New 'Malala' teaching building opened today

Earlier today we took ownership of a brand new shiny building. Exciting stuff! 

Gillespie's tops Edinburgh schools again

Everyone knows that schools are about much more than examination results but examination results matter enormously. It was very pleasing to be the top school in Edinburgh in terms of exams results for last session's school leavers, despite all the challenges we have had to overcome whilst working across three main sites. Great qualifications are key to getting off to a good start in life.

I am very proud of everyone associated with our school community. 

 

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

By William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils

Green Gillespie’s EcoGroup

Our fledgling EcoGroup is proud and excited to announce that James Gillespie’s High School has gained an EcoSchools Scotland Bronze Award. The award is given to those schools which are striving to achieve a sustainable lifestyle.

Exam results and new building

Parents/Students/Staff

You may be aware that the Scottish Government published exam results last Friday (27 March) for all Scottish schools.  These results are now in the public domain and will likely be used by the media to ‘comment’ on Schools’ performances in the coming weeks.

The information can be accessed at http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/parentzone/.  They are not in the form of a league table but it is, nevertheless, possible to compare results.  Each school is measured against the results expected from a “virtual school” composed of pupils from comparable socio-economic catchment areas (created by the use of postcodes) across a number of criteria.  Gillespie's does particularly well across a range of measures.  

You simply enter the name of the school in the box at the top of the page, select it from the list which then appears (although, of course, there is only one James Gillespie’s HS!) and then go to the “View Current Data” section. You can then see how the school performs against its virtual comparator in the form of bar charts.  You can carry out the exercise for every local authority school in Scotland.  The private schools are not included.  In the categories I have looked at, JGHS consistently outperforms or matches its comparator except in Numeracy, which is being worked on across the school as it is now the responsibility of all.

I am especially pleased to see that, compared with our virtual comparator, our less affluent children do particularly well. This area of our school was identified as a concern when HMIe visited in 2010 but I'm pleased to see that sustained efforts across the entire school have borne fruit. Enormous credit is due to all staff, parents and pupils as they have worked hard at ensuring that we meet all learners' needs at Gillespie's. The James Gillespie’s Trust has also helped us in meeting the needs of our less affluent pupils.

After Easter we move into a wonderful new teaching block.  I have no doubt that our school will continue to go from strength to strength as we take advantage of the enhanced opportunities that this new world class building will offer. By keeping to our School values, viz.

• 1.      High Expectations
• 2.      Respect
• 3.      Equality
• 4.      Honesty and
• 5.      Inclusion

 and valuing the diversity that exists with our entire School Community we will continue to ensure that all of our students aspire to be the best that they can be. Remember, we are all dream makers.

Have a wonderful Easter break.

Donald j Macdonald (Headteacher)

James Gillespie’s High School

( Phone:  0131 447 1900

Celebrating achievements

At today's Maxwell assembly 2M4 were asked to share their achievements over the past few months. I'm sure all in attendance were very pleasantly surprised at how much had been achieved by so few!

Included in their achievements were successes in:

1. Chess
2. Water Polo
3. Taekwondo
4. Piano
5. Violin
6. National choir
7. Building computers
8. Writing an anti-viral computer programme
9. Reading tea leaves
10. Learning to knit
11. Palmistry

Ms Kinnear, who led the assembly, emphasised the importance of all aiming to be the best they can be in both their academic and wider interests.

It was a delight to hear of their wider successes this morning and I'm sure those in the audience will look forward to sharing their successes at future assemblies.

Exam guides

National Parent Forum of Scotland

New Higher Revision guides

These resources provide a clear, straightforward explanation of what learners need to know in order to prepare for the new Higher exams. For each subject, there are links taking you directly to specimen papers, exemplar question papers and sites where you can access other useful information. Please note that these resources are for the new Curriculum for Excellence Highers only.

 

Link to New Higher Resources

 

National 5 Revision Guides

These Revision in a Nutshell National 5 subject guides supplement learning and revision in class. They are organised alphabetically, by subject, covering 20 subjects which have exams and for which the SQA has provided relevant past paper questions. Please check with your teacher to ensure that the guides are relevant to you.  The SQA Specimen Paper and the marking instructions are the most important documents to look at – the BBC Bitesize guides are also really helpful and provide different revision materials.  See our Pointers for Parents and Pupils for more information.  Feedback on these is very welcome.   Good luck!

Link to National 5 resources

Solar eclipse

Earlier today, pupils and staff marvelled at the wonderful (almost full) solar eclipse that peaked at around 9.35 am.  Various handheld devices were used to view this phenomenon so as to minimise risk to eyesight. Fortuitously, some of the best views were afforded when the cloud cover was sufficiently transparent.

Well done to Kyle Crawford

Congratulations to Kyle Crawford who joined the army last year when he left Gillespie's.

As part of a cohort of 800 trainees, he not only graduated from training college but was also awarded the trophy for best soldier. Well done from all at Gillespie's.

Cross country success

JGHS had great success at the recent Edinburgh Cross Country Championships held on Monday 16 March.

Lucia Montgomery in S1 won the girls' race as well as Tom Ireland in S1 winning the boys' race.

Both the boys and girls teams also came first resulting in JGHS winning both the boys' and girls' team events. A wonderful achievement.

The teams were:

• Lucia Montgomery
• Octavie Touffat.      
• Lucy Warlow
• Tom Ireland
• Arif Mohd Faisal
• Isam Mohammed
• Joey Turner-McGowan
• James Kerr.    
• Joe Scott-Hobbs
• Aidan McCann

Warmest congratulations to all of them!