Category: Drylaw Telford

League tables don’t reflect our schools’ amazing work

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”.

Our main aims are educating our young people out of poverty and instilling in them the belief that no matter where you come from or the challenges you have faced in your life, you can still achieve your dreams and be the best you can be. University, a modern apprenticeship or a job are all given equal weighting; the most important thing is that the young person has achieved the best they can – and, believe me, every day we support, challenge, motivate, nurture and push high expectations to ensure this happens.

League tables aren’t fair on schools

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

This article first appeared in TES

Wester Drylaw attack: three more men to appear in Court today

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 announce new Chief Executive

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.

What does living in North Edinburgh mean to you?

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:

https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZYsd…

Or Thursday 13th May, 7pm – 8.30pm, by registering here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZ0qcu…

Please share around your networks and get the conversation going!

Woman assaulted in Drylaw

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

Police Scotland: Taking a tough stand against antisocial youth?

Although the Meadows is not part of my policing command area, seeing the disgraceful scenes over the Easter weekend made it clear that a visible and robust police presence was required in green spaces in the north west of the city to deter this type of behaviour (writes Chief Inspector SARAH TAYLOR).

Although the Meadows is not part of my policing command area, seeing the disgraceful scenes unfold over the Easter Weekend made it clear to me that a visible and robust police presence was required in our green spaces within the North West of the city to deter this type of behaviour being replicated.

Communities living near to our own popular beauty spots such as Cramond, South Queensferry, Inverleith Park and Lauriston Castle can be reassured that targeted patrols are being conducted in these areas to ensure that every opportunity is made to disrupt and prevent such behaviours from taking place.

Officers will engage with the public, offer relevant advice if current COVID legislation is being breached and take appropriate enforcement action for any criminal offences we observe.

Please keep adhering to the existing Scottish government guidelines and help ensure the swiftest possible route out of lockdown.

You may all be aware that in the past few months we have received an increasing number of reports relating to criminality occurring on, and towards, Lothian Bus services across the city and a number of services have been temporarily suspended as a result.

Sadly, the North West has been one of the main areas where such instances have been reported. Officers have responded to incidents in Clermiston, Drumbrae and Drylaw where buses have been struck by objects.

Operation Proust aims to address these issues through joint community patrols with Lothian Buses, providing reassurance to drivers and members of the public, as well as speaking to youths about the dangers and consequences associated with this type of reckless behaviour.

We have now charged 30 young people in relation to these incidents. I would urge parents and guardians to speak to their children about the dangers associated with throwing objects at vehicles, as well as making sure they know where they are and what they are doing.

Sadly, this is not the only type of only antisocial behaviour we’ve experienced in the North West as of late.

Local residents in South Queensferry and Clermiston have been in touch to report a number of incidents of youth-related antisocial behaviour and as such we’ve carried out a range initiatives to identify those responsible, prevent further offences and divert youths away from getting involved in crime. We will share more about these initiatives and their progress via our social media channels.

Community safety remains an established priority and we continue to work with our partners including City of Edinburgh Council to combat antisocial behaviour in all its forms.

In addition to our commitment to tackling antisocial behaviour throughout the North West, we remain steadfast in our efforts to combat the harm caused by drugs within our local communities.

Over the past six weeks we have worked in partnership with relevant partners and other specialist resources across the Drylaw, Muirhouse and Pilton areas to target and disrupt those involved in drug supply.

Together, we have undertaken a range of enforcement and disruption activities that have resulted in various drug seizures being made, including the recovery of £25,000 of cannabis at one property.

The public continue to play a vital role in assisting investigations into drug crime and I would encourage anyone who has any concerns about drug-related activity, or has any information about those involved in drugs, to contact police on 101 or make an anonymous report to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

CI Sarah Taylor is Local Area Commander for North West Edinburgh.

Police appeal following North Edinburgh road incident

Police are appealing for information following a road traffic incident in the north west Edinburgh.

The incident happened at around 11am yesterday (Tuesday, 30th March), when a sliver Mercedes and black BMW were travelling at high speeds between Telford Road and Ferry Road at the junction with Granton Road.

Detective Sergeant Rory Legge said: “The incident took place in broad daylight on a busy stretch of road and we are asking members of the public to come forward with any information they may have.

“If you were in the area at the time and witnessed these vehicles, or have any dashcam or mobile phone footage that could assist with our investigation, I would urge you to contact police.

“Police can be contacted by calling 101 and quoting incident number 1017 of Tuesday, 30th March, 2021.”

It’s been a while … Inverleith Neighbourhood Network to meet next week

The next meeting of the Inverleith Neighbourhood Network will be on Wednesday 31st March from 6 – 8pm.

Agenda is below: 

  1. Minute of meeting – 210120
  2. Role of Chair / Rep of the NN 
  3. Communications within NN 
  4. Inverleith NN Greenspace priority – how do we take this forward and are there any other local priorities to be considered.
  5. Revised LIP (Locality Improvement Plan) priorities – update from LCPP (Local Community Planning Partnership)
  6. Poverty Commission – update from LCPP

The meeting will take place online using Microsoft Teams.

Joan Beattie, Inverleith community representative on the North West Locality Community Planning Partnership ( LCPP), said: “Our Neighbourhood Network is having a Team’s meeting on 31st March starting at 6pm to discuss among other things how to take forward our priority ‘MAKING THE MOST OF OUR GREEN SPACES’.  ​

“This was chosen as our priority in the last meeting before Covid restrictions but has proved to be even more important given the use of our green spaces over the last year.   

“I would really like to hear all of your views on this to feed into the next LCPP meeting and to let you know how I think it could be linked to the Local Improvement Plan.

I really hope you are all able to make the meeting but if that’s not, please pass on your ideas.”

For further information contact:

Elaine Lennon

North West Lifelong Learning Development Officer, City of Edinburgh Council

8 West Pilton Gardens, Edinburgh, EH4 4DP

Tel: 0131 529 5270 / 35270

Email: Elaine.Lennon@edinburgh.gov.uk