Edinburgh EIS Local Elections Hustings

27 April 2022: In the run up to the local council elections, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) will be hosting an opportunity to ask representatives from the main political parties about their priorities for education in Edinburgh. 

Online Any Education Questions next Tuesday 3 May 2022 at 6.30 pm (via Zoom)

Please come along to show our politicians that schools and children matter!

Click here to register
 
Please Note:

  • All attendees will be given the opportunity to submit questions in advance, so that we can try to ensure that we cover the full range of concerns.  The EIS will email those who register with more information about this, as well as sending them the zoom link etc
  • EIS are trying to secure BSL interpreters, but cannot guarantee that they will be able to have this in place.  They aim to set up captioning.  If there are other things they can do to make the meeting more accessible, please get in touch with then directly (via edinburghla@eis.org.uk).
  • *They have invited spokespersons from each of the parties represented at Holyrood/who are part of COSLA.

Online Parents’ Evenings – what do you think?

2 April 2022: The Parent Council would like to hear from parents about how online parent consultations with teachers have been working, and your views on whether we keep this format or go back to in-person meetings. 

What has worked for you and what has not?

In the future, what sorts of school events are best held in the school and what can be done online?

Our survey will be running over Easter and can be completed at the link below: 

Parents’ Evenings Survey 

It will only take 5 minutes and we hope to hear from as many parents as possible.

We will feed the results back to the School to help inform future planning.

Thank you!

Recording of JGHS Parent Council 22 March 2022 meeting now available

24 March 2022: Many thanks to those who were able to attend the meeting of the Parent Council on Tuesday 22 March.

The main issues discussed were:

  • Report on Parent Council activities by Sarah Scott, chair JGHS PC
  • Report of Active Schools clubs at JGHS by Eliot Ambrose
  • Presentation on the Maths curriculum by Ashling Dolan, Acting Curriculum Lead
  • Headteacher’s report by Donald McDonald
  • Q&A

Active Schools presentation

Maths Curriculum presentation

The recording of the meeting is now available to watch again on YouTube

JGHS Parent Council meeting 22 March 2022

Next Parent Council meeting on Tuesday 22 March 2022

22 March 2022 update: The next Parent Council meeting is tonight, Tuesday 22 March at 7 pm and will include a presentation by Faculty Head, Ashling Dolan, on the Maths curriculum. 

Agenda

  • Update on PC activities – Sarah Scott, PC Chair
  • Mathematics Curriculum – Ashling Dolan, Acting Curriculum Leader for Maths
  • Update on Active Schools – Eliot Ambrose, Active Schools Co-ordinator
  • Head Teacher’s Report – Donald Macdonald
  • Questions – via Q&A chat

The joining link has been sent out by email by the School.

Please email the PC with any questions or issues you would like included in the Head Teacher’s update.

Email the Parent Council

Details of last meeting

The recording of our last meeting on 26 January 2022, and a copy of the Q&A, are available on the PC website:

PC meeting 26 January 2022

CCwP meeting held 24 February 2022

22 March 2022: The Council’s Consultative Committee with Parents (CCwP) met on 24 February 2022 to discuss the issues which would be considered at the Education, Children and Families Committee the following week.

This included:

  • The Council’s strategy on school attendance
  • An update on SQA plans for exams this year
  • An update on Council figures on school leaver destinations

Shared documents from meeting

CCwP ECF report

Attendance in Edinburgh

SQA Update, February 2022

Edinburgh Learns Pathways report

A recording of the meeting can be viewed at the link below.

CCwP meeting 24 February 2022

New projects supported by the JGHS Small Sums Fund

20 March 2022: Applications to the JGHS Parent Council Small Sums Fund were submitted in September 2021. In conjunction with the JGHS Trust, we were able to fund all the bids made.

After this process, for the first time ever, we had not spent all the surplus funds from the school year 2020-21, and had £1600 remaining. We have therefore run a second supplementary round of applications to allocate the remaining funds.

Projects funded in the new round include new textbooks for the maths department, basket ball strips for PE, and materials for the knitting club. The documents linked below give details of all the applications received and the allocation decisions made.

Applications to the Small Sums Fund February 2022

Funds allocated by the Small Suns Fund February 2022

About the Small Sums Fund

Next round of applications in May 2022

Applications to the Small Sums Fund for the school year 2022-23 will be invited in May 2022, earlier than in previous years, so that staff can plan their activities further in advance.

However, we are unable to allocate the funds until we know how much money we have available at the end of the school year on 31 July 2022, so the applications will be reviewed and allocated after that date.

Input into the  process is welcome from any parent/carer – if you would like to help, please contact the PC via its email address.

Email the Parent Council

The more funds we raise this school year, the more we will have available to allocate for staff projects such as those described in the applications document, so please consider donating to the PC via ParentPay if you are able and have not already done so.

Donate to the Small Sums Fund on Parent Pay

Forum for parents with children with Additonal Support Needs

12 March 2022: The Council has set up a forum for meeting with parents with children with ASN in mainstream schooling, which feeds into discussions with Councillors and senior Council staff at the CCwP (Consultative Committee with Parents) before each Education, Children and Families Committee meeting (6 per year).

The last meeting was on 31 January and looked at Digital Learning and Pathways for Support.  The minutes and presentations can be found here.

Minutes of Meeting on 31 January 2022

Empowered Learning – David McKee 31 January 2022

Terms of Reference for ASN in Mainstream Schooling Forum

Get involved

The Parent Council would like to hear from parents who have issues they would like raised via this this group.  Please contact the PC email to be put in contact with our rep on the group.

Email the Parent Council

Choice, attainment and positive destinations research project

5 March 2022: James Gillespies High School is taking part in a research project being led by Stirling University on the impact of Curriculum for Excellence on attainment, subject choice and student experience. 

Take part in the project

As part of the research, the investigators would like to speak with a group of 4-6 parents with a child/children in S4-S6 to learn about their experience of supporting their child to make subject choices. 

There will be an online meeting with the group on Monday 14 March at 7 pm (about an hour). If you would be interested in participating, please contact the Parent Council by email:

Email the Parent Council 

Further information is available on the project website and on Twitter:

Choice, Attainment and Positive Destinations

Twitter

NE/SE Locality Parent Engagement meeting

11 February 2022: The NE/SE Parental Engagement Locality Group Meeting with City of Edinburgh Council was held on 1 February 2022 via Microsoft Teams.

You can read the minutes of the meeting and access presentations on the Learning Estate and the CEC Digital Consortia below:

Minutes of NE/SE Locality Meeting 1 February 2022

CEC Learning Estate Update – January 2022

CEC Digital Consortia Update – February 2022