Day: June 16, 2017

More help to get into work

Fund to improve and align support services

A new £2.5 million fund will improve the help delivered to people looking to access employment and training. The Employability Innovation and Integration Fund will look to join up employment support with health and social care, justice and housing services, making sure people receive the level of support they need to find sustainable employment. Continue reading More help to get into work

Unbeaten Spartans U-17s in league title success

Super Spartans: Played 26 Won 25 Drawn 1 Lost 0

Congratulations to Spartans Under 17s, who won the Lothian Buses Division 2 title – and went through their league season unbeaten.

The only blemish – if it can be called that – over the entire 26 games was a 2-2 draw with Cramond, a game coach Jim Bryson reckons Spartans should have won!

“To go undefeated over the entire league season is a remarkable achievement and something the squad should be very proud of”, he said. “Their attitude has been first class throughout the season and I think our final game exemplifies that. We were 4-1 down to Musselburgh Windsor with just ten minutes to go, but the heads didn;t go down – quite the opposite. We came back with four goals in the last ten minutes to win 5-4. It was a tremendous fightback, a perfect finale to the league and it summed up the spirit the team has shown this season.”

More ‘happy families’ pictures on our Facebook page!

Sweeping new powers for school heads

Empowerment at heart of radical reforms – but do proposals undermine local government?

Sweeping new powers for schools have been announced by Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, John Swinney. Mr Swinney made his announcement following a visit to Ferryhill Primary School in Drylaw. Continue reading Sweeping new powers for school heads

Robot Games at Leonardo … and a Wookie came too!

More than a hundred school children and air cadets – and a Wookie ! – gathered at Leonardo aerospace engineering company at Crewe Toll to compete in the Scottish Robotic Games on Satuday. The competitors were joined by special guest Professor Sethu Vijayakumar, a Professor of Robotics at the University of Edinburgh and a Judge on BBC2’s Robot Wars, who judged the robot entries and presented prizes.

The games were the brainchild of former employee Peter Bennett, Director of the Rampaging Chariots Guild, and a former winner of the ‘Robot Wars’ competition. Peter designed the event to provide a simple, colourful introduction to the excitement of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects. The children acquire valuable skills by creating customised hand-built robots, whose capabilities are then tested in a number of challenges which Most Usedinclude robot football, robotic ‘tug of war’ and robot sumo wrestling.

Leonardo organised the event to increase young people’s enjoyment and interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) subjects, so that they might consider careers in this field in the future. They were particularly delighted to welcome many girls to the event – currently only 9% of engineers in the UK are women.

Research produced by Engineering UK this year confirms that only 35% of STEM teachers feel confident about giving engineering careers advice, so the industry has an important role to play in drawing young people to this field by providing enjoyable early experiences of STEM. Events like the Robotic Games encourage young people to imagine a creative, bright future for themselves in engineering and science.

Sethu Vijayakumar, Professor of Robotics at Edinburgh University, was particularly impressed with the childrens’ creativity. He said: “I think the main thing is their willingness to understand and formalise a problem, and then solve it by taking an existing piece of kit, and putting their own ideas into it.

“I always tell people that starting is the hardest thing, so I think this initiative is great because you have a kit which lowers the barrier to entry, and once you have that then people can feel more confident that they can do stuff on their own, and build on their capabilities. It is literally giving them their first ladder up to their first step, and I think this is great for that.”

 

 

 

Skanska staff to support Social Bite

Employees from the Skanska’s facilities management business are taking part in a twelve-hour cycling event to raise money for the Edinburgh-based charity the Social Bite Fund today.

The Social Bite Fund helps homeless people, and runs a number of food shops in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. The organisation also offers a range of employment and training opportunities for vulnerable or homeless people.

Twenty people from Skanska will take part on Friday (June 16) between 7.00am and 7.00pm. The idea is that while individuals cycle for smaller periods of time, someone will always be cycling during the marathon 12- hour stretch.

The event will take place at The Fountain spin studio in Eurocentral, Glasgow. A number of employees from the Midlothian and Edinburgh areas are also participating in related activities in those areas.

The event has been organised by Skanska’s Susan Weir, who said: “We hope to raise as much as possible for the Social Bite Fund. It’ll be exhausting, but worth it, in order to help the homeless.”

Ama-zing Harmonies at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre

Monday 26th June, 6 – 7pm

Amaz-ing Harmonies is an initiative to bring the people of my neighbourhood together through songs and food where all participate.
We started in March and have grown to around 30 people per evening. We meet on the last Monday of every month from 6pm to 7pm.
It gives us the opportunity to network and know our neighbours. This makes us love each other and break barriers of silence, culture and religion as we are all united through music. I chose music to bring us together because I am a musician myself. Music relaxes, refreshes and takes away anxiety. It’s an antidote to depression also.
If you need more information please don’t hesitate to contact me. Thank you
Ama

 

 

Brexit talks: let us in!

UK’s devolved administrations argue that they should be involved in negotiations

The Scottish and Welsh Governments have written jointly to the Brexit Secretary David Davis to ensure the UK’s devolved administrations are properly involved in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations. Continue reading Brexit talks: let us in!