Parent Council

Agenda for JGHS Parent Council meeting on 31 May

25 May 2023: The last meeting of the JGHS Parent Council for this school year will be on Wednesday 31 May at 7 pm in the school library.

Agenda

  1. Welcome
  2. Pupil Equity Fund, attendance and supporting pupils in attaining qualifications
    • Presentation and Q&A
  3. Minutes of last in-person meeting (1 February 2023)
  4. Review of Parent Council Finance
  5. Connect Guidance and Checklist
    • Catering supplies
    • Report from JGHS Trust (PC representatives)
  6. Parent Council Update
  7. Headteacher’s Report
  8. Dates/Format of meetings for 2023/24
  9. AOB

More information about the JGHS Trust, and details of the financial guidance provided to Parent Councils can be found below.

About the JGHS Trust

Information about the JGHS Trust

JGHS Trust Annual Report 2021/22

JGHS Trust website

Financial guidance from Connect

Financial guidance provided to Parent Councils by Connect

JGHS PC Money Matter finance health check May 2023

JGHS PC completed finance health checklist May 2023

Finance report for Parent Council meeting 31 May 2023

Get in touch

If you have any questions or issues that you would like to raise at the meeting, please contact the Parent Council by email:

Email the Parent Council

Previous and future meetings

This is the last meeting of the Parent Council for this school year.  Details of the previous Parent Council meeting are available on our website:

Parent Council meeting on 1 February 2023

Parent Council meeting on 21 March 2023

The provisional dates for meetings in 2023/24 are below:

  • Tuesday 5 September (online)
  • Wednesday 11 October (in person)
  • Tuesday 28 November (online)
  • Wednesday 31 January (in person)
  • Tuesday 19 or 26 March (online)
  • Wednesday 29 May or 5 June (in person)

Next meeting of Parent Council on 31 May 2023

19 May 2023 update: A note that the next meeting of the JGHS Parent Council will be on Wednesday 31 May in the school library.

The agenda will include:

  • Presentation on the Pupil Equity Fund) attendance and supporting pupils in attaining qualifications (Tania Peters, Senior Development Officer)
  • Discussion on managing PC finances
  • Report on Parent Council activities
  • Headteacher’s report

If there are any questions or issues you would like to raise at the meeting, please contact the Parent Council by email:

Email the Parent Council

We look forward to seeing you!

Connect – money matters for parent councils

27 March 2023: Connect, the body supporting parent councils and other parent groups in schools, has produced some useful guidance for financial regulation.

Financial guidelines for Parent Councils from Connect

Money Matters Health Check for Parent Groups

Money Matters Guidelines for Parent Groups

The JGHS parent council will be reviewing these documents, and discussing how the guidance will inform our own handling of parent council financial processes, at the our next meeting on 31 May.

More about Connect

Recording of Parent Council meeting on 21 March 2023 now available

21 March 2023: Many thanks to those who were able to join us for the James Gillespie’s High School Parent Council meeting on Tuesday 21 March.

Agenda

  • Welcome from Parent Council Chair – Sarah Scott
  • Parent Council Report – Sarah Scott
  • Science Curriculum at JGHS – Iain Coltart, followed by Q&A (slides available below)
  • Headteacher report – Neil McCallum, followed by Q&A

The recording of the meeting is now available:

Watch the Parent Council Meeting 21 March 2023 on YouTube

View presentation from Ian Coltart

Headteacher’s Report 21 March 2023

Next Parent Council meeting is on 21 March 2023

6 March 2023: The next meeting of the James Gillespies High School Parent Council will be on Tuesday 21 March at 7 pm via MS Teams. The joining link will be circulated by the School in the week of the meeting.

Focus on science teaching

There will be a special focus on science teaching at this meeting, with presentation from the Curriculum Leader Mr Iain Coltart.

There will also be the usual updates from Headteacher Mr McCallum and from Parent Council Chair Sarah Scott, and the opportunity to ask questions via the Q&A panel.

We very much hope that you will be able to join with us

If there are any questions you would like to have addressed, please send them to the Parent Council ahead of the meeting and we will forward them to the School.

Email the Parent Council

Previous meeting

Details of the previous Parent Council meeting can be found here:

Parent Council meeting on 1 February 2023

Thank you!

25 February 2023: The Parent Council would like to say a special thank to all the parents and carers who so generously donated the the 2022 Festive Fundraiser campaign in aid of our Small Sums Fund.

JGHS Festive Fundraiser 2022

In December, the total raised on ParentPay was £910, which will now all go towards funding a wide range range of staff projects. Past projects have included subscriptions to periodicals, specialist books and equipment for learners with additional support needs, specialist art equipment, and equipment for Duke of Edinburgh expeditions.

The next round of applications to the Small Sums Fund will be towards the end of this academic year.

You can find out more about the Small Sums Fund and the projects we have funded here:

JGHS Parent Council Small Sums Fund

The Parent Council will also raising money for the Small Sums Fund on the refreshment stalls at the upcoming Spring Fling concerts and other in-school events – so please look out for us!

City of Edinburgh Council budget for 2023/24

22 February 2023: The JGHS Parent Council sent a letter to the City of Edinburgh Council to raise concerns about the draft budget of the Council that had made proposals to cut education services for 2023/24.

You can read a copy of the letter here:

JGHS Parent Council – budget proposals 2023

Note added 23 February 2023: The BBC News reported that at their meeting today, the City of Edinburgh Council agreed a budget that scrapped the proposed £5.5m cuts to school budgets, and the £370,000 cuts to speech and language therapy.

Read the BBC News story

Parent Council meeting on 1 February: addressing antiracism

Updated 22 February 2023: Many thanks to everyone who was able to attend the JGHS parent council meeting on Wednesday 1 February.

This was a very interesting meeting, which covered a wide range of topics over the course of the evening. The minutes will be available in due course.

Headteacher’s report

An update on school activities was presented by the headteacher Mr Neil McCallum – see link below.

Headteacher’s report 1 February 2023

Antiracism activities at JGHS

The main focus was on antiracism activities at JGHS with presentations give by teachers Mr Porter, Mr Watt and Mr Cham, and by Grace Dempsey from Intercultural Youth Scotland, and the work she is doing in the school to support pupils and teachers to address racism and discrimination.

Intercultural Youth Scotland

A+ Group

We were also very pleased to hear about the A+ Group, a new project that will be starting in the school later this month, led by Zaki El-Salahi.

The group:

  • is for Parents & Carers of young people who are from the African and Asian diaspora, and go to JGHS
  • is also open to Parents & Carers with ‘Ethnic Minority’ status, who want to listen, learn from, & support Black and Asian families at JGHS
  • will make specific parts of our meetings welcome to White/’Ethnic Majority’ Parents & Carers – to listen, learn from & support us.

You can learn more about the group and its aims below:

A+ Group – slides

A+ Group further information

The group will meet online on the last Wednesday of each month from February to June 2023. For further information and/or join the A+ group, please contact Zaki:

Email Zaki

Next Parent Council meeting on Wednesday 1 February

Update 25 January 2023: The next meeting of the James Gillespies High School Parent Council will be at 7 pm on Wednesday 1 February 2023 in the library at the school. We very much hope that you can join us.

Agenda

The main presentation at the meeting will be on work on anti-racist approaches at the school.

There will also be the regular updates from Headteacher Neil McCallum, and the Parent Council.

  • Welcome
  • Anti-Racism
    • Presentations and Q&A
  • Minutes of last in-person meeting (12 October 2022)
  • Parent Council Update
  • Finance Update
  • Headteacher’s Report
  • AOCB
  • Dates of next meetings
    • 21 March 2023 (online)
    • 31 May 2023 (in person)

Contact us

If there are other issues that you like to raise at the meeting, please let us know by email:

Email the Parent Council

Previous meetings

Information about our meetings earlier this academic session can be found below:

Tuesday 6 September 2022

Wednesday 12 October 2022 – AGM

Tuesday 29 November 2022

JGHS Parent Council meeting minutes

Christmas fundraising – thank you!

15 December 2022: Many thanks to everyone who came along to the JGHS Christmas concerts this week (Tuesday 13 December) – it was fantastic to see everyone back in the school to celebrate the talents of our young people and to meet one another again.

The Parent Council took in over £400 on the refreshments stall at the fayre that ran between the concerts, and also raised over £100 at the coursing night on 6 December – we are very grateful for all these contributions, which will go towards the Small Funds Fund supporting activities in the school.

There is also still time to make a contribution to the Parent Council’s Festive Fundraiser, which is currently running on Parent Pay. Again, all the funds raised will go to the Small Funds Fund, and will be most appreciated.

Make a donation on ParentPay