Friday 26 June

August 2020 Arrangements. 

At the time of writing this, it is planned for all pupils to be returning to school from Wednesday 12 August. We will contact you again at the beginning of August to share more details.

Parent Council 

Thanks to the JGHS Parent Council for organising last Tuesday’s online meeting where members of my senior team gave a briefing on SQA arrangements; Blended Learning and Timetable arrangements for August 2020. This was followed by a Q and A session, the responses to which will be posted next week on the Parent Council website. 

Social distancing

As summer looms and better weather may arrive young people will gather in groups as they have always done. Please remind our young people about the need to socially distance and to be especially mindful of other people's personal spaces. This will be really important when schools resume in August.

Pupil Voice

Congratulations to our newly elected S6 Pupil Vice leaders: Minnie, Evie, Valarie, Charlie, Victoria, Beth, Daniel, Catriona, Lawson and Iain. We look forward to working with you all in the Autumn. I anticipate there will be much to talk about!

Mr Blue Sky

My sincere thanks to our Music staff and the 100 or so pupils who collaborated online to put this together. Enjoy! https://www.jamesgillespies.co.uk/mr-blue-sky-project/

Paolozzi Awards

Well done and warmest congratulations to Lolly, James and Dougal who were all recognised the in the categories they were entered for in this prestigious competition.

• Talent and Creativity Category:  Winner-  Lolly Deazley (S6) Best wishes to Lolly as she goes off to the University of West of England in Bristol to study Fine Art.
• Spirit of Paolozzi Category: Highly Commended - James Baker (S6) Best wishes to James who has a place to study Architecture at Manchester University.
• New Directions Category: Commended- Dougal Deazley (S5) Dougal is currently studying A level Art and Design.

This year’s efforts are all the more remarkable as the final preparations took place during lockdown. Sincere thanks to our hard working and inspirational Art and Design staff for ensuring that Gillespie’s pupils are encouraged to scale new heights.  

Staffing

Earlier today we bade fond farewells to the following staff:

• Beth MacLeod (PE) on completing a very successful probationer year with us at JGHS.
• Jeanne Barrett (English) whose temporary contract expires today.
• Roddy Neithercut (Gaelic) who is relocating to Skye for one year to allow members of his family to attend Sabhail Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic College. Skye Gaelic is considered to be very good and is second only to the more superior version practised across the Minch in North Uist.
• Kathryn Brown (Computing) who is retiring after 23+ distinguished and successful years at JGHS.  Best wishes to Kathryn for her next chapter.

Contacting us:

1.            Our admin email will be checked periodically over the summer.

2.            Please note that though the school is physically open for the HUB over the summer, the school campus remains off limits to everyone else.

Finally, I’d like to close off this summer term by thanking all of our staff, pupils, partners, parents and carers for all of your hard work and support during the past year and especially over these most recent extraordinary months. I would encourage all pupils to take advantage of further lockdown easing when the opportunity arises to spend time with friends and family, get lots of fresh air and exercise and read widely for pleasure.

Wishing all a relaxing and safe summer.

My quote of the week: ‘If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere’. (Seamus Heaney)

Donald j Macdonald

Headteacher