Friday 6 March

1. We continue to distribute regular communications from the City of Edinburgh Council and the medical authorities on the evolving situation with the coronavirus. www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus We are communicating directly with families who may be impacted by excursion travel restrictions. Earlier today, Curriculum Leaders shared their thinking on contingency planning for the coming weeks. I have also been in touch with our partner school in HK to learn from how they are dealing with the viral outbreak.
2. All parents and pupils are encouraged to download the school communications app at: https://www.jamesgillespies.co.uk/school-mobile-app/  As a school we will be increasingly directing more of our communications via this App in the coming weeks.
3. We would therefore be grateful if you could complete the following online survey using the following link no later than Friday 13 March: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/QXNKHTF
4. Many thanks to all who supported last Friday’s fundraising Quiz in the school dining room.
5. The Spark blog (our pupil run Magazine) has now been updated with our first run of articles! You can find them here: www.jghsthespark.wordpress.com. The 8th of March is international Women's Day and ‘The Spark’ team has decided that this will be the focus of our first few articles.
6. We are soon to embark on updating our School’s anti-bullying policy in line with the latest national advice. Our plan is to complete this work by December 2020. Any parent/carer who would like to be involved should contact Mr Ian Porter (DHT) for details. Staff and Pupils will also be involved.
7. We would like to thank the pupils and parents of JGHS for their incredible support with the South Africa project, through the donations of pencil cases and books for our partner schools. We would also like to thank everyone who donated and attended fundraising events. The money raised allowed us to buy choir uniforms for Dloko HS and guitars for Zwelibanzi HS and Isidingo PS, as well as bringing students and teachers over to visit Gillespie's in June. We are sure that the donations will be put to good use and hope that the partnership will continue to grow and that future S6s will be able to experience the amazing friendship and hospitality we were lucky enough to receive.
8. Earlier this week around 130 pupils from S4,5 and 6 attended a ‘jobs roadshow’ at the Corn Exchange

Well done to:

9. S1 pupils did very well in the Scottish Schools’ Cross Country Championships earlier this week. In a highly competitive field of 194 runners, Jess Taylor came 9th and Anna Cruden came 11th in race 1 (first age group race for girls) in a race of 206 runners and Dylan Daunt came 5th,  Laurence Ward came 80th, Daniel Chowings came 107th, Patrick Snowdon came 145th and Kieran Glass came 161th and Jules Sangnakkara came 166^th. Well done to all who took part.
10. Congratulations to the many pupils who performed as part of the Resonate concert series this week at the Queens Hall. JGHS was represented at both the Screen to Stage and Strings/'Trad' concert with guest appearances from our Clarsach Ensemble and Trad Group. Thanks to our wonderful music instructors and the Music department for helping with their preparations.
11. Ms Dickinson in our Sciences Faculty who has been selected to represent GB at the world long distance triathlon championship this September. The race, which consists of a 3.8k swim, 120k bike and a 42k run will take place in Almere near Amsterdam.
12. The 4 teams from James Gillespie’s who competed in the Scottish regional final of ‘Formula 1 in schools’. This was our first year competing and we entered 4 teams; Team Impulsa, ONAIR, A.L.C.O.B.I and Iconic Racing, made up of 23 students from across the school. The teams designed, tested and manufactured individual dragsters and had to secure their own sponsors, which include University of Edinburgh, Vert Rotors, EdAR and Knockhill. A record number of teams (24 in total) competed and we're thrilled to report that our teams won 2 awards

Best wishes to:

13. The JGHS Pipe Band as they travel to compete at the Scottish Schools Pipe Band Competition in Kilmarnock on Sunday.
14. The following S4 students will be participating in the European Youth Parliament debate on Thursday March 12th to compete in the East of Scotland regional debate.
1. Toby Ward
2. Finn Thomson
3. Fergus Jajdelski
4. Lucy Robertson
5. Shilan Ucak
6. Erin Sandiford
7. Fiona Kenny
8. Ingrid Ellis

Dates

15. Today, the Amnesty group encouraged us to support ‘’yellow to school day” to show support for universal human rights and to raise money for Amnesty International.  Some of our pupils went around visiting classrooms and collecting donations from participants.
16. The S5/6 parents’ consultation evening is on Wednesday 11 March.
17. JGHS Parent Council would like to invite everyone from our school community to our next PC meeting on Tues 17th March @ 7pm in the Library in the Malala building.  We will have an update on Show My Homework – the online homework calendar – and discussions on parental engagement on school priorities and setting up an alumni database.  If you can't make the date our minutes are online at http://jghscouncil.btck.co.uk and if you have any topics you would like raised at future PC meetings please email us at jghscouncilcomms@gmail.com
18. On the 24 and 25 March we will be having our annual Spring Fling Concerts.  There will be a different selection of groups featured each night, the Tuesday is our "Strings" night and Wednesday is our "Bands" night.  Tickets will be available from 16 March priced at £5 for both events or £3 per concert.  Each evening will start at 7pm and last about an hour.  

My quote of the week:

None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful." Mother Teresa

Best wishes to all for a lovely weekend.

Donald j Macdonald

Headteacher