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:
The recording of the meeting is now available to watch again on YouTube
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.
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.
The recording of our last meeting on 26 January 2022, and a copy of the Q&A, are available on the PC website:
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:
Edinburgh Learns Pathways report
A recording of the meeting can be viewed at the link below.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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:
Further information is available on the project website and on Twitter:
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
8 February 2022: A summary of the Q&A at the last meeting of the Parent Council on 26 January 2022 is now available:
Q&A at the Parent Council meeting 26 January 2022
You can also catch up on the full proceedings of the meeting via YouTube:
28 January 2022: Many thanks to everyone who was able to attend the meeting of the Parent Council on 26 January.
If you were unable to join us, or you want to listen again to any of the items, the recording is now available on YouTube.
Recording of Parent Council meeting 26 January 2022
The meeting covered the following agenda:
26 January 2022: The City of Edinburgh Council is holding open meetings for parents in January and February to discuss the impacts of Covid-19 on school communities and parental engagement.
The first of these meetings was on Tuesday 11 January 2022, and was followed by similar discussions on Tuesday 25 January.
A report from the first meeting is now available:
Covid IIA Meeting: Lessons Learned 11 January 2022
The last opportunity to attend a meeting is on Tuesday 22 February 2022, at 6.15 – 7.15 pm.
Parents should join via MS Teams through this link:
Click here to join the meeting
These meetings let the Council hear from parents about how changes, such not allowing parents to attend events in school, are affecting school communities.
For more information please contact: Parental.Engagement@edinburgh.gov.uk
JGHS Parent Council 