Friday 15 March

Warmest congratulations to:

1.       Callum Stark who won first prize in ‘ARTiculate’ on Wednesday evening. ARTiculate is a national public speaking competition for school age young people on a topic of Artistic interest.

2.       Kinli Kwok (S3) who won the  Tae Kwon Do Fighter of the year award whilst representing Scotland in her age category.

3.       Hanga Eory (S1), Calum Usher (S1), Rachel Allan (S2) and Chirag Shetty ( S2) who took part in the Junior UK Maths Team competition held at the University of Edinburgh on 8th March. The pupils were an absolute credit to the school and they secured 4th place out of 26 teams in this highly competitive event.

4.       The JGHS Pipe Band who competed in the Scottish Schools’ pipe band championships last weekend. There were clear signs that this young and developing band has a very promising future if they continue to practise and work together.

5.       Louis Mackintosh; Esther Silverton; Phoebe Burke and Anna Mantle who, accompanied by Mrs Sturm attended a gala dinner on Wednesday evening to celebrate the achievements of Social Bite, the social enterprise that was set up to tackle homelessness. The guest of honour was Malala Yousafzai after whom we names our main teaching block.

6.       Our S2 netball team who have made it through to the Scottish final on Thursday 21 March. I understand the final is likely to be a ‘West vs East’ affair!

Dates for the Diary

1.       We would like to have one last get together with those involved in the South Africa Exchange Project 2018/19. This would be with the current S6 who went to SA and their parents/carers. This will take place from 6pm-7pm on Tuesday 19 March in the Forum. The agenda will be to share the long awaited Vlog and evaluate the project.

2. This year, due to growing demand, we have decided to run a 'Spring Fling concert series over two nights, Tuesday 26th March and Wednesday 27th March. Both concerts will take place in the Muriel Spark Performing Arts theatre from 7.00 – 8.00pm. This is another wonderful opportunity for our young people to participate and perform in one of the many musical ensembles, choirs and instrumental groups the school offers.
• Tuesday evening’s concert will include String, Clarsach and Guitar ensembles, our ‘Trad’ group and the Junior Choir. We are also delighted to welcome students from Preston Street Primary School.
• On Wednesday the Wind and Pipe bands will perform alongside our Chamber Choir, Senior Choir and Rock ensembles.
• Tickets will be on sale from the door on the evening of the concert priced at £3 per evening, or £5 if you are attending both nights.
• We hope that you can come and support our young performers for what promises to be a great event.
3. On Tues 19th March @ 7pm in the Library in the Malala building the JGHS Parent Council would like to invite everyone from our school community to our next PC meeting.  Jeff Warden, DHT, will be updating on curriculum planning and we will have updates on Wifi and rising rolls. Everyone is very welcome. If you can't make the date our minutes are online at http://jghscouncil.btck.co.uk/
4. Please support our main Parent Council social event this year at 7pm on Friday 26th April 2019 in the foyer at JGHS. 
• We will have wine-tasting with Vino wines, music, food, a pop-up prosecco bar and fruit punch. 
• Everyone is welcome – parents, carers and staff – please come and support your school.  
• Eventbrite ticketing information to follow.
5. The big pedal is fast approaching, 25th March till the 5th April, the aim of the two weeks is to encourage cycling to school.
• To launch this, we plan to hold a bike breakfast on Tuesday 26th March from 8.15am (too many will forget if it’s the Monday!).
6. At 7 pm on Friday 22 March our pupils are staging a play to raise funds for and to raise awareness of period poverty. ‘A Feminine Ending’ is a bittersweet comedy about a girl who knows what she wants, but not quite how to get it. ’Issue Now’, a Pupil led charity, is putting on this production to raise money for Lilypads, a charity helping those in period poverty. ‘The play’s message is so important and we thought that this would be a refreshing, challenging and exciting way in which we can raise money for a cause that really matters. So please, contribute to something good, and sit back, relax, and enjoy the show! We hope to see you on the 22^nd’ Lori Stott (S6)

And finally, thanks to the 400+ parents who contacted us to authorise their child’s attendance at today ‘s climate change protest’ being staged at the Scottish Parliament. I find it very encouraging to see so many young people actively engaged in a matter of such pressing importance. Thanks also to our office staff who have processed all of these requests and continue to do so throughout this morning.

Donald j Macdonald

Headteacher