fundraising, including report from James Gillespie’s Trust
  • Discussion of issues with particular relevance to S1-S3
  • Headteachers update, including reports on Short Life Working Groups on mobile phones, communications and homework – Mr Neil McCallum
  • Q&A

The meeting minutes, and copies of the presentations and reports from the meeting are now available:

Draft meeting minutes (Padraic Kinsella; opens as pdf)

Parent Council update (opens as a pdf)

Maths teaching at JGHS – Miss Dolan (opens as pdf)

JGHS Maths padlet (discussed at the meeting)

Headteachers report – Mr McCallum (opens as pdf)

Minutes of meeting of James Gillespie’s Trust 29 April 2025 (opens as pdf)

Mobile phone policy

Updated 12 June: As was discussed at the meeting on 4 June , the school has now issued a new draft policy on mobile phone use in school:

JGHS draft mobile phone policy

The school has asked for feedback from parents and carers via the form below:

Mobile phone policy feedback

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Parent Council wil be on Tuesday 2 September. This will be held online, and the joining link will shared by the School after the summer break.

Former chair of James Gillespie’s Trust passes away

23 February 2025: At the end of January, the Parent Council recieved the very sad news about the passing of Sheena Purdom, the former chair of the James Gillespie’s High School Trust. The obituary below was written by Trust members.

Sheena Purdom,1948-2025: Chair, James Gillespie’s Trust

Sheena spent 13 years as a pupil at James Gillespie’s, at a time when it was an all girls school. She made lifelong friends and remained an active member of the local community. Sheena trained as a teacher and followed a career in education until she retired. She taught biology in several Edinburgh high schools, retiring eventually from Leith Academy.

Sheena was always keen to support those who needed an extra helping hand and after retirement, while her daughter was still a pupil at Gillespie’s, she volunteered on the Parent Council, and later represented them on James Gillespie’s Trust. In recent years she has served as a Trustee, giving her time and expertise where it was most needed to support the young people and staff at JGHS. She was always keen to ensure all pupils were able to participate in school activities and that financial barriers were removed wherever possible.

Her time as a Trustee culminated with three years serving as chair of the Trust until she stepped down in November 2024. Sheena made a real difference to so many young people and her legacy will continue as the needs and interests of young people will continue to guide the decisions of the Trust in future.

Sheena has a special place in our hearts and she will be sorely missed.

Funeral service on 28 February 2025

Her funeral service will be held in the Mortonhall Crematorium at 2pm on Friday 28 February 2025. This will be followed by a celebration of Sheena’s life for friends and family at the Braid Hills Hotel. Family flowers only please. Donations will be collected for Air Ambulance Scotland and Guide Dogs.

About the James Gillespie’s Trust

James Gillespie’s Trust was established to harness the tremendous goodwill that is felt for James Gillespie’s High School and to support the work of the school through various educational schemes and community projects.

The Trust provides support and funding for educational and extra-mural activities within James Gillespie’s High School and its community and fosters strong links with past pupils through its alumni section.

James Gillespie’s Trust

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

Applications now open for JGHS Trust Small Grants Scheme

23 March 2021: The JGHS Trust is currently looking for applications to its small grants scheme which provides awards of up to £300 to JGHS pupils for a wide variety of projects of benefit to the school. 

The Trust was set up to provide support and funding for educational and extra-mural activities within the school and its community.

More information on the small grants scheme – including examples of awards that have been made in the past – can be found at the Trust’s website.

JGHS Small Grants Scheme

The Trust will be accepting applications through April with a view to considering awards in May. For more information please email the Trust

Email JGHS Trust