Friday 15 May

Dear Parents, Carers, Pupils, Partners and Colleagues,

I trust this finds you all happy and well.

Thank you to all for your continuing unfailing support over the past 2 months whilst we have all have tried to adjust to our new and changing circumstances. We know that this period of time has been very challenging for all in our community.  I’d like to particularly acknowledge the efforts of our parents who are doing their best to ‘deliver school work’ at home. We now know that this is an almost impossible ask of parents.  Parents are juggling too many responsibilities at present and so must not worry about pupils falling behind. The priority for all is to be healthy and happy. Do not worry if your child is only able to complete some of the work that teachers have assigned.  Please be reassured that when pupils return to school, teachers will make time to support all pupils in covering all the coursework that is to completed. No one (parent, pupil or teacher) should be getting stressed about not keeping up with schoolwork for any reason. Your health and wellbeing is what matters most.

In the coming days I’m really keen to get parents involved in shaping how our schools gets back to normal by engaging with our Parent Council.  

Parent Council
We would like to invite you to the next Parent Council meeting which will take place online on Tuesday 26th May at 7pm.  We hope this will be an opportunity for us to hear about the challenges facing the school, its staff, pupils and parents, and how these are being dealt with in this difficult period.  The meeting will be led by our Head Teacher, Donald Macdonald, and with members of the JGHS Senior Management Team, who will set out the current position in the following areas:

1. Exams and SQA guidance;
2. Online/distance learning, including use of and access to technology;
3. Planning for the end of the summer term and the return to school after the summer;
4. Pupil well-being;
5. Staffing and
6. A brief summary of the issues facing individual year groups.

We hope that the meeting will be organised through Microsoft Teams, which is the system being used by Edinburgh schools, but this is being tested at the moment and further details about access will be sent out nearer the time.  You will appreciate that there are some technical challenges in trying to set up a meeting of this kind, and we ask for your patience should things go wrong e.g. with individual access, or Wifi failures on the night.  We are also aware that not all parents will be available on the date of the meeting.  We are therefore planning to record the presentations so that they can be viewed later.  If you would like to raise any issues which are not mentioned above, please let us know via the Parent Council email: jghscouncilcomms@gmail.com and where possible these will be included in the presentations at the meeting or we will aim to cover with them at a future PC meeting. Thanks - JGHS Parent Council

Arrangements for children of Key Workers (JGHS coordinator - Mr David Anderson)

1. Key workers, whose children are unable to be at home during working hours (0800 – 1800), can check their eligibility and apply for a place at any of the City of Edinburgh Council HUBs by completing the booking form accessed here. https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/schools/emergency-school-closures/1
2. This provision will continue over the summer term and will be open on public holidays.
3. Marie Lyon, from the Council central team, is the person to contact if you have any general HUB related queries. Marie.Lyon@edinburgh.gov.uk

 Online Learning (Mrs Deirdre O’Brien and Mr Jeff Warden) 

1.       If any pupil is finding it difficult to access or complete tasks, they must let their class teacher and/or PSL know.

2.       Mr Meechan has created a comprehensive training video for pupils in the use of Microsoft 365 and with Teams in particular. There is a contents list along with time stamps in the video description so pupils can navigate to specific parts. Pupils will be issued with this link by their Key Adult next week, and we request that all pupils view this, and especially for new S4 and S5 who may not have much experience with Teams. The video is now embedded on the Digital Learning page of the school website and can also be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur-zRIMWjGg

3.       S2 pupils will engage with their next stage in learning from this week.  Pupils will remain in their current S2 class Team until Monday 1 June, but are only expected to complete tasks for  the subjects they have chosen to study in S3.

4.       We have been working on a  policy to support all pupils in engaging with their schoolwork. This policy is based on a clear rationale and evidence and feedback from staff, pupils and families. We are finalising some details and will issue this to all families the week beginning 25 May.

5.       The timetable will be officially changing on Monday 1 June. Pupils always get excited when they move up a year, so please celebrate this next important milestone in their lives with them!

6.       From 1 June, S3, S5 and S6 classes will be placed into new ‘Teams’ and allocated their teachers for next session.

7.       New S2 and S4 classes will remain in the same class Team but may have a different  teacher assigned.

Key Adults

1. Since the beginning of this term Key Adults have started to reach out to all pupils to offer another layer of support. Key Adults will be asking general questions via Teams and/or email about health and wellbeing and if any further support is needed. Please encourage your child to engage with their Key Adult.

School Leavers
Mr McPhail has sent a communication for the attention of all potential schools leavers, stating the requirement for them to complete our online Leavers’ Form.  It is essential that all students planning on not returning to JGHS for academic session 2020-21, complete this form.  Otherwise, they cannot be removed from the school roll. 
Your help in ensuring that these forms are completed would be greatly appreciated. 
The 2020 Leavers’ Form can be accessed by using the following link:  https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=af6sSGo3tUKfacnke7-5xNXkpAnUVFdLr9EwY6VuiGlUQlJGWEg0QkI3MlRHMlROSjBJUlUyR0VKWS4u

 Contacting us

1. Our admin email will be checked each day and we will continue to respond to requests.
2. Please note that though the school is physically open for the HUB, the school campus remains off limits to everyone else. Some limited access will be made available to staff in the coming days to access resources.

Finally, I’d like to share an excerpt from a very uplifting email I received from Isaac Murdoch in S2. Thanks to Isaac for sharing this and a huge well done for being so resourceful and creative during these past few weeks.

Dear Mr Macdonald,

Recently I have been taking part in a range of scouting activities as part the 85th Braid troop. Every week, since the lockdown, we meet in a Zoom call and tell each other about what we have done over the past week and what badges we have worked towards. Most weeks we play on a special  Minecraft Scout server that we have, and build lots of fun and interesting things, which means we still do teamwork even though we are online.

Because of the lockdown, we are sadly not able to go on any camps.

As our exercise we have been going on a walk every day around the Hermitage and Blackford Hill, where we see a variety of wildlife like robins, mallards and tadpoles. Another activity organised by the Scouts was a ‘Hike To The Moon’. It consists of walking a mile a day over a week, which collectively across the UK means that everyone taking part walked the equivalent to a hike to the moon. With sponsorship that went to children in need and comic relief it means we can still help others even if we are staying at home.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about all the activities that I have been taking part in and trust  that you are doing well in these troubled times.

Yours sincerely,

Isaac Murdoch, 2W3

My quote for the week: ‘If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere’. (Seamus Heaney – in 1972 referring to the ‘Troubles’ in Norther Ireland)

 Donald j Macdonald (Headteacher)