21 March 2023: Many thanks to those who were able to join us for the James Gillespie’s High School Parent Council meeting on Tuesday 21 March.

Agenda

• Welcome from Parent Council Chair – Sarah Scott
• Parent Council Report – Sarah Scott
• Science Curriculum at JGHS – Iain Coltart, followed by Q&A (slides available below)
• Headteacher report – Neil McCallum, followed by Q&A

The recording of the meeting is now available:

Watch the Parent Council Meeting 21 March 2023 on YouTube

View presentation from Ian Coltart

Headteacher’s Report 21 March 2023

28 October 2022: The James Gillespies High School Parent Council held its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 12 October, in the school library. We were joined by approx 30 parents, for this first in-person meeting of the PC in over two and a half years.

Meeting business

The meeting addressed a number of issues, and a full minute of the proceedings will be available shortly.

1. Updates from previous Parent Council meeting
   • Headteacher recruitment
   • Council engagement
   • Donald J. Macdonald prize
   • School events
   • Rising rolls
2. Arrangements for future PC meetings
3. Chair’s Report
4. Finance Report
5. Election of Parent Council and Office Bearers
6. Headteacher’s Report

There was considerable discussion about the rising rolls at the School, and this situation has been taken as an action for the Parent Council to pursue in the coming weeks.

The presentation made by PC treasurer Ros Ingle is available at the link below.

JGHS Parent Council Treasurer Presentation, October 2022

Darroch Annex

The PC heard from deputy head teacher Miss McIver about the refurbishment of the new Darroch Annex, which opened for business on 27 October 2022.

Pupils and teachers alike are very excited to be moving into the new teaching and activity spaces!

The images of the new annex at Darroch: clockwise from top left – new entrance, bright and spacious classrooms, gym hall (with a sprung floor), dining hall.

New members and office bearers

The meeting also re-appointed the existing office bearers of the Parent Council, and we were delighted that a number of new members have also joined the committee.

The full committee membership is below (new members are indicated by *):

• Sarah Scott (Chair)
• Kirstin Leighton (Secretary)
• Ros Ingle (Treasurer)
• Hilary Snaith (Communications)
• Laura Bird (Communications)
• Tiziana Basciani*
• Nicolas Boyes
• Rob Dunbar
• Orla Hobson
• Christiane Kerlen*
• Padraic Kinsella*
• Ailsa Macintosh
• Caroline McKellar*
• Aileen Nimmo
• Bec Phipps*
• Kate Pinault*
• Vikki Plant
• Joanne Sapienza Chapman*
• Steffi Schultze
• Lisa Sutherland
• Penny Tarsia
• María Angélica Thumala Olave*
• Charles Warlow

We are very grateful to all the members, new and old, who have joined the Parent Council.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Parent Council will be held online via MS Teams at 7 pm on Tuesday 29 November 2022.

More details will be available on our website in due course.

Contact us

If you have any questions for the Parent Council, or issues that you would like to raise with us, please do not hesitate to get in touch:

Email the Parent Council

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