Parent Council

Parent Survey – your views are important

Update 25 August 2021 – **Please note that the survey is now closed**

This year has been unlike any other. The school and everybody connected with it has faced upheaval and disruption, and at the same time families have had to deal with their own personal challenges. The Parent Council wants to look ahead positively to next year, planning for working on what matters most for families.

To do that we need to hear from YOU.

Please click here to complete the survey

Priorities

What do you think we should be focusing on in 2021/22? A lot of our work this year has focused on SQA assessments, capacity challenges for the school, online learning and Active Schools. What matters to you for the coming year? Are we missing something important? Mental health and well-being? The school in its community? Social events and fundraising? Engaging with planning for education policy in the future? You let us know.

Engagement and communication

How would you like the PC to engage with you, and what do you want our meetings to look like? This year we have had to move meetings online – has this worked for you, and what should we be looking to do in the future and can we make online meetings work better? Do you want us to communicate with parents in ways we are not doing at the moment?

Volunteering

Is there something you are really interested in? Is there something you are really good at, or expertise you can offer? Whatever it is, and however much time you can devote to it, please let us know. The school is a community and everything that we can bring to supporting it benefits us all.

If you haven’t already put forward your views, please complete the survey which should not take more than 5 minutes.

Please click here to complete the survey

Recording of Parent Council meeting on 8 June now available

8 June 2021: Many thanks to those who were able to join us for the Parent Council meeting this evening.

If you would like to listen to the meeting again, or were unable to attend, a recording is now available.

Recording of Parent Council meeting on 8 June 2021 (on YouTube)

You can also view the slides from presentations on the SQA Alternative Certification Model, given by DHT Bob Shankland, and the Active Schools provision, by Eliot Ambrose.

SQA Alternative Certification Model (opens as pdf)

Active Schools (opens as pdf)

We will make the minutes and copies of the presentations as soon as we get them.

Next Parent Council meeting on Tuesday 8 June 2021

1 June 2021: Our next Parent Council meeting will be on Tuesday 8 June at 7 pm.

We are hoping to hear about the following issues:

Donald McDonald (Headteacher) – School update
Bob Shankland (Deputy Headteacher) – SQA Alternative Certification Model
Jeff Warden (Deputy Headteacher) – New timetable
Eliot Ambrose (Active School Coordinator, City of Edinburgh Council) – Active Schools planning for 2021/22

If parents have questions or issues they would like to raise in advance of the meeting, please let us know via the Parent Council email address.

Email the Parent Council

The link to join this meeting on MS Teams has been shared via the School email account.

You can catch up with the recording of our last meeting on 12 May, and view the presentations by DHTs Laura Stewart on school capacity and Ben Lewis on reorganising the school communities.

Recording of Parent Council meeting 12 May 2021

Details of the Question and Answer session 12 May 2021 (opens as pdf)

Note of Parent Council meeting 12 May 2021 (opens as pdf)

Capacity Update 2021/22 – Laura Stewart (opens as pdf)

Pupil Support Restructuring – Ben Lewis (opens as pdf)

Edinburgh City Council Consultative Committee with Parents

22 May 2021: A meeting of the Council’s Consultative Committee with Parents (CCwP) meeting took place on Thursday 13 May.

There was good news at the meeting in the form of £5.9 million for the Council to support Covid-19 recovery funding, which will be used to retain extra school staff employed this year.

The meeting also heard about the ongoing parental concerns on the SQA’s Alternative Certification Model that had been raised at Locality meetings.

The meeting discussed implementation of a new funding model for Active Schools, and the impact this will have on the activities that are offered, and how they are financed. JGHS Parent Council, the School and our Active Schools co-ordinator have been collaborating to ensure that the current range of activities at the school can be retained in 2021/22.

A number of sports activities will be running for S1-S3 pupils in the run up to summer 2021. Booking must be made by Monday 24 May.

More details and club booking info

A recording of the CCwP meeting is available

CCwP meeting 13 May 2021

Edinburgh Council engagement with schools in the SE/NE Locality

21 May 2021: The Council’s SE/NE Locality meeting took place on 27 April 2021 and looked at the following issues:

Edinburgh School estate

An update on developments across the school estate was given by Robbie Crockatt, Acting School Estate Planning Officer.

Learning Estate Update April 2021

Holiday arrangements

Possible changes to school holiday arrangements to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee were discussed.

SQA Alternative Certification Model

The Council gave a further update on arrangements for SQA assessments, following a number of concerns raised by Parent Councils.

SQA Alternative Certification Model update April 2021

Secondary PC chair meeting 31 March 2021

Issues such as pressure on pupils and schools, the lack of contingency arrangements for Covid-19 outbreaks and the SQA’s failure to put in place an appeals process were discussed.

A note of the SE/NE Locality meeting can be found here

Recording of parent council meeting on 12 May 2021 now available

19 May 2021. The James Gillespie’s High School Parent Council met on Wednesday 12 May 2021.

Along with the usual updates from the Headteacher Mr Donald McDonad, Deputy Headteacher Laura Stewart gave an update on school capacity, and Deputy Headteacher Ben Lewis updated the PC on the current plans to organise the school communities.

A recording of the meeting can now be watched on You Tube

Recording of Parent Council meeting

The presentations given by Laura Stewart and Ben Lewis are also available.

Capacity Update 2021/22 – Laura Stewart

Pupil Support Restructuring – Ben Lewis

Next Parent Council meeting on 12 May 2021

1 May 2021: The next meeting of the Parent Council will be held on Wednesday 12 May 2021 at 7 pm via MS Teams.

Along with the usual updates from the Headteacher Mr Donald McDonad, Deputy Headteacher Laura Stewart will give an update on school capacity, and Deputy Headteacher Ben Lewis will update the PC on the current plans to organise the school communities.

The joining link for the meeting will be circulated in an email via the JGHS admin team.

Everyone is most welcome to attend.

The next meeting of the Parent Council will be on Tuesday 8 June.

Recording of Parent Council meeting on 23 March 2021 now available

26 March 2021: The Parent Council held its most recent meeting on Tuesday 23 March.

There was a presentation by Deirdre O’Brien (DHT) and Ashling Dolan (CL Maths) on the school’s recent survey of pupils and parents on remote learning.

Presentation on survey about remote learning

The meeting also heard from Bob Shankland (DHT) about progress in putting in place arrangements for SQA assessments, the challenges that the school faces in finalising plans and how the operation of the SQA’s guidelines will affect how assessments will be carried out this year.

Presentation on SQA assessments (opens as pdf)

Although the focus was on online learning and assessment arrangements, the meeting also covered questions on Covid testing, plans to meet capacity demands in 2021/22 and the resumption of the NHS childhood immunisation programme in the school.

Catch up with the meeting recording on YouTube

Note of meeting on 23 March 2021 (opens as pdf)

Coming up at the Parent Council meeting on 23 March 2021

19 March 2021: The next Parent Council meeting will be held online on Tuesday 23 March 2021 at 7 pm. A link to join the meeting will be sent out next week through the school email system.

We will hear from:

Donald J. Macdonald – Head Teacher’s report
Deirdre O’Brien (DHT) and Ashling Dolan (CL Maths) – report on the survey on remote learning
Bob Shankland (DHT) – SQA assessments

There will be the opportunity on the night to ask questions via the Q&A typed chat facility, but if you want to raise a question in advance it should be sent by Monday at 2pm to the Parent Council email and we will try to include it in the updates.

Email the Parent Council

We know that not all parents will be free to join at the time of the meeting and we will be recording the presentations so that they can be viewed later. We are using MS Teams because it is the system approved by Edinburgh Council, but it doesn’t allow us to be as interactive as some other systems. The only people who will be seen and heard are the presenters, everyone else attending can interact by writing questions via the Q&A panel.

Parent Council Meeting 23 February 20201

You can catch up on the last PC meeting on 23 February via the minutes and recording of the meeting, and through the written responses for the Q&A.

Minutes of Parent Council meeting 23 February 2021

Recording of Parent Council Meeting 23 February 2021

Q&A for the Parent Countil meeting 23 February 2021

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