Friday 5 February

 Dear Parent/Carer, 

Following the Government announcement on Tuesday of this week, we are now planning towards bringing a limited number of senior pupils into school from 22 February for the purposes of completing assessment related work that cannot be done online. This will take a bit of time to set up as we familiarise ourselves with the evolving Health and Safety guidelines and the latest advice from the SQA. The current in-school arrangements for Keyworkers’ children and others who need some extra TLC will continue as per the past few weeks. Every weekday between 30 and 50 pupils have attended our in-school provision and we would like to thank them all for their hard work, kindness, patience and understanding. We would also like to acknowledge the incredible hard work of all our teaching, admin, catering, cleaning and janitorial staff for the smooth running of this temporary learning environment. Over the half term holiday, there will be no provision between 8 and 15 February inclusive. The in-school provision will continue from 16 February until further notice.

 If your child has attended the Hub in January you will have been sent an email with some important changes to administrative procedures for February. You child will also have been sent an email with a link to an short evaluation form. Please encourage your child to complete the evaluation and if you would like to contribute as a parent please email your feedback to jam-admin@jamesgillepsies.edin.sch.uk

 The first week back after the holiday (Tuesday 16 - Friday 19 February) will be a consolidation and review week of learning. As is normal practice after a holiday, teachers will review work to consolidate pupils’ understanding.

 What does this mean?

1. Teachers will still have 'live' lessons at the normal times, but these will be focused on the consolidation of prior learning, completion and/or development of existing work, and sharing feedback.
2. Teachers may also invite a small group of pupils to a 'live' lesson, to offer more support to pupils who would benefit most from the smaller learning environment.
3. Teachers will continue to post work, but this would be an optional extension task with no requirement to complete by a certain deadline.
4. No new deadlines will be set that week, so the week beginning 22 February is a 'fresh start' for all.
5. Pupils will still follow their normal timetable the week beginning 16 February and S1 and S2 pupils will still follow their rotation of subjects for the time being.

This rotation is attached to this email. This review week of learning will benefit pupils as an opportunity to catch up with any outstanding work which will aid future learning and progression. This should also support pupils who are feeling 'behind' in some of their work and are becoming anxious about this. Our aim is to ensure the best learning experience for our pupils during this time, and we will continue to review our practices and make adjustments where necessary.

 To that end, as you may already be aware, we are currently seeking parent/carer and pupil feedback on how we are doing as a school in supporting your children with their online learning.

We will use this to find out what is working well and what we need to do differently to improve. You can access the Parent/Carer survey here  We have extended the deadline for the pupils completing the pupil online learning survey until 5pm on Monday. The pupil survey link has been posted on Key Adults teams and Year Group teams.

 We greatly appreciate you and your child taking the time to complete these. We will share a summary of the results with you, and what we intend to do in response. 

 Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting that was organised and hosted by our Parent Council on Tuesday on capacity contingency proposals and to all those who put forward comments and questions.  Following the meeting, the Parent Council have sent a response on what was presented to the school and the Council, and that letter is available on the Parent Council website at:  http://jghscouncil.btck.co.uk/News. The meeting itself was recorded and can be viewed at https://youtu.be/N6S-pQcHbxE.  The next Parent Council meeting will be held on Tuesday 23 February and further details will be sent out nearer the time.

 I’d like to thank our Parent Council for organising Tuesday night’s meeting to talk more about our plans to combat the challenges that arise from having insufficient classroom accommodation for next session. As a school, we would prefer not to be in the unfortunate position of having insufficient teaching spaces to cater for our increased numbers from August 2021. That having been said, I’m confident that the option we have settled for offers the best way ahead for us. As a follow up to the Parent Council meeting on Tuesday , we have sent an email to all S5 Parents/Carers detailing our next steps in our Capacity Planning for 2021-22.  This includes the setting up of a working group of interested S5 students and parents/carers to work with us as we refine our plans for next year’s AH courses. If you or your child are interested in being a part of this group please email laura.stewart@jamesgillespies.edin.sch.uk.  Please ask your S5 child to check their S5 Year Group Announcements Teams page.  Here we have uploaded a PDF detailing everything so far.  This is the most reliable way to ensure everyone is able to view the information regardless of the device they are accessing it on.  Following the February break, there will be an opportunity for S5 students to meet both Mrs Stewart and me on a Teams meeting on Thursday 18 February.  There will also be a survey link provided for all S5 students planning on studying AH courses in 2021-22 so they can share concerns and feedback confidentially with us.

Please note that schools are on holiday from Monday 8 to Monday 15 February – both dates inclusive. The school will be closed to all pupils who have been attending in person over recent weeks. No homework or assignments will be set during holidays for pupils in S1,2 and 3. Pupils are expected to read for pleasure and get as much exercise and fresh air as possible within the current guidelines.

If you are contacting the school for any reason, please use email rather than leaving a telephone message.

My quote for this week: “There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others.” (Mandy Hale)

  I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and relaxing February break.

  Donald j Macdonald (Headteacher)

Friday 29 January

Dear Parent/Carer, 

  It’s been another very busy and productive week and I want to acknowledge just how difficult the current circumstances are for everyone.  School staff, parents/carers and pupils are all finding online learning from home to be very challenging. When the IT doesn’t work, the number of demands being made of us seems too much or, when human relations become strained, we all long for a return to the lives we knew before the pandemic. Many of our staff are parents too, so we share your frustrations. There is hope though: vaccines are on the way, infections across Scotland are reducing and daylight hours are stretching. The passing of each day is a day closer to returning to a more normal lifestyle for all of us. Thank you for the many supportive and positive messages you have sent. These positive are like sprinklings of gold dust. They help us improve what we do and, especially during these times, they bring smiles to wearying faces.

 Please, let’s all, encourage pupils to reach out if they are finding anything difficult with their online learning or any other matter. They should contact their class teacher, key adult or PSL of, if they feel unable to do that, they must share how they're feeling at home so a parent/carer can let us know. We also have our own ‘in-house’ confidential counselling service available every lunchtime for any pupil who would like to talk through what is troubling them with a trained member of staff. (Pupils can access this support via their PSE TEAMs)

 We will shortly be seeking parent and pupil feedback on how we are doing as a school in supporting your children with their online learning. We will want to find out what is working well and what we need to do differently to improve. We will share a summary of what you told us and what we will do differently in response to your feedback.

 A reminder that the Parent Council is hosting a meeting online on Tuesday 2 February at 7pm to consider proposals for dealing with school capacity in 2021/22. A link for the meeting will be sent out next week via the school. These proposals will particularly affect those going into S6 next year, so will be of interest to S5 parents and pupils.

The meeting will include presentations by:

• Donald J. Macdonald, Head Teacher
• Laura Stewart, DHT (Equity and Rising Rolls)
• Lorna French, Schools and Lifelong Learning Service Manager (City of Edinburgh Council)
• Crawford McGhie, Senior Manager Estates and Operational Support (City of Edinburgh Council)

More material about the proposals, including documents from the school setting out the plans and a survey of S6 pupils, together with a summary of comments and questions raised by parents can be found at the Parent Council website http://jghscouncil.btck.co.uk/News.  An outline of proposals was also presented at the November PC meeting and can be seen at https://youtu.be/YICdgNAxPTk (starting at 18.53).

SQA  Mr Shankland sent a communication yesterday to parents and students regarding the most recent SQA update.  Details of the update can be accessed using the link below.

27 January 2021 - Update on National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses 2020-21

 S2 Parents’ Evenings  A huge thanks to all families that managed to book and undertake appointments with teachers on Tuesday/Thursday evening, this week.  We would be grateful if all S2 parents (even those that didn’t/couldn’t book appointments) would consider completing the short feedback questionnaire (link below).  You feedback, as always, is vital in helping us improve our future provision.

S2 Parents' Evenings - Parent/Carer Feedback

16+ Positive Destinations Group  Mr Shankland has asked for your support in trying to ensure that all S4, S5 and S6 students complete a short online form (link below) regarding their intentions for when they may wish to leave school and what they would like their post-school destination to be e.g. university, college, employment etc.  Gathering this information is vital to the effectiveness of support staff identifying and signposting the right opportunities to the right young people.  An email has been sent to all S4, S5 and S6 students regarding this. 16+ Positive Destinations - Student Questionnaire

S4 to S6 parents will receive an engagement tracking report next week. Please refer to the email and document issued by Mrs O’Brien earlier this week for more information on this.

 The UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge for S3/S4 will take place on Monday 1st February 2021.  It will be held online.  If you are interested in taking part in the challenge, there is still time to sign up! Please email Ms Dolan on ashling.dolan@jamesgillespies.edin.sch.uk for all the information regarding logins and practice resources.

 Pupils can download a free Practice Workbook for N5 Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths at: https://collins.co.uk/collections/leckie-times-scotland There’s also a code for a discount on any other purchases for anyone looking to buy any other revision materials.

 Thanks to PC Fowler, our community Police Officer, for being proactive in requesting I make all parents aware that privately owned E-scooters cannot legally be used in any public place including on any footpath or cycle tracks. They can only be used on private land with the prior consent of the land owner.  

 Thanks to Ms MacIver (Gaelic Department)  for preparing and sharing materials with pupils in S1-3 incl. on Wednesday 27th January, to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). This is an international day of commemoration to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of other people killed under Nazi Persecution and in genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. 

 Huge thanks to everyone (parents, teachers, mentors and pupils) who has contributed to all the work that goes into applying for Higher Education. In our current S6 of 182 pupils, 151 applications have been completed. Early responses from Cambridge are favourable with 6 out of the 10 who have had a response, receiving offers. Pupils can expect to hear directly from all universities in the coming weeks. Good luck to everyone!

 Please note that schools are on holiday from Monday 8 to Monday 15 February – both dates inclusive. The school will be closed to all pupils who have been attending in person over recent weeks. No homework or assignments will be set during holidays for pupils in S1,2 and 3. Pupils are expected to read for pleasure and get as much exercise and fresh air as possible within the current guidelines.

 If you are contacting the school for any reason, please use email rather than leaving a telephone message.

 We await Tuesday’s (2 February) Government announcement on plans for schools reopening with interest.

 

My quote for this week: ‘Take care everyone and remember that there is always someone who can help’. (Mrs O’Brien’s earlier email to all pupils) 

  

Wishing all a peaceful and safe weekend. 

Donald j Macdonald (Headteacher)