Senior Leadership Team (SLT)

Meet our Senior Team

Neil McCallum

Headteacher/
Ceannard

Mr McCallum started teaching in 1994, in a variety of schools across City of Edinburgh Council.

Promoted to Senior Teacher at Forrester High School, followed by Principal Teacher of PE at JGHS 2003 – 2010. He was then promoted to DHT at JGHS from 2010 – 2016.

Mr McCallum was Head at Balerno High School before becoming Head Teacher at JGHS in 2022.

Lora Ward

Business Manager/
Manaidsear Gnìomhachais

A Gaelic Speaker and strong proponent of Bilingualism, Mrs Ward joined CEC from the Private Sector in 2018.

After working at Taobh Na Pairce and Leith Academy, she moved to JGHS in 2022, becoming Business Manager in 2024.

Mrs Ward is responsible for everything operational – recruitment, procurement, finance, health and safety, FM and everything in between.

Ian Porter

Depute Head Teacher/
Iar-Ceannard

Child Protection Co-ordinator

A PE teacher, Mr Porter is a long-standing member of the JGHS community.

As well as being the Child Protection Co-ordinator, Mr Porter manages the Pupil Support Faculty which envelops Pupil Support Leaders, Support for Learning, and InclusionX, ensuring Well-being, Equality and Inclusion. 

Donna MacIver

Depute Head Teacher/
Iar-Ceannard

Community Head for Darrach
Deputy Child Protection Co-ordinator

Mrs MacIver joined JGHS in 2018 as the school’s first Gaelic Medium Social Subjects teacher.

Appointed CL GME in 2020, she oversaw the expansion of JGHS’s GME provision to include 10 subjects, and the GME faculty’s transition to the Darroch Annexe in 2023.

Nigel Cotter

Depute Head Teacher/
Iar-Ceannard

Community Head for Roslin

Mr Cotter began his teaching career  in 1993 as a Physics Teacher in Stirling. He spent 18 months in HQ supporting ten schools across the local authority.

Appointed as DHT in 2005, he moved to Edinburgh in 2015. Mr Cotter joined the SLT team at JGHS in December 2022.

A data whiz, Mr Cotter is our SQA Co-ordinator and is responsible for pupil tracking.

Laura Stewart

Depute Head Teacher/
Iar-Ceannard

Community Head for Spylaw

Mrs Stewart is a Biology teacher, who joined JGHS in 2007. 

She has been a member of the Senior Leadership Team since 2017. She is responsible for Digital Strategy and also oversees Learning, Teaching, and Assessment, amongst other things.

Deirdre O’Brien

Depute Head Teacher/
Iar-Ceannard

Community Head for Lauder

Mrs O’Brien joined James Gillespie’s High School in 1995 as a Music Teacher. She was Principal Teacher Music and Curricular Leader Performing Arts before becoming Depute Head Teacher in 2015.

Some of her main responsibilities are overseeing the curriculum, course choice and constructing the school timetable.