Friday update 8 December

1.      Our senior Drama production (‘Deathtrap’ by Ira Levin) takes place tonight in the Muriel Spark building. Tickets available at the door. Show starts at 630 Pm.

2.      School Christmas Concert takes place on Tuesday 19 December. Tickets can be obtained from the Usher Hall box office.

3.      A coursing information evening takes place on Tuesday 12 December for parents of pupils in S2,4 and 5.

4.      Marchmont and Sciennes Tree-Lighting Ceremony – Saturday 9 December at 4.00pm. Brass and wind pupils will perform carols around the tree at Scotmid from 4.00pm. Members of the JGHS pipe band will start proceedings and pipe the community to the German Church on Chalmers Crescent at 4.30pm where members of the senior choir will perform. All are welcome to attend.

5.      Carolling in Princes’ Street Gardens – Thursday 14 December from 4.00pm. Members of the senior choir will sing carols in the Winter Wonderland to raise money for Mercy Corps Christmas Collection.

Many thanks to all the pupils who are performing at these events, and for staff and parents who have helped organise and accompany them to these events.

6.      A copy of our latest celebrating Sporting Success newsletter is attached.

7.      Best wishes to the following, accompanied by Ms Walker, who are in York today taking part in a Mandarin speaking competition in York.

a.      Aurora Branigan

b.      Aaliyah El-Salahi

c.       Mara Franke

d.      Lucia Garland

8.      Best wishes also to the following pupils who are representing the school in the 2nd round of the Scottish Schools Tennis Competition against Stewarts Melville next Thursday 14 December.

a.      William Belkebir S4

b.      Robbie Galloway S4

c.       John Dabos – Doukas S4

d.      Sean Gallacher  S2

9.      Well done to Archie Ellen who is now the 2017 U14 Boys Scottish Cyclocross Champion.

10.  Last week our STEAM (*) (Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) club had a fantastic turnout at the ‘Green Plan It’ challenge at the Botanical Gardens, organised by the Royal Horticultural Society. Our s1 and s2 pupils have been working tirelessly to research, design, and build (to scale!) model gardens for the annual Green Plan It competition. A huge congratulations to all who took part, especially the ‘Thoughtful Thistles’ group who managed to come away with the RHS award for the best team work.

11.  This coming year is the centenary of the birth of Muriel Spark (b. February 1918) We will mark it in some way. February is a very busy month for the school and the JGHS Trust and so we will likely look to do something in May/June.

12.  Work continues on measures to deter thieves from stealing bikes. I’ll update on this next week.  

Have a lovely weekend and do wrap up warm as low temperatures and piercing arctic winds are heading our way over the weekend.

Donald j Macdonald

Headteacher

(*) At Gillespie’s HS we believe that our pupils are best served by following a curriculum that maintains breadth across a wide variety of disciplines. Thus, we encourage all pupils in years 1-4 incl. to study across a breadth of disciplines including at least one additional language to certificate level.

Friday 1 December

1.       Snow is forecast over the coming days. All are advised to leave extra time to travel to school. All pupils should be on campus for 0830.

2.       We had a number of visitors to JGHS this week. This included:

3.       12 Dutch Educationalists who were hugely impressed with the ethos around the school and the positive attitudes they encountered as they visited various classrooms.

4.       Mrs Dolina Maclennan  - Founder member of the 7:84 theatre group and present day TV, Radio and Hollywood actress. Though in her 80th year, Mrs MacLennan’s energy and enthusiasm for the Arts impressed all the pupils and staff she met.

5.       I am following up with Police and CEC security in relation to the bike thefts that occurred earlier this week. Security arrangements for bikes are currently under review. In the meantime, bike users are requested to keep a record of their bike’s frame number, take a photograph and use as sturdy a lock as feasible. I will issue further advice after I have met with relevant parties. Information from pupils and parents has led to Police ‘following up  positive line of enquiry’. Amidst all the distress and inconvenience caused by the thieves I was thrilled to receive an offer of a free bike from one family.

6.       Our next Parent Council meeting takes place on Tuesday evening at 7 Pm. http://jghscouncil.btck.co.uk

7.       Dates for diary:

1. The senior Drama production takes place on Friday 8 December. Tickets on sale from Monday 4 December.
2. There will be a coursing information briefing for parents/carers (S2, 4 and 5) on the evening of Tuesday 12 December.
3. School Christmas concert takes place on evening of Tuesday 19 December in the Usher Hall. Tickets are available now from the Usher Hall box office. http://www.usherhall.co.uk/whats-on?page=2

8.       Congratulations to Mrs Cait Pearce who has been appointing to acting DHT vacancy (0ne day per week) to coordinate how we manage Pupil Equity Funding. In the case of JGHS we have a sum of £52,000 in support of bolstering current efforts in ensuring equity for pupils.

9.       Congratulations to Ms Smith (Psychology/RME) who has become engaged to Robert.

10.   Celebrations in the Maths faculty and indeed across the school – back in September we had a team consisting of Freya Clarkson and Lily Stiven in S3 and James Beeston and Neelu Saraswatibhatla in S4 who competed in the ‘Enterprising Maths in Scotland’ competition. They were the overall winners of the regional round back in September and then just this week competed in Glasgow in the final, which consisted of 69 teams. Our team came in 3rd place of all the teams in Scotland! A fantastic achievement. It was a really fun day of practical problems, puzzles and a challenging relay.

11.   I am delighted to say that we have the following winners (all in S1 and S2) in various categories in the annual Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity design competition:

a.       Scarlett Oswald                 (3^rd)

b.       Ruying Yang                        (Highly commended)

c.       Tihornirs Padavecchia    (Highly commended)

d.       Matilda Ball-Torokofe    (1^st)

e.       Catherine Mole                 (3^rd)

f.        Eva Tarsia                            (Highly commended)

g.       Mario Porra                        (Highly commended)

12.   Congratulations to Lois Leaver (S4) who has been nominated to represent Great Britain at the Youth Olympic Games, World Qualification in Barcelona April 2018 after winning the selection race in Nottingham last weekend.  She will race in Barcelona to secure a place for the Youth Olympic Games, which takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina during October 2018.

13.   Congratulations to the Edinburgh Kayak club (Lois’s club) on being shortlisted for the Club of the Year at the awards ceremony this evening at the City Chambers.  If we can overcome a few barriers to suing our swimming pool, it would be great to have the Edinburgh Kayak club based at JGHS to further develop kayaking in this part of Edinburgh.

14.   Well done to our Gardening Club, led by Vera Norton (Science Faculty) and supported by Jean Knox (JGHS Trust) for planting apple trees this week.

15.   Good luck to the f following pupils who are representing JGHS in the Boyd Anderson Ski Race on Wednesday 6th December.

a.       Eilidh Clarkson                 S6

b.       Grace Halliday                  S4

c.       Pheobe Friend                   S3

d.       Cerys Scott-Hobbs           S3

e.       Freya Clarkson                   S3

f.        Stephen Tiplady               S2

g.       Jonny Ellen                       S2

h.       Mia Forrester                   S2

And finally, thanks to everyone associated with JGHS for contributing to us being the top placed Edinburgh State school in the annual Sunday Times schools’ tables. Pleasingly, Edinburgh has 6 schools placed in Scotland’s top 50.

Wrap up warm this weekend and do enjoy the lead up to whatever the festive season holds for you and your families.

Donald j Macdonald

Headteacher