Upcoming meeting of the Parent Council 2 February 2021

18 January 2021: The next parent council meeting will take place on Tuesday 2 February 2021 at 7 pm.

We will email out the MS Teams link via the school email.

This meeting will look at the specific issue of capacity contingency plans for the 2021-22 session in light of delays to the refurbishment of the Darroch building due to Covid. The meeting will hear from school staff involved and the Council officers with whom they have been working:

Donald Macdonald, Head Teacher
Laura Stewart, DHT (Equity and Rising Rolls)
Lorna French, Schools and Lifelong Learning Service Manager (City of Edinburgh Council)
Crawford McGhie, Senior Manager Estates and Operational Support (City of Edinburgh Council)

The school has provided the following background documents:

Sur vey of Advanced Higher pupils, December 2020

Capacity Parent Council update document, January 2021

An outline of proposals was presented to the Parent Council in November 2020 – the presentation is available below.

JGHS Contingency Planning 2021-2022 November 2020

The section relevant to the capacity issues starts at 18.53.

View the November 2020 meeting on YouTube

The Parent Council is gathering in and collating questions, which should be sent to jghscouncilcomms@gmail.com by 6pm on Sunday 24 January.

Parent Council meeting on 15 December 2020

4th December 2020: The next meeting of the James Gillespie’s High School Parent Council meeting will take place on Tuesday 15 December at 7pm, and will focus on exams and assessments.

The meeting will be held on MS Teams, and we will send out the link via the school email.

If you have any questions in advance of the meeting, please send them to the Parent Council email and we will try to include them in the update.

Updates from Edinburgh City Council

18 November 2020

NE/SE Parental Engagement Locality Group

The Edinburgh City Council NE/SE Parental Engagement Locality Group met on 3 November 2020.

The Teaching, Learning and Assessment presentation delivered to the meeting, and the minutes are which took place via Microsoft Teams on 3rd November is now available

Teaching, Learning and Assessment presentation

NE/SE Parental Engagement Locality Group meeting minutes

Edinburgh City Council consultations

Edinburgh City Council is seeking parents’ views in two consultations.

One is a formal consultation on the Council’s budget (closing date 10th Dec) and is available here. and the other is an informal consultation on Gaelic-medium secondary education (closing date 11th Dec) and is available here.

Budget consultation

Gaelic-medium secondary education consultation

Updates from the National Parent Forum and Connect

Posted 8 October 2020

National Parent Forum

The National Parent Forum held its AGM on Saturday19 September 2020 and hosted a Q&A meeting with Depute First Minister John Swinney.

A report of the meeting is available on the Forum website

Read the latest newsletter from the National Parent Forum

Sessions for parents and parent groups from Connect

The October 2020 programme of free sessions for parents and parent groups from Connect (formerly the Scottish Parent Teacher Council) is now available.

Connect October programme

The calendar has full details of sessions and booking links. Places are free but booking is essential.

Sessions include:

Constitutions for Parent Councils/PTAs
Parent Councils – What’s Our Role Now
Social and Fundraising Events
Online Meetings and AGMs
Sharing Ideas and Plans

Connect has also conducted a survey asking about children’s experiences back at school. What’s changed? Are communications going well? Have blended learning plans been shared?

Read more news from Connect on their website.

Connect

Parent Council Annual General Meeting on 14 October 2020

8 October 2020: We would like to invite you to the next Parent Council meeting which will be our AGM and will take place online on Wednesday 14 October at 7pm.

The MS Teams link will be sent on Tuesday 13 October by the JGHS Admin team.

The proposed agenda is below.

Chair’s Report and update – Ailsa Macintosh, chair
Treasurer’s Report – Ros Ingle, treasurer
Election of PC Committee members and post holders
Head Teacher Overview – Donald Macdonald
Update for S1 parents/carers – Ben Lewis, Deputy Head Teacher
Questions & Answers via the Q&A typed chat facility

We very much hope you will be able to join us.

SE/NE Locality Meeting: Digital Learning and Assessment

17 September 2020: Below is a brief summary from the South East Locality Meeting about Digital Learning and Assessment on Thurs 10th Sept. Edinburgh Council officials update: contingency learning plans in place; developing training for teachers re blended learning and are also looking at videos for parents to help them support children with blended learning should it be needed. Schools have been asked to appoint Digital Leaders and develop a Digital Learning Strategy.

Edinburgh Council has written a Responsible User Protocol which, once signed will enable live video lessons should the need arise.

A number of digital learning resources were named:

clickview coming online which will have curriculum aligned resources and allows for video to be shared
scholar
e-sgoil – can sign up for after-school classes (places allocated on first come first serve basis)
Digilearn.Scot
Edinburgh Council is working on plans for practical subjects; hopes to have Active Schools in place after the October holidays; and music tuition in person or online is to happen immediately. A recruitment drive is underway to build up a pool of teachers who can help cover absences.
Minutes and slides from the meeting will be uploaded once available.

Upcoming Parent Council meeting on 22 September 2021

17 September 2021: We would like to invite you to the next Parent Council meeting which will take place online on Tuesday 22 September at 7 pm. We will email out the MS Teams link on Monday 21 September from JGHS Admin team.

We will hear from:

Donald Macdonald, (HT) – Overview
Jeff Warden, (DHT) – Digital Learning
Deirdre O’Brien, (DHT) – Learning and Teaching
Ian Porter/Ben Lewis (DHTs) – Pupil Support
Ian Porter/Ben Lewis (DHTs) – PE update
Bob Shankland (DHT) – SQA update

Questions & Answers via the Q&A typed chat facility in Teams. If you would like to raise any issues or ask any questions ahead of the meeting please email us by 2 pm Monday 21 September and where possible these will be included in the presentations.

Email the Parent Council at jghscouncilcomms@gmail.com

Updates from the National Parent Forum of Scotland and City of Edinburgh Council

Posted 25 August 2020

National Parent Forum of Scotland

The latest newsletter from the National Parent Forum of Scotland is available.

National Parent of Scotland newsletter

There is an NPFS hosted Q&A Session with the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, on 10 September and information on the event and the link to email questions is in the attached newsletter.

City of Edinburgh Council NE/SE Locality Meetings

Edinburgh Council is running regular locality meetings (bringing secondary and primary school Parent Council reps from their cluster areas together with Council officials and Headteachers).

The first meeting was held on 4 August, and focussed on Health & Safety and Health & Wellbeing.

Back to school resilience – City of Edinburgh Council

The second meeting on 18 August focussed on Equalities, Equity and Inclusion and the minutes are now available.

Minutes of meeting 18 August 2020

The third meeting will focus on Teaching, Learning (including Digital) & Assessment and will take place on 9 September and the slides and links will be uploaded once available.

Welcome back to school!

13 August 2020: A very warm welcome back to school after so long away, and a special welcome to new families joining us this year.

Please find some information from our HeadTeacher, Donald Macdonald

Break and lunchtimes

Limited break time snacks and school lunches will be available.
S1s must stay on the school campus; all other pupils may visit local shops at breaks of lunchtimes. Queuing in local shops is likely to be a slow process.
School lunches are offered at a fixed price of £2.70. Exceptionally, cash may be used but we would prefer that the cashless technology is used. S1s will received their PIN codes soon.
Lunches will be provided on a ‘grab and go’ basis with appropriate distancing and one way queuing in place.It is strongly recommend that all bring packed lunches.

All pupils on free school lunches will be provided with a lunch in the dining room.Pupils must all bring face coverings (or masks) with them to school.

Face coverings and hand sanitiser

Face coverings (eg. masks) are mandatory in local shops, on public transport and in some areas of the school. (Staff will advise pupils on this)
Pupils with respiratory conditions will be supported in wearing masks throughout the day.
The school will not be providing masks to pupils other than in a situation where a pupil is displaying C19 symptoms.
Pupils should have clothing that is suitable for Edinburgh in August. (eg. Thunderstorms and sunny spells are to be expected throughout August).
Pupils may find it helpful to bring their own hand sanitiser. This will help in avoiding any issues with allergies to the gel that we provide and will also reduce queues at hand sanitiser units.

Parent Council news from school year 2019/20

March-June: Please check out the links to our recordings of our online Parent Council meetings and Q&A information in our Minutes and Files section on our website. For up-to-date information from JGHS during the coronavirus pandemic please check out the school communications app and school emails. Please email us if you have any questions you would like the Parent Council to ask the school on your behalf.

1st March 2020: In February Edinburgh Council passed a budget for 2020/21 which includes the following:

Introduce a charging structure for instrumental music tuition, after consultation, to raise £150k in 2021/22 and £350k in 2022/23.
Cut the number of Quality Improvement officers to save £120k in 2020/21 and £120k in 2021/22.
Cuts to the Devolved School Management (DSM) budget for schools by 1% to save £1.2m in 2020/21 and £600k in 2021/22.
We would urge our school community to engage with local Councillors on these proposed cuts and take part in the consultation on music tuition when it goes live here.

1st March 2020: LEAPS S5 Parents’ & Carers’ Information Evening at Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh Campus (Riccarton) on Wednesday 25 March 2020 7-9pm. LEAPS is a widening participation programme which aims to encourage students who are traditionally underrepresented in higher education. If you are a parent or carer of an S5 LEAPS-eligible pupil, who is thinking about college or university, this event is for you.

14th Feb 2020: The Social and Fundraising Events group are raising funds to develop the school’s outdoor spaces and support pupils’ mental wellbeing. They are holding a fun quiz night compered by RIchard Melvin on Fri 28th Feb at the JGHS food hall. Doors open 7pm and the quiz starts at 7.30pm. Over 18s only. BYOB and glasses; bottle bar and snacks available’ raffle. £5 minimum donation per person. Book via ParentPay.

14th Feb 2020: JGHS is directing more of their communications via the school app and all parents and pupils are encouraged to download the school communications app here

29th Jan 2020: All secondary pupils at JGHS are invited to ENGAGE with alternative routes into career paths. Engage events are organised to help young people think creatively about the world of work, and are run for pupils from Boroughmuir and James Gillespie’s High schools. The next event is on 25th February 2020 at the Braid Hills Hotel 6.30-8pm. More information here.

21st Jan 2020: The Edinburgh Poverty Commission wants to find out what people living and working in Edinburgh know and think about poverty in their city. This survey is part of a larger project, which aims prioritise futureaction. The survey can be accessed here

5th Jan 2020: The Edinburgh Children’s Partnership Services Plan is hoping to gather the views of parents and carers on their priorities for children in the city. Edinburgh Children’s Partnership includes all the organisations which work with children and young people in the city: schools, social work, the police, health services, youth work and the voluntary sector.

Every three years, the partnership has to write a plan showing how the organisations will work together to make a difference for children and young people. This survey asks parents and carers to decide what is most important to them. The consultation is open until late January 2020 – it takes 5 mins to complete and can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ecsppc.  

20th Dec 2019: The next Edinburgh Council Recruitment and Selection training session for Parent Council members will be held in Liberton High School on Tuesday 14 January 2020 from 6pm until 8.30pm. If you would like to be involved in helping the school to recruit their principal, depute head and head teacher please email us.

12th Dec 2019: Spòrs Gàidhlig is offering young people and schools the opportunity to take part in a varied programme through the medium of Gaelic. Activities include gorge scrambling, climbing, nature walks, team challenges, stand-up paddle boarding, overnight expeditions as well as cultural visits. Also on offer: Ski lessons and camps through winter 2020; school residentials near Aviemore and events and programmes delivered locally in your area. These unique programmes are designed for schools offering Gaelic medium education and can additionally be offered to mixed groups where education is offered in both English and Gaelic.

18th Nov 2019: The JGHS Parent Council would like to invite everyone from our school community to our next PC meeting. We will be discussing JGHS policy and approach to addressing inappropriate behaviours, including sexual harassment of peers, online behaviours and how parents can support the school and pupils to build a respectful school community. Everyone is very welcome on Tues 26th Nov @ 7pm in the Library in the Malala building.

If you have any topics you would like raised at future PC meetings please email us 30th Oct 2019: Edinburgh Council is now consulting on the development of Darroch which is to be used as an annexe for JGHS from August 2021 to help with rising rolls and capacity. The aim is for much of Gaelic Medium Education (GME) to be relocated there, with the goal of a dedicated Gaelic Secondary School for August 2024 (location as yet to be decided). The Edinburgh Council consultation is open until 22nd November and the links are here.

27th Sept 2019: The Scottish Government is consulting on its draft framework for Out of School Care in Scotland and wants to understand what children, parents and carers, professionals and experts think about the ways in which Out of School Care can give children opportunities to play and access life-enhancing experiences and support parents to work, train or study. The consultation runs until Friday 6 December.

3rd Sept 2019: Calling all S2-S6 Pupils to ENGAGE with the Future! What do you want to study, do, be? Get expert advice from the professionals to help you decide. Engage events are organised to help young people think creatively about the world of work, and are run for pupils from Boroughmuir and James Gillespie’s High Schools and the next event is on 24 September 2019, at the Braid Hills Hotel, 6:30 to 8 p.m.

13th August 2019: Save-the-Date! Calling all parents and carers – please join us for our first meeting to set up a fundraising/social events group at JGHS on Mon 2nd September 2019 @ 7pm in the Malala Building, JGHS Library. Please help us build up our school community.