2 November 2023: Connect – the Scottish Parent-Teacher Council – is celebrating its 75th anniversary on 16 November 2023.
You can read their anniversary newsletter, including a brief history of the organisation, along with the news about other activities below:
27 October 2023: There will be an interactive workshop about How to Respond to Children’s Reports of Racism, organised by the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh.
The event is at 6 pm on Wednesday 7 November, Macdonald Road Library, Edinburgh.
More information and registration is available on the event’s Eventbrite page:
27 October 2023: Healthy Respect – NHS partners who provide training on relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) – are setting up a new parental engagement project looking to find out what parents and carers want and need to support their child’s learning around RSHP.
A coalition of NHS Boards commissioned independent research to explore with parents and carers a number of themes, including:
The new project that has been developed from this is called The Chat:
There are a number of ways that parents/carers can get involved. The first opportunity is to be part of a group conversation about this area of learning. Please see the Chat website for more information.
12 October 2023: Many thanks to everyone who was able to attend the Annual General Meeting of the JGHS Parent Council on Wednesday 11 October.
We were very pleased to welcome several new members onto the PC for the coming year, as well as appointing the PC office bearers (see below).
However we were very sorry to see Sarah Scott step down as Chair, and Ros Ingle come to the end of her term as Treasurer. They have both made huge contributions to the work of the PC over the past years, and we are extremely grateful for all they have done. Thankfully both will remain members of the PC, and will continue to share their wisdom and experience.
We are also very grateful to Kirstin Leighton who has agreed to step into Ros’s shoes as Treasurer, and to Aileen Nimmo who will continue to coordinate the fundraising refreshment stalls.
Office bearers elected for 2023-24
PC Members 2023-24
*New members. At present the PC is without a Chair or Secretary, so if anyone from the wider parent body is interested in taking on either of these roles, please do get in touch
The meeting discussed annual reports from outgoing Chair and Treasurer, as well as updates on school activities and on Active Schools from the Headteacher Neil McCallum. The meeting also approved the minutes for the last in-person PC meeting on 31 May 2023.
Our next meeting will be held online via MS Teams on Tuesday 28 November at 7 pm. Further information will be available nearer the date.
All parents and carers are warmly invited to join us.
9 October 2023: The NE/SE Parental Engagement Locality Meeting for City of Edinburgh Council and representatives from area Parent Councils, met on 27 September 2023. Copies of the presentations made are available below, along with minutes from the meeting:
Learning for Sustainability (opens as pdf)
Celebrating Success (opens as pdf)
NE/SE Locality Meeting minutes 27 September 2023 (opens as pdf)
Bonus item – you can also read the October edition of the Connect newsletter below:
27 September 2023: All parents and carers are warmly invited to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Parent Council on Wednesday 11 October at 7 pm in the JGHS library.
The minutes from the AGM in 2022, the accounts and annuals reports from the Chair and Treasurer of the Parent Council, and the JGHS Trust, plus an updated description of the roles and responsbilities of office bearers of the PC are now available – all links open as pdfs.
If there are any issues that you would like to raise at the meeting, or if you would like to join the Parent Council committee, please get in touch.
26 September 2023: Following on from the last meeting of the Parent Council on 5 September, the School Improvement Plan for 2023/24 is now available. The plan covers five key priorities:
You can download the full plan, and the summary of priorities at the links below:
JGHS School Improvement Plan 2023/24 (opens as pdf)
JGHS School Improvement Plan 2023/24 Priorities (opens as pdf)
18 September 2023: Sixteen pupils nominated for the inagural Donald J Macdonald Kindness Awards. All were outstanding nominations and were richly deserving of winning the award. However, the pupils detailed below had mutiple nominations from staff across the school and were awarded the prizes this year.
The prize was set up by the JGHS Parent Council through the many donations made to celebrate the retirement of the former headteacher Donald J Macdonald in June 2022.
The pupils receiving the awards were given a glass pendant and certificate the to mark the occasion.
A foreign student spoke with a member of staff because they felt that they had no friends. They mentioned this to the student named above and they befriended the student and arranged a weekly lunch date together. They would have organised more lunches, but the students were at Darroch on other days.
The foreign student left JGHS this summer, to return home. However, they have swapped numbers and will keep in touch and a friendship has been established for life. Rosa has shown this level of kindness to a number of pupils and sought to make sure that they feel valued and included.
Kyle has been receiving treatment for cancer for several years. He had been granted a wish from ‘Make a wish’ foundation. When he found out that a mum didn’t get granted a wish due to being an adult. Kyle wanted to let her make a wish instead of him to make her feel better. This was granted and the lady got the experience of a lifetime.
When Kyle was in SFL another pupil was very upset and visibly distressed. Staff were working with the pupil to try and calm them down. Without any prompting, Kyle went to the cupboard, got a game, went over to the pupil and said, “do you want a game”. Within minutes the pupil was calm, then Kyle had them interacting and laughing and playing the game with him. This is how he approaches all young people and looks to support them.
He is one of the kindest pupils I have ever met. He is always willing to help those around him and is nice to everyone he meets. Although I have only ever taught him when covering a class, he always comes out of his way to ask how myself and the others in the department are. Despite what he has been through he is so positive and kind. He comes in with Adam, Oscar and Dharun to work on his basketball and he always is so grateful for allowing him to do this and he has improved so much. He is so polite and just genuinely lovely and a really deserving person to win the award. He also helps with junior basketball on Mondays which the S1s love and he is an excellent role model for them and all that he is involved with in the school community.
Farra has overcome many challenges over the past few years and yet has consistently shown kindness to others less fortunate than herself.
Farra currently works weekly in a voluntary capacity with children with a range of complex social, emotional, and behavioural needs despite facing challenges and adversity in her own daily life. Farra is an outstanding young person and is richly deserving of this award for the kindness she shows daily towards others. She is an excellent role model and works to look after others in our school community and beyond.
14 September 2023: Connect supports parent groups and others to work with schools and educators. The latest edition of their newsletter is out now.
In September’s eNews, you’ll find lots of information and useful links, including:
9 September 2023: The Small Funds Fund of the JGHS Parent Council provides small grants to support and enhance the experience of youngsters in the school and in extra-curricular activities.
At the start of term we heard from some of the teachers who were awarded funds last year, just how much difference the extra support has meant:
Earlier in the summer, new applications were received from across the school – PE, Modern Studies, Science, English, Modern Languages, Art, Geography, Gaelic Medium Education and Support for Learning. A group of parents met at the end of August to assess the applications and funds have now been allocated.
This year we are delighted to be able to support a wide range of activities that will benefit many pupils across the school. For example, sports strips and gym leotards, resources for a photography club, subscriptions to newspapers and magazines, digital maps, language online textbooks and playground sports equipment.
More details are available below:
Applications Received for 2023/24 (opens as pdf)
Small Sums Fund Allocations 2023/24 (opens as pdf)
Small Sums Fund Summary 2015-2023 (opens as pdf)
Please consider if you would be able to donate as little as £5 to the Small Sums Fund, or more if you can, to help the Paret Council to continue supporting these activites for all our pupils. If you would like to help, please login to ParentPay via the link below, and contribute directly through the ‘Parent Council Fundraising’ option.
Thank you!
JGHS Parent Council 