What’s the most expensive city in the UK for students? Oxford or Cambridge, maybe? Or what about St Andrew’s? No, the answer lies closer to home – Edinburgh is the most expensive city in the UK for students, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland’s student living index. Continue reading Creme de la creme
Edinburgh College has appointed new senior staff members to its top-level management team, to drive a three-year plan to transform the college. Continue reading Edinburgh College strengthens management team
“Today marks the start of a new journey for Scottish education that will ensure we realise our ambition for excellence and equity for every child and young person in Scotland.” – John Swinney
The Scottish Government published its Education Delivery Plan yesterday, but the announcement was overshadowed by the EU referendum fallout and Labour’s civil war. Continue reading Swinney sets out plan to close education attainment gap
Six in ten pupils achieved a qualification at Higher level or above
The percentage of school leavers going on to positive destinations including work, training and continued study has reached a record high, Deputy First Minister John Swinney has confirmed. Continue reading Higher still: more school leavers in positive destinations
The city council has confirmed that respected construction and procurement industry expert John Cole CBE will lead the independent inquiry into Edinburgh’s school closures. Continue reading Chair of PPP school closures inquiry announced
‘everyone around the table shared my desire to ensure Scottish education is the best it can be’ – Education Secretary John Swinney
Headteachers across Scotland will be provided with extra support to deliver excellence in schools and work to close the attainment gap, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced yesterday as she hosted a summit on raising attainment in Scotland’s schools. Continue reading Craigroyston summit: ‘a common focus to drive up standards’
Pirniehall and St David’s pupils return ‘home’ on Monday – Rowanfield back on 27 June
One thousand pupils are returning to school earlier than planned after the latest programme of remedial works was submitted to the City of Edinburgh Council by the Edinburgh Schools Partnership.
Continue reading Back to skool!
Delivering for children: Scottish Government’s top team head education summit at Craigroyston Community High School
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Deputy First Minister John Swinney will meet teachers’ representatives, young people, education experts, political leaders, representatives of local authorities, unions and other third party stakeholders at Craigroyston Community High School today to consider the immediate actions required to close the educational attainment gap and raise standards for all children in Scotland. Continue reading Closing the Gap: Key education summit at Craigroyston today
STEM: That’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths – but you knew that, of course!
A team of employees from Edinburgh electronics company Leonardo (better known to us old-timers as Ferranti’s!) are planting a ‘STEM’ seed that could lead to improved career prospects for Craigroyston Community High School pupils. Continue reading Planting the STEM seed at Craigie
Edinburgh is a city with two faces. There’s the public face – the international festival city teeming with tourists with it’s castle, quaint Old Town, splendid new town, galleries and parks. That’s the Edinburgh the visitor sees.
And then there’s the other face: for every leafy suburb we have communities where everything in the garden’s far from rosy. For every Duddingston there’s a Craigmillar, for every Cramond a Wardieburn. Yes, Edinburgh is a rich, vibrant affluent city – and yet ONE in FIVE of our children grows up in poverty.
Child poverty awareness training is to be rolled out at all schools in Edinburgh after a successful year long pilot project run by the City of Edinburgh Council.
‘1 in 5 Raising Awareness of Child Poverty in Edinburgh’ proved so successful it has even ‘changed the culture’ of some of the six pilot schools.
The project took place in five primary and one high school, working with staff, pupils and parents to raise awareness of the scale, causes and impacts of child poverty. It also challenged poverty-related stigma and looked into what practical actions could be taken by schools to make school more affordable for families on low incomes.
The six schools which took part in the pilot study were Royal High, Dalry, Gracemount, Hillwood and Sciennes primary schools and Broughton High School.
The schools were chosen to represent a wide social mix. In the case of the primary schools, each has at least 50 pupils eligible for free school meals, and Broughton High School has one of the highest numbers of pupils eligible for free school meals (175) in the city. The primary schools in the Craigroyston cluster were also consulted.
The report makes key recommendations relating to school uniforms, food/drink, school trips, events, raising awareness and curriculum.
Lucy Henderson, Head Teacher at Hillwood Primary School, said the project had changed the culture of her school.
She said: “The impact of the 1 in 5 Project has been huge as staff, pupils and parents have changed the way they think about poverty. Pupils realise that poverty doesn’t just affect children in Africa, it affects pupils in schools throughout Scotland.
“We have made lots of changes this year such as providing PE kits for families to rent every term, the setting up of a Pop-Up shop for school items and giving parents more notice of school trips so they can plan ahead financially.
“However we are all aware that this is a work in progress and we know there are further measures that we can take to reduce the cost of the school day for all our families.”
Councillor Paul Godzik, Education, Children and Families Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “The 1 in 5 Project has had a dramatic impact in the pilot schools by challenging people’s perceptions of child poverty and addressing the barriers that exist within the community so it’s really positive news that we are now going to be rolling out across the rest of our schools.
“The project demonstrated that by raising awareness of child poverty, which affects over 21% of young people in the Capital, we can all make a real difference when it comes to tackling this issue.
“It’s a fact that children from poorer backgrounds lag behind at all stages of education so it’s important we do all we can to close the attainment gap and we will continue to work closely with our partner agencies to ensure everything is done to ensure children are given every opportunity to have the best possible start in life.”
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Some key statistics re child poverty in Edinburgh:
Raising awareness is welcome – but actively tackling the causes of poverty would be more welcome still.
