Friday 19 January

1. The prelims are now in full swing: fingers crossed that all our pupils derive maximum benefit from this experience.
2. Well done to the group of eight S2 boys who played for Currie Star FC in an amazing cup semi final beating the league leaders to make the Kilvin cup final. The S2 boys are: Daniel King (cap), Santosh Rowe, Cameron Buchanan, Ben Smyth, James Gallacher, Ruthven Dunn & Sean Garotti. Well done to all!
3. On Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 January, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra will be at JGHS to offer a wonderful opportunity for some of our Nat. 5 pupils and percussion pupils to take part in a music-making workshop with professional musicians next week. The final performance of this will then be filmed and recorded. This project takes its inspiration from the percussion concerto Incantations by Finnish composer Rautavaara. All participants will receive free tickets to hear Incantations performed by the SCO and the Scottish percussionist Colin Currie.
4. Well done to:
1. Ms Dickinson (Science Department) who has been selected to represent GB in international Triathlon championships in Madrid in September 2018.
2. Ms Eyre (PE Department) who will represent Scotland in an international netball tournament from 6-10 June this year.
3. Elena Santoyo-Brown who has been selected to go to Iceland with the Scotland Under 17s from the 1 – 7 February for a series of matches in preparation for the European Championships in March 2018.
4. Archie Ellen who had a very exciting and satisfying weekend  at the HSBC UK Cyclo-Cross National Championships in Hetton, Sunderland. Archie finished 17th overall in his age category and was top ranked Scottish rider out of nearly 70 U14 boys.
5. Thanks to all who have supported this year’s South Africa fundraising efforts. Please do come along and support the next evening fundraiser on Friday 26 January. https://www.evite.com/event/0382AXYSPWKX4MTRQEPH64GEGF6INA/rsvp?utm_campaign=send_sharable_link&utm_medium=sharable_invite&utm_source=www.facebook.com
6. The next JGHS Parent Council meeting will be on Tuesday 23 January @ 7pm in the library.  Christopher Ross, Catering Operations Manager with the City of Edinburgh Council, will be at the meeting to talk about the proposed pilot introduction of biometrics, an electronic fingerprint system, for payment of school lunches.  Also on the agenda will be rising school rolls and wifi provision for pupils. All are welcome.
7. Please email if you have any news you would like to share with the wider JGHS community.

And finally, wrap up warm this weekend - it’s going to be another cold one.

Donald j Macdonald

Headteacher