Things are about to get messy at Clambers soft play as they launch Messy Play next Thursday, 12 September. And the best thing is, for once, it will be Edinburgh Leisure staff clearing up after the children, rather than you! Continue reading Things are about to get messy at Clambers!
Scotland’s fastest growing supermarket, Aldi, is offering 20 schools across the UK the chance to win £20,000 each through its new Kit For Schools competition. Continue reading Aldi competition gives schools the chance to win £20,000 for sports equipment
NHS Lothian recently joined forces with NCT (the National Childbirth Trust) to open a new community based drop-in service in Edinburgh for breastfeeding mums. The first session was held in a local business, Toots Play Cafe at Inch Park Community Sports Club. Continue reading Eight out of ten mums breastfeed in Lothians
Tuesday 17th September at 7pm
Leith Community Centre, Newkirkgate
a tale of courage, swashbuckling adventure, and terrible disaster 
Edinburgh Napier and the Royal College of Music has helped bring musicians virtually together as part of a special 18th birthday edition of the BBC World Service’s Digital Planet programme.
Led in Edinburgh by Edinburgh Napier’s Dr Paul Ferguson, cellist Andrew Huggan played a duet with his identical twin Calum live on the programme – despite the duo being nearly 400 miles apart. Continue reading Edinburgh Napier expertise helps brings musicians together for pioneering radio performance
A new poll of 13 Scottish constituencies held by the Conservative Party shows that Boris Johnson is set to lose all of them to the SNP in a General Election. Continue reading Eliminated overnight? Tories face wipeout in Scotland according to new poll
Continue reading BBC leads new collaboration to step up fight against fake news
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will join colleagues from across the UK in celebrating National Emergency Services Day this weekend.
The festival will include a memorial service at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh and an open-air celebration of everything 999 at Princess Gardens in Edinburgh. Continue reading SFRS to mark National Emergency Services Day 2019
People living in and around Leith haven chosen Breadshare Bakery as their Favourite Local Bakery at a community bake off hosted by Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA). Continue reading Breadshare Bakery voted Favourite at Leith’s Big Bake Off
Approximately 1,000 extra pupil support assistants will be recruited this year to work with children with additional support needs.
This week the First Minister announced £15 million for councils to expand on the 13,636 pupil support assistants already working in Scotland’s classrooms – but the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition say greater investment yet is still required.
Visiting West End Campus in Dundee, Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “Every child should have the support they need to reach their full learning potential.
Through listening to the experiences of children and young people with additional support needs, their families and those who support them, we recognise we need to do more to enhance their experience at school.
“Working in partnership with local authorities we will invest an extra £15 million in the coming year to increase frontline staff to support learners with additional support needs.
“This will make an significant impact in our classrooms and will help to ensure our young people and their families get the right help at the right time.”
COSLA Spokesperson Councillor Stephen McCabe said: “Additional resource for Local Government is always welcomed and this funding will make a positive difference to children and young people in classrooms across Scotland, helping those with additional support needs to reach their full potential on their school journey.
“Core Local Government services like education are vital to all of Scotland’s communities and COSLA will work hard in the coming months to ensure that Councils across Scotland continue to have the resources they need to support every child, young person, citizen and community.”
Responding to the Scottish Government announcement, a spokesperson for the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition commented: “This increase in investment to expand the number of pupil support assistants working in Scotland’s schools is to be greatly welcomed.
“However, what is also vital is boost in the number of ASN teachers, who have seen their numbers slashed over the last few years, as well as specialist support staff.
“Between 2012 and 2018 the number of specialist teachers supporting those with ASN has decreased from 3,840 to 3,437, a decline of 403, representing a new low.
“There has also been a fall in the number of specialist support staff in key categories such as behaviour support staff, where the number has dropped by 58 from 2012 (from 180 to 122) and by 43 in the number of educational psychologists (from 411 to 368).
“This fall is against the background of an overall increase by 68.7 per cent since 2012 in the number of pupils identified with ASN, from 118,034 to 199,065 in 2018, representing just over a quarter of all pupils (28.7 per cent).
“Figures reveal that per pupil spend on those with ASN has slumped from £4,276 in 2012/13 to £3,387 in 2017/18. This amounts to a cut of £889 per pupil, representing a 26.1 per cent drop in real terms (20.8 per cent in cash terms).
“It is vital that those with ASN get the care and support they need, which is also key if we are to genuinely close the educational attainment gap. Any increase in support, which this Scottish Government announcement does, is to be welcomed, but this is clearly challenging in an environment of austerity and evidence of cuts in sspending per pupil with ASN.”
