Parent Council meetings

Report from Parent Council meeting 25 November 2025

25 November 2025: Thanks so much to everyone who was able to join the PC meeting this evening. Many apologies for the technical issues – we are very grateful for your patience.

Particular thanks to all our contributiors for their comments and presentations, and to our comms officer Kate Pinault for handling all the behind-the-scenes activity so smoothly.

Agenda

  • Headteachers report
  • Performing Arts Curriculum update
  • Rising Rolls interest group
  • 2024/25 SQA results at JGHS
  • Comment Cllr on City of Edinburgh Council policy on mobile phones in schools
  • Q&A

Rising rolls interest group

As was discussed in the meeting, Andrew Picken is chairing a parent group interested in exploring ideas that could address the problem of rising rolls and space contraints in the JGHS. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact him by email:

Email Andrew

Meeting information

Parent Council meeting recording (opens on YouTube)

Performing Arts curriculum (Lisa Shearer; opens as pdf)

JGHS SQA results 2024-25 (Nigel Cotter; opens as pdf)

Parent Council update (opens as pdf)

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Parent Council will be on Wednesday 28 January 2026 at 7 pm in the school library.

Parent Council meeting on 25 November 2025

4 November 2025: The next meeting of the JGHS Parent Council will be held on Tuesday 25 November. This will be an online meeting via MS Teams, and the joining link wil be shared by the School via email. All parents and carers are most warmly welcome to attend.

The draft agenda for the meeting is:

  • Welcome and report from the Parent Council – Co-chairs
  • SQA results at JGHS for 2025 – Mr Cotter, Deputy Headteacher
  • Update on CEC consultation on mobile phones in schools – Cllr Steve Burgess
  • School report – Mr Neil McCallum, Headteacher

If there are questions or issues you would like to raise in advance of the meeting, please contact the Parent Council via email. It will also be possible to post questions in the Q&A during the evening.

Email the Parent Council

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).

Parent Council Annual General Meeting 8 October 2025

21 September 2025: The Annual General Meeting of the Parent Council is on Wednesday 8 October 2025 at 7 pm in the library at James Gillespie’s High School.

All parents and carers at the school are warmly invited to join the meeting.

Agenda

The meeting will (re)elect office bearers for the Parent Council, invite new general members to join, review PC activities over the past year, and hear an update on school activities from the Headteacher.

  • Welcome
  • PC report for 2024/25 – Co-chair
  • Treasurers report for 2024/25 – Treasurer
  • JGHS Trust comments – PC representative
  • Election of office bearers and PC members
  • Headteacher’s report – Neil McCallum, Headteacher
  • Q&A, discussion

If there are any topics you would like to raise at the meeting, please contact the PC by email.

Reports

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

Minutes of 2024 Annual General Meeting (draft; opens as pdf)

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

Email the Parent Council

Joining the Parent Council

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Parent Council, please contact us by email.

You will also be able to indicate your interest during the meeting.

Summary of Parent Council meeting 2 September 2025

3 September 2025: Many thanks to those who joined the Parent Council meeting this week.

Meeting agenda

  • Welcome
  • Active Schools – Lorraine Burn
  • Brief introduction to the Parent Council – Hilary Snaith
  • Report and updates from the Parent Council
  • Headteacher’s update – Neil McCallum
  • Q&A

Meeting documents

A summary of the meeting, taken from the meeting transcript is available, along with the slides presented by the Parent Council. and by Lorraine Burn about Active Schools. A recording of the full meeting can also be viewed in YouTube.

Meeting summary (opens as a pdf)

Active Schools presentation (Lorraine Burn, opens as pdf)

Parent Council presentation (Hilary Snaith, opens as a pdf)

Recording of meeting (opens on YouTube)

Mobile phones policy

There was considerable discussion at the meeting about the mobile phones policy at JGHS.

The Headteacher confirmed that the school is moving towards a “no mobile phone” campus, asking students not the bring phones to school, or if they do, to keep phones off and in bags. However, a comprehensive policy was delayed due to council consultation and advice.

Presentations have been given to students since the start of this session, and the policy is being enforced gradually, with positive compliance observed.

City of Edinburgh Council policy

Policy around mobile phones in schools was also discussed at the City of Edinburgh Council’s Education and Families Committee on 2 September. The webcast of this item can be viewed on the Council website:

Education, Children and Families Committee 2 September 2025 – item on mobile phones in schools

The Council is now undertaking a 12-week consultation about a policy on mobile phone use in schools across the city, with a view to coming to a decision in January 2026.

Full details of the Education, Children and Families Committee meeting 2 September

Email the Parent Council

Parent Council meeting on 2 September 2025

21 August 2025: The first meeting of the JGHS Parent Council will be held online on Tuesday 2 September at 7 pm. All parents and carers are most warmly invited to join the meeting.

Draft agenda

  • Welcome to parents and carers
  • Introduction to the parent council (PC chair)
  • Brief report and finance update (PC chair)
  • Active Schools (Lorraine Burn)
  • School report (Neil McCallum)
  • Q&A

If you have any questions or concerns you would like to raise ahead of the meeting, please contact us by email:.

Email JGHS Parent Council

The joining link will be circulated by the school to all parents and carers before the meeting.

Welcome back for 2025/26

14 August 2025: The summer flew by, the sun is still shining, and we are back to school already! Hopefully everyone was able to take some time to rest and relax over the holidays.

A warm welcome to the new school year from the Parent Council, especially to the new pupils, parents and carers joining James Gillespie’s High School this session.

Parent Council meeting on 2 September 2025

The first meeting of the JGHS Parent Council will be held online on Tuesday 2 September at 7 pm. All parents and carers are most warmly invited to join the meeting.

Draft agenda:

  • Welcome to parents and carers
  • Introduction to the parent council (PC chair)
  • Brief report and finance update (PC chair)
  • Active Schools (Lorraine Burn)
  • School report (Neil McCallum)
  • Q&A

If you have any questions or concerns you would like to raise ahead of the meeting, please contact us by email:.

Email JGHS Parent Council

Parent Council meetings 2025/26

Parent Council meetings usually run from 7 pm. The schedule of meetings for the rest of this year is:

  • Tuesday 2 September 2025, 7-8.30 pm (online)
  • Wednesday 8 October 2025 – AGM, 7-9 pm (in person at JGHS)
  • Tuesday 25 November 2025, 7-8.30 pm (online)
  • Wednesday 28 January 2026, 7-9 pm (in person at JGHS)
  • Tuesday 24 March 2026, 7-8.30 pm (online)
  • Wednesday 3 June 2026, 7-9 pm (in person at JGHS)

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.

Next Parent Council meeting on 4 June 2025

21 May 2025: The next meeting of the James Gillespie’s High School Parent Council will be held on Wednesday 4 June at 7 pm in the school library.

All parents and carers are most warmly welcome to join this last meeting for the current academic year.

If you have any questions or issues that you would like to raise ahead of the meeting, please get in touch with the PC by email:

Email the Parent Council

Agenda

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

Reports from meeting on 25 March 2025

Information from the last meeting held online on 25 March

Reports from PC meeting on 25 March 2025

25 March 2025: Many thanks to those who joined the Parent Council meeting this Tuesday.

Agenda

  • Health and Wellbeing – Inclusion X – Ian Porter and Anna Kirkwood
  • Comment from Tracy Urquhart, Senior Manager Quality Improvement Officer, CEC
  • Update from the JGHS Parent Council
  • Headteacher’s report
  • Q&A

Meeting recording

Watch the meeting recording (opens on YouTube)

Summary of meeting discussion (from transcipt, opens as pdf)

Presentations

Inclusion X suport at JGHS (Anna Kirkwood and Ian Porter, opens as pdf)

PC report 25 March 2025 (Hilary Snaith, co-chair; opens as pdf)

Finance update 25 March 2025 (Kirstin Leighton, treasurer; opens as pdf)

Headteacher’s report 25 March 2025 (opens as pdf)

Policy documents

The headteacher mentioned a number of school policy documents in his comments. You can access a range of these policies on the JGHS website:

JGHS policy documents

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Parent Council will be on Wednesday 4 June in the school library at 7 pm – all parents and carers are very welcome to join us.