Port of Leith’s excellent inspection

Port of Leith Housing Association receives glowing praise from Care Inspectorate

Port of Leith Housing Association’s (PoLHA) sheltered housing complexes have been classified as ‘excellent’ by the Care Inspectorate for the quality of care and support to their 131 residents.

Findings from the Care Inspection report issued this week revealed that the sheltered housing complexes in the Leith area of Edinburgh – Hermitage Court, St Nicholas Court and Jameson Place – were awarded a grade six (excellent) for ensuringthat residents’ health and wellbeing needs are well catered for. Helping people stay well in their tenancy is a priority for staff and the benefits of an active and healthy lifestyle were recognised through exercise classes, coffee mornings and charity fundraising events.

Following a ‘short notice’ inspection, follow on visits and attendance at tenants’ meetings over a four week period, a series of service records, including evidence of activities and social events, newsletters and supervision and development, were sampled to enable the inspector to review the work being done and deliver a grade.

In addition, 40 per cent of tenants were issued care standards questionnaires. Of the 29 completed questionnaires, 100 per cent were happy with the quality of support they received.

Keith Anderson, Chief Executive of PoLHA, said: “This is a tremendous achievement. We are delighted to have been awarded a grade six for the level of care and services our staff provide. We are committed to delivering the best possible care for our residents and the staff do a wonderful job in ensuring their needs are met are at all times.”

The Association was also awarded a grade five (very good) for the quality of staffing, management and leadership.

Maureen Tait, PoLHA’sSenior Sheltered Housing Co-ordinator, said: “We’re delighted to have been recognised for our efforts. We strive to make our tenants feel comfortable and ‘at home’ while they stay with us. Many residents still like to have their own independence, but also be part of a close-knit team, which is why they enjoy getting on board with our fundraising activities.”

Terrific TRIM take Tenants Award

Some good news just in from TRIM:

‘Good morning everyone – just a quick e-mail to let you know that TRIM (Tenants and Residents in Muirhouse) has won Tenants Group of the Year!

Robert Pearson and Eileen Carr went to St. Andrews for the award ceremony and were delighted when it was announced that we had won – especially when the competition was so fierce and there were lots of nominations for this category.’

Congratulations to all at TRIM!

SQA Star Awards for Edinburgh College

Edinburgh College has won two prestigious prizes at a national education awards ceremony, recognising its strong links with industry and outstanding achievements in innovation.

At the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Star Awards last night, the East Lothian Hospitality and Tourism Academy – a partnership between Edinburgh College, Queen Margaret University and East Lothian Council – won a Highly Commended Award in the Partnership category. The college also won a Highly Commended Award in the Innovation category for a scheme providing industry mentors for students.

The annual SQA Star Awards honour inspirational achievements and commitment from colleges, schools and training organisations across the country.

The East Lothian Hospitality & Tourism Academy caught the judges’ attention because of its close links with industry partners and the benefits these relationships can bring to young people. The academy has benefited from vital support from large hotel groups such as Marriott, Jurys Inn, Novotel, Mercure and Macdonald hotels and resorts, as well as Edinburgh’s own luxury hotel Prestonfield and the Royal Mile’s Fraser Suites.

The initiative, which is now in its second year, exposes young people to the wealth of jobs in hospitality and tourism industries by giving 16-18 year olds the chance to train at college, university and in industry. The success of its first year attracted government funding of £4.6m, which has seen the initiative expand to many more schools across Edinburgh and East and Midlothian, and the Scottish Borders and include other areas such as health and social care and creative industries. Queen Margaret University and Edinburgh College are partners in all the new academies.

Ray McCowan, vice principal at Edinburgh College, said: “We are thrilled to have been recognised by the SQA Star Awards. The academy is a pioneering project and has been a great success.

“The academy represents partnership working at its very best. It brings together the vision of two educational organisations and a local council, as well as harnessing industry expertise. The college realises the vital importance of strong links with industry and it’s partnerships like these that give our students the vital experience and skills to succeed in a highly competitive industry.”

In its first year, 30 out of 34 students successfully completed the academy. Of the 30 successful students, 18 continued to study the HNC in sixth year, four moved to Edinburgh College to study the SVQ2 in Professional Cookery and eight took up employment in the industry. There are now 163 students across all of the academies in Edinburgh and the Lothians in the fields of creative industries, health and social care, cookery and food science and nutrition, with a new academy planned for engineering.

The college has a number of successful graduates within the field of hospitality and tourism, including James Thomson OBE, owner of Prestonfield House.

Celebrating Edinburgh College’s other honour, Visual Communication lecturer Helena Good said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won the Highly Commended Award at the SQA Star Awards. Our mentoring programme was established to develop a strong working relationship between our students and industry and it’s brilliant that it has been recognised in this way.

“Before the mentoring programme was introduced, the first contact that students had with industry wasn’t until their end-of-year exhibitions. Now we are introducing our students to the key players in leading design agencies from an early stage. This gives them an invaluable experience in working with professionals throughout their course and an insight into how the industry works.”

Helena added: “Since the mentoring programme began, we have won more than a dozen national and international awards including the Scottish Marketing Student of the Year for a second year in a row and four D&AD (Design and Art Direction) nominations, the creative industry’s flagship awards. One of our student’s work was also commissioned by the music brand Goji and is now being sold on high streets across the UK.

“As the initiative gains success, it has attracted more interest from industry. Our work placement programme has become much easier to manage because so many of our recent graduates have secured good agency positions and are a testament to the employability of the students we produce.”

SQA chief executive, Dr Janet Brown, said: “Once again I have been overwhelmed by the quality our finalists’ achievements. Some have overcome challenging personal circumstances and defied expectations while others have shown incredible initiative and commitment to succeed in their chosen disciplines.

“More than ever, qualifications are an essential component of an individual’s successful progress from education and training into further study and employment. Our Star Awards ceremony is an opportunity to congratulate learners on their achievements but also acknowledge the fantastic work of our centres – schools, colleges, training providers and employers who deliver our qualifications – and the people who give learners the guidance and encouragement they need to realise their potential.”

Blooming brilliant – Edinburgh strikes gold!

Edinburgh has won a top prize at the Britain in Bloom National Awards. Scotland’s capital city beat off competition from every corner of the UK to win the prestigious Gold award in the Large City category, it was announced at a ceremony last night (Saturday 12 October).

City council Environment Convener Councillor Lesley Hinds said: “This is fantastic news, I am delighted that Edinburgh has won such a prestigious award. This is entirely due to the talents and sheer hard work of our many Friends of Parks’ groups, community volunteers and the Council’s parks team. Edinburgh is a stunning city with beautiful parks and green spaces, and we will continue to work towards protecting and enhancing them.”

Britain in Bloom is an annual competition organised by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Call for North Edinburgh to nominate ‘older people’s champions’

North Edinburgh residents are invited to nominate their local champions for older people for the Age Scotland Awards 2013. The Charity is looking for individuals, groups, partnerships and services that are inspirational in making a difference to older people.

The Awards will be presented at the Scottish Parliament on 1 October, the UN International Day of Older Persons – with 30 August the closing date for nominations.

Nominations are invited in five categories: campaigning and influencing, partnership working, services for older people, volunteer of the year and Age Scotland member group of the year. These are sponsored respectively by McCarthy and Stone, Raeside and Chisholm, Specsavers at Home, David Urquhart Travel and Solicitors for Older People Scotland. Details on how to nominate are available online atwww.agescotland.org.uk/awards or by calling 0845 833 9334 to request a postal entry form.

Brian Sloan, Age Scotland Chief Executive, said: “Through the Awards we aim tochallenge popular myths about later life and our ageing population, demonstrate the vibrancy of older people’s voluntary action, and inspire others to follow the example of Scotland’s best services for, and by, older people. So if you know of, or are, an individual, group or service in north Edinburgh worthy of wider recognition, whether in the public, private or voluntary sector, a nomination from you will be warmly welcomed.”

TPAS award for Port of Leith Housing

Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) is celebrating after becoming the first community-based housing associaiton in Edinburgh to achieve TPAS accreditation – marking it as one of the most innovative and tenant focused organisations in the country.

TPAS Accreditation is awarded by the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) to social landlords that go the extra mile to involve their customers in the shaping of services, and TPAS were particularly impressed by what they saw at Port of Leith. TPAS was also impressed at the range of PoLHA’s traditional engagement techniques, including the recent successful welfare reform information day, quarterly Port Call newsletter and registered tenant organisation consultation.

Lesley Baird, Chief Executive of TPAS Scotland, explained that PoLHA has fostered a real partnership with its customers. Lesley said: “We’ve been impressed by the way Port of Leith works together with its customers to set standards and scrutinise services. Their hard work has established a framework for involving tenants in self-assessment and measuring performance that others in the sector can learn from.”

PoLHA provides affordable rented housing throughout Leith and north of the city. It has created a range of opportunities for tenants and residents to get involved and influence the way services are provided. These range from community events to formal processes for tenants to influence decisions about housing services and investment, either as individuals or in formal groups.

Following a thorough consultation process, PoLHA has developed a Customer Charter to enhance assessment and scrutiny of services. The charter reflects the standards of the Scottish Social Housing Charter, whilst also factoring in important local priorities. It also sets service standards, outlines activities to achieve them and explains how performance will be measured. To ensure tenants are involved in the process, PoLHA also carries out mystery shopping in order to test services and facilitated a range of customer service reviews.

PoLHA Chief Executive Keith Anderson said: “Port of Leith Housing Association is committed to serving its tenants and we are delighted to receive this honour. To be the first community – based housing association in Edinburgh to be recognised for its achievements is testament to the hard work and efforts put in by our staff working in partnership with our tenants.”

Pictured (Left -Right): PoLHA Chairman Jack Hunter, TPAS Scotland Chief Executive Lesley Baird and Keith Anderson, PoLHA Chief Executive

Edinburgh College strikes gold

Edinburgh College students have won a string of awards at a national competition designed to recognise the exceptional talent of beauty students in further education and training. Edinburgh College hosted the national World Skills competition and awards ceremony and entered beauty students to compete for awards against hundreds of students from across the country.

The local collge students, who have consistently won awards at the World Skills competition, picked up two 1st places, three 2nd places and one 3rd place in several competitive beauty categories including aromatherapy and beauty therapy – with a clean sweep of awards in Beauty Therapy Advanced.

19-year-old Beauty student Rachel Rooney from Gilmerton won 1st place in Advanced Beauty Therapy. She said: “My lecturers, Carrie, Nicola and Claire, really encouraged and supported me to go in for the competition and I’m really glad they gave me that extra boost to go for it. I couldn’t have done it without their help.

“I was in complete shock when I heard the World Skills judges call out my name to say I had won – all I could hear were my friends and lecturers cheering me on as I went up on stage to collect the award. I’m so pleased to have won such an amazing award. World Skills is a really well known competition. It’ll look brilliant on my CV and will hopefully give me an edge when I’m looking for a job after College.”

34-year-old Beauty student Lola Lopez, who is originally from Madrid but is currently living in Edinburgh, won 1st place in Aromatherapy at the World Skills competition. She said: “It’s such a massive opportunity to have our beauty skills judged by top professionals. During the competition, the judges came around to observe our treatments and asked us questions about our skill and techniques throughout the competition to really put us to the test.”

Mandy Exley, Principal of Edinburgh College, said: “We are delighted to have been given the honour to host and compete in such a high profile event. World Skills really showcases the brilliant work of beauty students across the country, and highlights the next generation of talented and skilled beauty employees in the industry. We’re incredibly proud of all of our students who have won awards in the competition and look forward to seeing how they perform in the UK national final later in the year.”

She added: “The area of beauty within Edinburgh College is fundamental to the College’s overall curriculum, as well as to the overall contribution to GDP within the UK. The number of people training and gaining employment in beauty has grown by leaps and bounds over the last five years, and we’re very proud to be at the forefront of delivering a skilled workforce within the burgeoning beauty industry.”

Highly regarded throughout the industry, World Skills UK champions and drives excellence in workplace skills and education through competition. The beauty students will soon find out if they will be invited to attend the flagship The Skills Show final later in the year.

Pictured Above: (L-R) Edinburgh College beauty students Shevon McKenna, Lola Lopez, Samantha Plastow, Lindsey McCardie, Kirsty Steel, and Rachel Rooney at the World Skills competition.

And the winner is …

Beauty therapy advanced

· Rachel Rooney (1^st place)

· Lindsey McCardie (2^nd place)

· Kirsty Steel (3^rd place)

Aromatherapy

· Lola Lopez (1^st place)

· Samantha Plastow (2^nd place)

Beauty Therapy Intermediate

· Shevon McKenna (2^nd place)

Port of Leith Housing chief nominated for business award

Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) Chief Executive Keith Anderson has been shortlisted for a prestigious Scottish Business Award. Mr Anderson has been nominated for the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award in recognition for his achievement in helping to address the capital’s lack of affordable homes.

Port of Leith Housing Association was formed in 1975 and is now, with over 2400 homes, the largest social landlord in Leith. PoLHA is currently building four new developments for social and mid-market rent across the north Edinburgh area.

Keith Anderson said: “Naturally I’m delighted to have been shortlisted for such an honour. Everyone has the right to a home and as a social landlord there is the responsibility to ensure this happens, which is why we are committed to building good quality, affordable properties in north Edinburgh.”

He added: “There is no denying that it is a challenging time for social housing providers. New models of funding are desperately required to meet growing demand; combatting homelessness is high on the agenda, not to mention managing the consequences of Westminster’s welfare reform agenda. If the solutions to these problems were easy we would be doing them right now, but we are determined to play a positive role identifying better solutions.”

The award ceremony takes place on 21 June at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, with former American President Bill Clinton as keynote speaker.

Local lecturer raises the roof at world championships

An Edinburgh College lecturer has helped Team GB win a prestigious award at the World Championship for Young Roofers.

Bob Coutts, Roofing Lecturer, from Edinburgh College Granton Campus mentored the team of young roofers during the three day competition which took place in Lucerne, Switzerland and the fantastic effort from the team in during a freestyle roofing task saw them win the President’s Prize award.

The team impressed the judges with its creative natural slate work on a pitched roof with a dormer shed, beating off stiff competition from 11 other countries including Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

As well as the freestyle section, which is optional for team, Team GB entered two teams in the Pitched Roofing and Waterproofing categories and was narrowly pipped to a medal where Switzerland who took home the top prize in both.

Bob, who has been a lecturer in Roofing at Edinburgh College for over 35 years, as well as mentoring the GB team since 2002, said: “A big ‘well done’ to all of the young GB roofers who took part this year and they should be very proud of the work they completed and taking home this fantastic award.

“Being involved in projects and competitions such as this, helps students broaden their skills set and open their minds and creativity to different ways of working and thinking in the sector they are interested in. The competition really sets the bar in allowing students to see what they can achieve and it is a great boost for the students and indeed Edinburgh College.”

Since he started mentoring Team GB in the World Championship for Young Roofers, Bob has represented Edinburgh College and Great Britain in Russia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Belgium, South Africa and Ireland and has helped secure two bronze medal s in Dublin 2002 and Cape Town 2005 and a Gold medal in Belfast in 2010.

The affiliation with the championships has ensured that Edinburgh College now has a stellar reputation throughout Europe as a leading education body.

Now in its 24th year, the World Championships for Young Roofers is organized by the International Federation for the Roofing Trade (IFD) and the competition sees team from all over Europe compete in three categories; Pitched Roofing, Metal Roofing and Waterproofing or Flat roofing, as well as an optional freestyle category where the teams can compete for the President’s Prize.

This year the event was hosted by the Swiss National Federation of Roofing Contractors and in order to test their skills to comply with Swiss specifications the UK team were given the opportunity to train in the host country for two weeks, helping them adhere to the national standards and use of unfamiliar materials and methods..