Two boys aged 14 and 15 have been charged after a stone was thrown at a bus in Pennywell Gardens, smashing a window. The incident occurred around 7.10pm on Wednesday 5 May.
Inspector Johnny Elliott of Drylaw Police Station said: “This kind of behaviour is dangerous and the consequences could have been far more serious.
“As part of Operation Proust, officers have been visiting schools in the area and speaking to youths about the dangers of throwing stones at public transport vehicles. This kind of behaviour will not be tolerated and we will make every effort to identify those responsible.
“Information from members of the public is vital in helping us quickly identify those involved in this type of criminality and we would encourage anyone who witnesses an incident to contact Police Scotland through 101.
“Alternatively you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
Edinburgh-based groups helping older people to re-connect, new parents feel less isolated and those with sight loss more empowered are amongst those today sharing in £1,483,518 of National Lottery funding.
The cash from The National Lottery Community Fund is being shared by 30 groups in the city helping local communities adapt and recover from COVID-19.
Neil Saddington, Equalities and Inclusion Worker with the group, said: “Most of the Spring Chickens group are elderly people who experience a variety of different health issues and disabilities.
“This essential National Lottery funding has enabled us to do valuable work to combat isolation and loneliness during the most recent lockdown. Now that restrictions are slowly being lifted, we are looking forward to one to one outdoor meet ups to support some of the most isolated members of the group get out and about again.”
There was more good news for another North Edinburgh project as FetLor youth club has also received National Lottery support.
The club said in a statement: “FetLor are delighted to have received an award from The National Lottery Community Fund. We plan to use this funding to support our young people as they return to the Club after lockdown.
“FetLor is a club at the heart of the north Edinburgh community and this funding will support the young people from that community as they make a return to what’s important; being with friends in a safe and supportive space.”
FetLor Director, Richie Adams said, “This last year has been challenging both for our members and for our community. As we move out of lockdown, we are delighted to be welcoming young people back into their club.
“We are looking forward to supporting our members build resilience, achieve their potential and have great fun doing so! The support from the National Lottery enables us to do all we can to make sure our members have a fun time thriving and growing at FetLor”
Based in Edinburgh and working Scotland wide, Sight Scotland offers support to anyone impacted by sight loss, as well as their relatives, friends and carers.
Thanks to an award of £150,000, its Family Wellbeing service will providea range of support to address the loneliness and mental health impacts of sight-loss, and the additional impacts of Covid-19.
Mark O’Donnell, Chief Executive of Sight Scotland, said: “A huge thank you to the National Lottery Community Fund for this funding. It will enable us to provide practical and emotional support to even more people affected by visual impairment in communities across Scotland via our recently established Family Wellbeing Service.
“With the number of people with sight loss in Scotland set to increase by 30,000 to over 200,000 in the next decade, it is vital that Sight Scotland is there for people with sight loss and their loved ones whenever and however they need us.”
An award of £107,000 goes to Passion4Fusion to deliver a health, wellbeing and support service for Black African people in Edinburgh and West Lothian.
Welcoming the award Jonathan Ssentamu of Passion4Fusion, said: “We are very excited and really grateful for the support of the National Lottery Community Fund to enable us to develop this much-needed project which will help to address the complex issues and needs that Black Africans are facing.
“Experience has shown us that many Black Africans living in poverty and deprivation would choose to be ‘invisible’ rather than admit to needing help and in turn seeking the help they need. Our Project will support people directly within their local community, making it as easy as possible to access culturally sensitive services that will allow them to thrive in life.”
“This essential National Lottery funding has enabled us to do valuable work to combat isolation and loneliness during the most recent lockdown. Now that restrictions are slowly being lifted, we are looking forward to one to one outdoor meet ups to support some of the most isolated members of the group get out and about again.”
Dads Rock will deliver group sessions to fathers on topics such as parenting advice, health and safety and mental health, thanks to an award of £9,950.
Lisa Holder, Fundraising Manager, said: “This funding will help us give online support to around 1000 parents across Scotland over the next year, helping them to feel less isolated and learn new skills.
“It will enable them to become more confident and resilient and their children will feel safe, loved and supported.”
Networking Key Services Limited is a community organisation working closely with South Asian and other ethnic minority communities in Edinburgh.
Welcoming their £103,840 award, Naina Minhas, Manager, Networking Key Services Ltd, said: “The National Lottery funding we have received in the past has enabled us to set up a forum for South Asian female carers in Edinburgh.
“This new award will go a long way to address the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on South Asian communities and will enable us to support communities in their recovery from the challenges that have further widened pre-existing inequalities.”
Across the country 246 community projects are today sharing in£10,922,832.
Announcing the funding, The National Lottery Community Fund’s Scotland Chair, Kate Still, said: “It’s great to see such a variety of projects being funded in Edinburgh to help local people adapt and recover from the physical and mental health impacts of COVID-19.
“National Lottery players can be proud to know that the money they raise is making such a difference, connecting local people to others in their communities.”
National Lottery players raise £30 million every week for good causes in the UK.
Drylaw Telford Community Council is to meet local police tomorrow following a spike in antisocial incidents across the area.
Recent weeks have seen two serious street attacks in Wester Drylaw along with a number of other incidents of vandalism including refuse bins being set on fire.
The community council was alerted to one incident by an Easter Drylaw woman last month: “My neighbours house (unoccupied) was set fire to last night by kids setting fire to wheeliebins.
“I had 4 small children in my house petrified and screaming as we couldn’t get out our front floor for flames. It is same group of kids constantly causing trouble in street cutting through street to skate park.
“I have had my windows smashed, fire posted through letter box and glass bottles thrown at my dogs. Its getting our of hand last night luckily someone seen the fire taking real hold last night or a dread to think what the outcome would have been today. It is now putting peoples lives in danger. What has happened to this area?”
The community council has now been able to arrange a virtual meeting with local police officers to discuss community concerns. The meeting will take place via Microsoft Teams tomorrow evening at 7pm.
If you would like to submit question to local police or you are interested in attending the meeting, please contacr vickynicolsondtcc@hotmail.com or visit Drylaw Telford Community Council’s Facebook page.
A school feels ‘under attack’ when put at the bottom of a narrow-focused league table, says Craigroyston headteacher Shelley McLaren
Each year the release of newspaper school league tables for Scotland is a day I dread, and the publication of the 2021 results yesterday was no different. The language of the headlines – “Which school is the best in Scotland?” and “Scotland’s schools ranked best to worst” – is both incredibly damaging and demoralising for staff, pupils, parents and school communities across the country, not to mention the reputational harm it can cause for years to come (writes SHELLEY McLAREN).
The stories will continue today in the local news, where it feels like we need to put on our armour and prepare for attack. No matter how much we’ve done in all other parts of school life throughout the year, the focus to determine our worth and whether we are a “good” school seems to rest singlehandedly on the one measure of how many young people achieve five Highers in one sitting.
As a school, we pick up the pieces from this for months to come – only for it to come around again next year. It is not, of course, that we do not focus on trying to improve by the measure of five Highers, but, because of context and, indeed, probably our own vision and values, we will always be near the “bottom”.
I congratulate those top-performing schools where up to 86 per cent of young people have achieved the “gold standard” of five Highers. It is an incredible achievement and should be celebrated – but everything is about context, and schools should and need to be measured on so much more.
I am not shirking accountability or responsibility as a headteacher – the measure of five Highers is important – but if closing the attainment gap simply meant improving this one measure, and that determined whether we were a “good” or “bad” school, we would have used our Pupil Equity Fund (PEF) and Scottish Attainment Challenge funding very differently – and probably not made that many gains.
I could concentrate on the fact that 70 per cent of our young people live in SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) 1 and 2 or that 20 per cent of each cohort arrive at us with a reading age of 8 or below, or that nearly 40 per cent of our students are on free school meals. This would make it easy to excuse why we are one of the “worst” schools in the league table – but I won’t, because that is not what we base our views of children on.
What I will focus on is that, in 2020, nearly 95 per cent of our young people left school to go into a positive destination – above the national average of 93.3 per cent – and that last session 100 per cent of our young people in S4 achieved five or more national qualifications (nobody was “left behind”, regardless of any barrier) and that this year 23 of our young people (almost a third of the cohort) are heading off to universities across the country – the same group of young people who didn’t achieve five Highers in one sitting.
I implore you, please don’t judge our incredible young people or our amazing school, filled with dedicated, passionate staff, on this one measure of five Highers – know that we are doing everything possible to ensure that our students are given a gold-star service to prepare them to have the best life possible after school, with or without the achievement of the “gold standard”.
Are we one of the “worst” schools in the country? Of course we’re not – and I would vehemently challenge anyone who considers this to be the case.
Shelley McLaren is headteacher at Craigroyston Community High School
Police Scotland has arrested and charged a further three men in connection with an incident on Wester Drylaw Drive, Edinburgh, on Tuesday, 9 March, in which a 35-year-old man was found seriously injured.
The three men, aged 24, 42 and 47, are due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today (Wednesday, 12 May).
A 38-year-old man and 49-year-old man were also arrested and charged in connection with the incident and were due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on 17 March and 22 March respectively
Scran Academy has announced the appointment of Darrell Williams as their new Chief Executive. Darrell will be joining the local social enterprise following a period of significant growth and impact in the youth employability and education space.
Previously, Darrell spent five years as the Chief Operating Officer for Edinburgh Science, delivering a range of festivals and education work across the UK and overseas. Between 2011 and 2015, he was Managing Director at Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling.
Darrell moved to Scotland in 2005 and spent six years as Head of Sales and Marketing for the King’s and Festival Theatres.
Before that, he worked for BBC Worldwide on marketing, communication and sales campaigns for large scale events and exhibitions. When he’s not at Scran, he plans to be spending time with his family walking up in the hills and serving on the board of two arts organisations.
Commenting on his appointment, Darrell said: “Scran Academy has achieved much in relatively short time. It is an organisation with ambition and passion running through its veins.
“It’s an honour to join them and I’m looking forward to working with the team to further grow and develop the organisation’s projects, partnerships and plans.”
Scran Academy Founder, John Loughton said: “The staff team, Trustees and young people are delighted to welcome Darrell to the Scran family!
“The barriers that young people face in our most overlooked communities have only been exacerbated during two national lockdowns. As society begins to emerge from the pandemic, we look forward to Darrell’s leadership and commitment in building a strong voice for our young people.
“His experience and insight will be invaluable as we embark on the next phase of our mission.”
Darrell will commence as Chief Executive at the beginning of June and will begin working on the delivery of an ambitious strategy for Scran Academy stakeholders.
Fresh Start, with the Edinburgh Health & Social Care Partnership, are running online events on 12th & 13th May to allow residents to discuss how our services can adapt to fit what matters to you, the people that live and work in the area!
Join the conversation on Wednesday 12th May, 1-2.30pm by registering here:
We have received funding from the management committee of Royston Wardieburn community centre to offer some one to one activities to local folk in North West Edinburgh, who might be struggling a bit as we ease out of lockdown.
The aim is to support people engage/re-engage with the many social and learning opportunities on offer in North Edinburgh.
As you know, it’s not going to be easy for many people to take the first step – it never is. However, the impact of lockdown is likely to have magnified people’s concerns and anxieties about getting involved in something new.
Many people may be feeling a bit anxious about what life is going to look like in the coming months and the challenges that lie ahead. Some people may struggle physically due to the loss of mobility during last year and might need a bit of support to get out and about safely again.
One to One Activities
We’ve put together a programme of one to one activities which we hope will address these issues and we will adapt the programme to reflect people’s interests. The programme includes supported local walks, visits to places of interests such as community gardens and galleries and museums.
We are also planning to offer individuals the opportunity to work on their digital, literacy or language skills in a local café once the restrictions are lifted. For some people just meeting up with someone in a public space for a coffee and a chat will be sufficient.
Working together
We would be really grateful for your help and support with this project.
1. Can you send us information about any activities you are planning?
2. Can you could let us know if you have a space that we might be able to use for meet ups (inside and outside)?
We would also be grateful if you could help to promote the project by displaying our leaflets (which will be dropped off next week) in a public space and if you could pass on the information to anyone you know who you think might benefit from the project.
We are aiming to work with people who have been particularly badly affected by lockdown, particularly those who might have been shielding due to health conditions but also people from the BAME community and people who might be struggling with their mental health or finding it difficult to get out due to mobility issues.
If you know someone who might be interested, please let us know how best to get in touch with them.
Please get in touch if you want to know more about the Time for Change Project or if you would like to become involved in some way.
Police are seeking witnesses to an assault which happened outside a convenience store in Drylaw.
Around 9pm on Saturday, 10 April, 2021, a 34-year-old woman was outside the Day Today store in Easter Drylaw Place. She sustained a serious facial injury in an assault but did not require hospital treatment.
Officers are following a positive line of enquiry in relation to the assault but are seeking witnesses to come forward.
A member of the public came to her aid and officers are especially keen to hear from her.
Despite the time in the evening the area around the shops was busy with people and officers continue to check CCTV from nearby premises and carry out door-to-door enquiries in relation to the enquiry.
If anyone has any information, please call Police Scotland via 101, quoting incident number 1142 of 12 April, 2021.
Alternatively, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 where you can give your information anonymously
