teaching

Recent activity and updates from the Parent Council

6 February 2026: A number of updates from the Parent Council were shared in the Headteacher’s newsletter this week.

City of Edinburgh Council Education Consultative Forum (ECF) meeting

The ECF meeting for parent representatives from mainstream secondary schools in Edinburgh was held on 4 February.

At the JGHS Parent Council’s request, an item related to rising rolls in Edinburgh schools was added to the agenda.

A report from the meeting will be published on the PC wesbite shortly.

JGHS rising rolls subgroup

The subgroup is working on the report from the last PC meeting held on 28 January. It will be uploaded to the website once it is ready.

English Reading Circles – S1 & S2

Huge thanks to all parents and pupils who have so generously contributed to the Book Drive.

The PC has worked with the JGHS Trust to raise funds for pre-owned book sets for S1–S2 English Reading Circles. Purchasing books through the Trust has allowed us to claim Gift Aid on donations, increasing their value.

The donations mean that we have now been able to purchase all 160 of the books requested by the English department, and the campaign is now closed.

The remaining funds will be used to consider additional projects.

Online Resource – “The Chat”

The Parent Council encourages families to explore the new online resource that provides support for children as they learn about friendships, relationships and growing up.

theChat Website

The official launch on the new resource was on 4 February 2026.

Next Parent Council Meeting:

The next meeting of the Parent Council will be held online on Tuesday 24 March 2026, 7–8:30 pm via MSTeams.

If there are any issues that you would like to raise, please contact the Parent Council via email.

Email the Parent Council

HMIE Inspection reports for JGHS published

20 January 2026: Education Scotland have published the results of the inspection carried out at James Gillespie’s High School in October 2025.

The report and the summarised findings are available at the links below:

JGHS inspection report, City of Edinburgh Council, 20 January 2026

JGHS inspection report, City of Edinburgh Council, 20 January 2026 (Gaelic version)

JGHS summarised inspection findings, City of Edinburgh Council, 20 January 2026

JGHS additional inspection evidence, City of Edinburgh Council, 20 January 2026

In summary the inspectors found:

Strengths

  • The headteacher provides calm and aspirational leadership to the school community.
  • Staff and young people have developed inclusive, positive and respectful learning environments in which young people thrive.
  • Young people sustain very high levels of attainment across the senior phase.
  • Staff have worked well with a range of effective partners to increase young people’s learning pathways and opportunities for achievement.
  • Across the senior phase, young people achieve highly in Gàidhlig, with nearly all securing National Qualifications at appropriate levels.

Areas for improvement

  • Senior leaders should continue to develop the capacity of staff at all levels to embed recent improvements.
  • Staff need to ensure that young people experience a greater consistency of high-quality learning, teaching and assessment across the school.
  • Senior leaders should develop a more coherent and strategic approach to immersion education, with a focus on broadening the curriculum leading to qualifications and awards through the medium of Gàidhlig.