Connect, the body supporting Parent/Carer-Teacher forums in Scotland, has just published its November newsletter.
This edition has news and information about a range of items including:
This week, the National Parent Forum of Scotland (NPFS) launched a survey to gather input from parents and carers across Scotland as a follow-up to conversations around education reform that have been ongoing throughout the last 12 months.
This survey focuses on creating a new national body responsible for qualifications and assessment. It will remain open until Friday 8 December 2023.
Register to participate in one of the NPFS focus groups
For background and further information, you can read the Scottish Government’s consultation paper on establishing a new qualifications body:
Education Bill provisions: consultation
You can also complete the official Scottish Government survey here:
Education Reform: A Consultation on the provisions of the Education Bill
17 November 2023: The A+Group supporting pupils of colour and their families at JGHS has just received funding from the JGHS Trust for the 2023-24 session. The group will meet on Zoom throughout the year, and the new meeting dates will be shared with parents and carers very soon.
Read the 2023 report from the A+ Group about their activities – August 2023
The A+ Group has also shared information about a number of other activities around anti-racism and equality in which parents may also like to be invovled.
Edinburgh Council Parent Equalities Reference group is looking for inputs from any Parents/Carers who would like to have a direct say in the City of Edinburgh Council’s Schooling & Equalities work.
They particularly welcome parents and carers from under-represented groups. The role of the Reference Group is to give an ‘on the ground’ view to inform the authority’s Equalities work and provide a link with parent councils and community organisations. It will meet 4 times per school session.
Any parents who are already supporting or would like to support Equalities work in their school / Learning Community and are interested in sitting on the Parent Equalities Reference Group are welcome to contact nikhat.yusaf@ea.edin.sch.uk for more information.
A+ Group member Ms Sara El-Awaisi has set up a meeting with the Senior Leadership Team of the school.
The meeting will be exploring how the school can provide support to Palestinian children & families within our school community, particularly those with family in Gaza right now.
A new ‘Race Equality & Anti-Racist working group’ is being started at JGHS.
The first meeting will take place on Tuesday 21 November at 12.15 pm in the school. The A+ Group, Grace Dempsey from Intercultural Youth Scotland, the JGHS Lead for Equalities, Ian Porter, Anti-Racist Club tutors, and a representative from the city council’s EAL (‘English as an Additional Language’) team, will be attending the meeting.
If you are interested in participating, please contact A+ Group Coordinator Zaki El-Salahi
Antiracism activities at JGHS – posted February 2023
Intercultural Youth Scotland – posted March 2023
13 November 2023: The next meeting of the Parent Council will be on Tuesday 28 November at 7 pm. The meeting will be held online and the link will be circulated by the school beforehand.
If you have any questions or issue that you would like to have addressed at the meeting, please get in touch with the PC by email:
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.
JGHS Parent Council 