8 December 2022: The James Gillespie’s High School Performing Arts Faculty invites you to the Christmas Concerts 2022!
This year there will be two performances of the Christmas concert on Tuesday 13 December at 5 pm and 7.30 pm, in the Muriel Spark Theatre at James Gillespie’s High School. Tickets can be booked via Parent Pay.
Refreshments and pupil showcase
In the time between the two shows, there will be a mini-fayre in the Forum, Malala Building, with a home baking stall, crafts table and refreshments, in aid of the Parent Council’s Small Sum’s Fund.
Some pupil committees will also be showcasing their work.
All parents are warmly welcome to attend this part of the evening, even if they do not have a ticket for one of the concerts. It would be helpful if guests could bring cash to this event if possible please!
Programme
5.00 – 6.15 pm Concert 1 in the Muriel Spark Theatre
6.15 – 7.15 pm Refreshments in the Forum (Malala)
7.30 – 8.45 pm Concert 2 in the Muriel Spark Theatre
We are delighted that Tony Marsh will be videoing the concert. The recording will be available by the 31 January 2023.
2 December 2022: After a long term, we hope that you are looking forward to the holidays.
Like last year, we are launching a Festive Fundraiser in aid of our successful Small Sums Fund, so that we can continue supporting important educational projects at JGHS, and providing help to our pupils who need it most.
If you can, we’d be very grateful if you could make a donation via Parent Pay. Please click below:
Look out for the “Parent Council Fundraising” button at the bottom of the list of payment items for your JGHS student(s). All funds raised during the Festive Fundraiser go directly to the JGHS Small Sums Fund.
Supporting equity and attainment
This year the Parent Council has been really pleased to fund projects that support equity and attainment, for example:
Basket ball strips for the PE department
Subscription to The Week junior for the English department
Books and games for the Maths department
Active Learn subscriptions for the Modern Languages department
Digimaps subscription for Geography department
Support for decoration and fitting out of the new Support for Learning classroom in Bruntsfield House
Guitar lessons for pupils with Additional Support Needs
Materials for the knitting club
Plants for reception
Notes from teachers
As you know, we moved into a large, empty room in Bruntsfield House last year. We spent the money on making the room more welcoming for the students who access it and bought soft furnishings, plants, cabinets to display pupils’ work and lots of picture frames. We held a small art exhibition in July of the work of the students who access SfL and invited their parents in to see this. It was a great success and something we plan to replicate this year. Thanks again for the money we received.
Mr Cockcroft: Support for Learning
Thanks so much for your financial support. The money was exceptionally useful. We set up a curricular DofE Silver group for students in the senior school who would benefit from a supported DofE experience. Most of the young people were known to us in SfL. The money was used to help with supporting their expedition with some kit hire, rental of accommodation, paying for the young people to ‘volunteer’ at Gorgie farm and supporting financially two young people for their Edinburgh Leisure passes so they could use the gym facilities regularly. The course has been a real success. All the youngsters who were still in school in June completed the Silver expedition and felt like a real team.
Support for learning: funding for pupils known to SfL to participate in Duke of Edinburgh scheme
Once again my huge thanks to the Parent Council for supporting our work in the English department as we strive to embed reading at the heart of our lessons. The money I received to purchase copies of The Week Junior has been really helpful with junior classes. It means there is always something current on hand to read – most useful when some of our pupils just don’t have a book of their own at home… It has also proved invaluable in helping me to teach skills for RAUE activities, elements of non-fiction work, and discussing key issues affecting our World in an age-appropriate way. Many thanks!
English: The Week Junior subscription
Find out more
You can find out more about the Small Sums Fund, and the initiatives it supports, on the Parent Council website You can find out more about the initiatives supported by this year’s Fund below:
1 December 2022: Many thanks to everyone who was able to attend the meeting of the JGHS Parent Council on Tuesday 29 November 2022.
This was a very full meeting which covered a lot of information about activities within the school, and included a very useful presentation about the SQA results achieved by young people at the school in the 2021/22 exam diet.
A recording of the meeting is now available on YouTube and a brief minute is linked below.
Updated 24 November 2022: The next meeting of the Parent Council will be on Tuesday 29 November 2022 at 7 pm. The main presentation at the meeting will be an analysis of the school’s SQA results in 2022.
The meeting will be held on MS Teams, and the joining link will be sent by the school just before the event, so please look out for the email. We hope you will be able to join us.
Draft agenda
Update from Parent Council
Headteacher’s report, including updates (amongst others) on:
Mental health work in the school
IT in the school
School trips
Staffing
Transition into the Darroch building
The S4 prelims
SQA results 2021/22
There will be the opportunity on the night to ask questions via the Q&A typed chat facility, but if you want to raise an issue in advance, please email the PC and we will try to include it in the updates.
15 November 2022: The Parent Council is a member of Connect, which is an education charity which provides support for parents, Parent Councils, Parent Teacher/Staff Associations, and other parent bodies in Scotland.
Through Connect through Connect parents can gain access to services like online Information Sessions, regular newsletters, advice and support, Parents’ Voice online surveys, dedicated Facebooks pages and other facilities.
Have a look at the latest Connect newsletter here:
28 October 2022: The James Gillespies High School Parent Council held its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 12 October, in the school library. We were joined by approx 30 parents, for this first in-person meeting of the PC in over two and a half years.
Meeting business
The meeting addressed a number of issues, and a full minute of the proceedings will be available shortly.
Updates from previous Parent Council meeting
Headteacher recruitment
Council engagement
Donald J. Macdonald prize
School events
Rising rolls
Arrangements for future PC meetings
Chair’s Report
Finance Report
Election of Parent Council and Office Bearers
Headteacher’s Report
There was considerable discussion about the rising rolls at the School, and this situation has been taken as an action for the Parent Council to pursue in the coming weeks.
The presentation made by PC treasurer Ros Ingle is available at the link below.
The PC heard from deputy head teacher Miss McIver about the refurbishment of the new Darroch Annex, which opened for business on 27 October 2022.
Pupils and teachers alike are very excited to be moving into the new teaching and activity spaces!
The images of the new annex at Darroch: clockwise from top left – new entrance, bright and spacious classrooms, gym hall (with a sprung floor), dining hall.
New members and office bearers
The meeting also re-appointed the existing office bearers of the Parent Council, and we were delighted that a number of new members have also joined the committee.
The full committee membership is below (new members are indicated by *):
Sarah Scott (Chair)
Kirstin Leighton (Secretary)
Ros Ingle (Treasurer)
Hilary Snaith (Communications)
Laura Bird (Communications)
Tiziana Basciani*
Nicolas Boyes
Rob Dunbar
Orla Hobson
Christiane Kerlen*
Padraic Kinsella*
Ailsa Macintosh
Caroline McKellar*
Aileen Nimmo
Bec Phipps*
Kate Pinault*
Vikki Plant
Joanne Sapienza Chapman*
Steffi Schultze
Lisa Sutherland
Penny Tarsia
María Angélica Thumala Olave*
Charles Warlow
We are very grateful to all the members, new and old, who have joined the Parent Council.
Next meeting
The next meeting of the Parent Council will be held online via MS Teams at 7 pm on Tuesday 29 November 2022.
More details will be available on our website in due course.
Contact us
If you have any questions for the Parent Council, or issues that you would like to raise with us, please do not hesitate to get in touch:
Updated 7 October 2022: The Annual General Meeting of the James Gillespies High School Parent Council will be held on Wednesday 12 October at 7 pm in the school library. All parents and carers are most warmly invited to join with us.
This will be an opportunity to review the activities of the past year, appoint office bearers, and to welcome new members.
Meeting agenda
Welcome
Updates from previous Parent Council meeting
Headteacher recruitment
Council engagement
Donald J. Macdonald prize
School events
Rising rolls
Arrangements for future PC meetings
Chair’s Report
Finance Report
Election of Parent Council and Office Bearers
Headteacher’s Report
AOCB
Date of next meeting: 29 November 2022 (online)
Annual reports
The 2021/22 Annual Report from the Chair of the JGHS Parent Council, Sarah Scott, is now available, as well as the Annual Accounts and Treasurer’s Report prepared by the Treasurer Ros Ingle:
2 October 2022: Every year the Parent Council’s Small Sums Fund provides additional resources to support and enhance the experience of youngsters in the school and in extra-curricular activities, in areas where funding is not provided by the City of Edinburgh Council.
The JGHS Parent Council Small Sums Fund is open to staff, pupils and anyone connected to the school to bid for funding.
This year we were delighted to provide support for a range of different activities, include funds to help fit out the Support for Learning classroom in Bruntsfield House.
Mr Cockcroft, Support for Learning Leader, said:
As you know, we moved into a large, empty room in Bruntsfield House last year. We spent the money on making the room more welcoming for the students who access it and bought soft furnishings, plants, cabinets to display pupils’ work and lots of picture frames.
We held a small art exhibition in July of the work of the students who access SfL and invited their parents in to see this. It was a great success and something we plan to replicate this year. Thanks again for the money we received.
Some photos of the new classroom are shown below.
Other projects
More information about projects supported by the Small Sums Fund is available at the link below
29 September 2022: Education Scotland has published an updated version of the Parent Council Resource. This is a guide for parents working in partnership with schools and the wider community to welcome all parents, gather their views and report back to parents.
The information is now live on Parentzone Scotland website
2 September 2022: The first Parent Council meeting of this session will be held on Tuesday 6 September at 7 pm, and all parents and carers are most warmly invited to attend. This meeting will be held online using MS Teams, and the joining link will be circulated by email by the School next week.
The provisional agenda for the meeting is:
PC report and update on Head Teacher recruitment – Sarah Scott, Chair JGHS Parent Council
Head Teacher report – Neil McCallum, Acting Head Teacher
Christmas Concert 2022 – Mairi McLennan, Curriculum Lead for Performing Arts
Active Schools – Eliot Ambrose, Active Schools Coordinator for JGHS
Darroch Refurbishment – Laura Stewart, Deputy Head Teacher
Q&A
If there are particular issues or queries that you would like raised during the meeting, please send these to us by email:
Please note that there will no written Q&A after the meeting. Please emphasise any question you are interested in by using the “like” function in the Q&A panel to help us get through all business during the meeting.
JGHS Parent Council 