S1 Halloween party

We had a superb halloween party tonight for pupils in S1. Thank you to all the S6 pupils and Guidance staff who teamed up to make it such a fun and entertaining night. My favourite moment of the evening was when a 'scary' S6 pupil leaped out from a darkened recess in Warrender  and screeched in my ear to frighten me. The screech that followed when he switched on his lantern and realised it was me was even louder!

Rumours are rife as to whether our legendary 'Green Lady' joined the festivities. Now that all the children are safely tucked up in bed and it's all quiet again in Bruntsfield House I hope she gets a chance to play the piano in peace and have a restful night.

Sgoinneil

Warmest congratulations to all our pupils who did so well at the National Mod in Dunoon last week. They were outstanding and did us proud! Nach math a rinn iad uile!

Profile of the ideal pupil

According to the 30 pupils in our junior pupil council the ideal pupil would have the following qualities and characteristics:

• Independent
• Organised
• Confident
• Respectful
• Has perfect attendance and is punctual
• Attentive
• Contributes to each class
• Well behaved
• Responsible
• Honest
• Dresses appropriately
• Balances school and social life
• Works to the best of his/her ability
• Participates in Extra curricular
• Asks questions and
• Looks after others

Characteristics of the ideal teacher

Many of us have fond memories of at least one teacher from our schooldays. His/her personality and the way we were made to feel about ourselves and learning stay with us for a long time. What though are the characteristics of the ideal teacher in the eyes of pupils in 2012?  According to S1, 2 and 3 pupils at James Gillespie's HS their ideal teacher has the following characteristics/qualities:

• Enthusiastic
• Fun
• Happy
• Fair
• Does not have favourites
• Promotes active learning
• In control
• Responsible
• Respectful
• Down to Earth
• Positive
• Understanding
• Friendly (but not necessarily a friend)
• Knowledgeable 
• Experienced and
• Never gives up on us.

National Mod

I would like to wish success and enjoyment to all those who are competing at the National Mod in Dunoon next week. Several pupils from Gillespie's HS and from Tollcross PS will be there. I'm really looking forward to spending the week on the Cowal peninsula with my family. Lets hope that the sun shines!

Humanity

International 'Day of the Girl'

I am delighted that our Pupil Council has decided to focus their efforts on raising funds and awareness of the plight of girls in some countries in the world. The Girl Effect is a campaign sponsored by the Nike Foundation and Warren Buffet's NoVo Foundation.

International 'Day of the Girl' took place on 11 October 2012

Pupil Council meeting

I am looking forward immensely to working with the S1-3 members of our pupil council tomorrow. The pupil council is made up of a representative from each tutor class. Each year therefore has 10 representatives.

The day will begin with a short questionnaire on a variety of aspects about the school. I will publish the results on this blog. Following this task we will divide into groups and the pupils will discuss what values we should adopt as a school. (Teaching staff and Office staff were involved in a similar exercise two weeks ago).

After this we will use a 'carousel' approach to allow groups of pupils to answer the following questions:

1. What are the characteristics of the ideal pupil?
2. What are the characteristics of the ideal teacher?
3. How can we make lessons more interesting?
4. How can we get rid of litter?
5. What do we need to change at Gillespie’s
6. What must not change at Gillespie’s?
7. How can we improve behaviour and encourage all pupils to be the best they can be?
8. How can we improve attendance?

I will be intrigued to what see emerges from the discussions! The results will be shared with all staff and pupils.

Parents face jail over kids’ truancy

This rather alarming headline caught my eye at the weekend when I was browsing the various on-line news stories. (Full story at: Evening News) Regardless of what one thinks of using custodial sentences to punish those who offend against society, I welcome the fact that Edinburgh Council is prepared to support children by taking such a tough line with those who are neglecting their responsibilities as parents. I sincerely hope that this 'last resort', won't be necessary. Based on my 30 years experience of working in  a variety of schools, pupils, whose attendance is poor, invariably struggle to secure a positive outcome on leaving school. Performance in Maths is particularly adversely affected when attendance is poor. We also need to bear in mind that erratic or poor attendance has a disruptive impact on other pupils. 

In an increasingly competitive world all of our young people need and deserve the best possible education. Whether that education takes place in school or in an alternative setting doesn't matter as long as pupils turn up on time each day with a desire to learn and better themselves.  At Gillespie's the attendance target for all pupils is 100%.

New qualifications

Scott Murphy from the SQA joined us at the school this evening to talk to parents of pupils in S1,2 and 3 about the changes to Scottish school qualifications. I was delighted to see that our parents turned out in very large numbers and took the opportunity to raise a variety of concerns. I would encourage anyone who has a question they wish to raise about the new qualification to contact either Mr McCallum (DHT) or me. If we don't have the answer we will take advice from the SQA. Parents can also contact Scott Murphy directly at the SQA.

Details of the new qualifications can be found on the SQA website. This evening's presentation will be placed on the school website in the next day or two.

In November we propose to hold a further evening meeting for parents where we will share our latest thinking on how best to prepare our pupils for the new exams.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) evening  we are having an open evening for parents to share our plans for how we will manage classes during the rebuilding of our new school.