Juicy business opportunity for city schools!

Five Edinburgh schools are going head to head tomorrow (Saturday 20 April) in an ‘Apprentice’ style challenge to make and sell their own lemonade and orange juice. The friendly battle, dubbed ‘Citrus Saturday’, will see pupils from Gracemount High School, Leith Academy, Woodlands, Gorgie Mills and Forrester High test their business skills in the citrus sell-off.

They will compete to see which team sells the most homemade drinks at five central locations – the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh Zoo, Edinburgh Castle, Cameron Toll Shopping Centre and the Gyle Shopping Centre.

The event, run by the City of Edinburgh Council, gives pupils a taste of working on a business project and helps develop their budgeting, negotiating, selling and marketing skills. Each team has had volunteer student business mentors from Edinburgh University and The Prince’s Trust to help them with their projects.

The teams will be using over 1,000 lemons, 450 oranges, 32 limes, 56kg of sugar and more than 100 litres of fizzy water to make their thirst-quenching drinks – the majority provided by Sainsbury’s at Cameron Toll.

Councillor Frank Ross, Economy Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Citrus Saturday is a great way for young people to learn about the realities of creating a business in a fun way. They’ll be able to put into practice all the skills they have been developing over the past months with the business students from Edinburgh University. There will be elements of developing a product from scratch, devising the marketing and budgeting and of course the sales pitches on the day itself. I’d like to wish everyone the best of luck and encourage as many people as possible to support them tomorrow.”

Citrus Saturday is part of a European Union funded project through the Interreg IVB programme to promote Open Innovation with business, academia and the wider community.

Promises to be a fun competition, but sadly some schools are sure to be pipped at the post (sorry!)!

£61m boost for Scottish colleges

Student support, including funding for childcare, will be increased through additional financial support for the college sector from the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council have set out how the £61 million of additional funding added to college budgets for 2013-15 will be spent.

Focusing on improving attainment, the additional investment over the next academic year (2013-14) includes:

£1.9 million for additional student support through bursaries and childcare
£2.1 million targeted for some college regions to meet increased demand
£6.6 million for an additional learner places, including for women returning to study and part time places
£4 million to aid the successful integration of newly merging colleges.

Education Secretary Michael Russell (pictured above) said: “Earlier this year the Scottish Government showed its commitment to Scotland’s colleges by adding £61 million to the sector’s budget compared to what was originally announced for the spending review period. Since then, we have been discussing with college representatives and NUS Scotland how to allocate this funding to improve attainment so that more students gain and complete their qualifications, while moving towards a system of large, efficient regional colleges that offers courses responsive to local economic need.

“I am very pleased to be able to map out how we can further support the sector and its students. Increased student bursaries will mean more money in the pockets of our hard pressed students in times of economic difficulty. While full time courses for younger people remain a priority, there will be more learning opportunities for older and part time students, including women returning to study.

“Further funding will also help colleges with increasing demand and help institutions work closely together on a regional basis. This is a substantial investment in a sector with enormous economic importance to Scotland, and I am looking forward to working with the entire sector to ensure colleges continue to deliver for learners.”

Horsemeat traces found in local school kitchens

Traces of horsemeat have been found in food supplied to six city schools including Craigroyston, Pirniehall, St David’s and Forthview, the city council has confirmed.

Tests carried out on a batch of frozen mince in February found that the meat contained between 1% and 5% horsemeat. The sample was taken from the shared kitchen of Pirniehall and St David’s, and the same batch was also supplied to Forthview, Craigroyston, Oxgangs and Braidburn primary schools.

A letter from Mike Rosendale, Head of Schools and Community Services, has been sent to parents of pupils at each of the six schools, advising them of the test results and reassuring them that there is “no risk to health from consuming horsemeat”.

Councillor Cathy Fullerton (pictured below), the council’s vice convener of education, said: “It’s very important to emphasise that there is no risk whatsoever to people’s health from consuming horsemeat, but obviously we all want to be certain that we know exactly what we are eating. This is why the council chose to seek extra assurance that our external suppliers were not providing any products containing horsemeat by carrying out our own testing.

“Parents can be reassured that we have taken absolutely the correct course of action in immediately making sure there is none of this frozen mince remaining in school kitchens. We have written to all parents in the six schools to let them know about this and will be happy to discuss any further queries they may have.”

Food at all six of the schools is procured by the PPP contractor, who sourced the frozen mince from catering firm 3663. 3663 recalled all batches of this product on 8 March.

The council has been carrying out tests on meat products supplied to schools, residential homes and other local authority establishments since 14 February under the direction of the Food Standards Agency as part of their UK-wide authenticity survey. Eighty-five meat product samples have been taken from council catering establishments to date and to date all except one have tested negative for the presence of horsemeat. The results have been reported to the Food Standards Agency.

Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian and food spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, says the confirmation is further proof that we need to rethink our approach to food. She said: “This latest revelation will be a great worry for parents and it proves we need greater investment and increased traceability in our publicly-procured meals. The council’s website claims that it uses local suppliers for meat so it is extremely important we are told what has gone wrong.

“I have real concerns about the way our schools have moved away from real meals cooked in proper kitchens to ready meals heated up in microwaves. It’s also hard to have confidence when the many of our schools are supplied by massive companies who describe themselves as strategic outsourcing providers rather than caterers, and whose main motive is profit. This isn’t exactly suprising as public procurement favours cheaper bids.

”In recent months in parliament I have highlighted the Soil Association’s Food for Life programme which currently ensures one in ten schools in Scotland has confidence about where its food comes from. I again urge ministers to increase their support for the scheme and encourage local authorities to adopt it.”

CRAIGROYSTON is one of six affected schools

Boys’ Brigade is tops for training

The Boys’ Brigade receives credit for its top training course

King George VI Youth Leadership Training (KGVI), The Boys’ Brigade’s premier training course, is among a number of Community Learning and Development programmes (CLD) to be credit rated onto the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework. The KGVI course has been rated at level seven, with 13 credit points.

Credit points are used in Scotland to give learning outcomes a currency and allow learners and employers to compare different qualifications. The number of points is based on the amount of time that an average learner should expect to take to achieve the outcome. It is also possible to transfer credit points to other programmes, such as university and college courses.

Alan Hunter, Training and Development Officer at The Boys’ Brigade said: “It is a great boost to receive this level of recognition, for a programme which has so much impact on the 17-22 year olds participating. The credit points represent significant value to those moving into further education.”

In 2012, a record 35 BB members took part in the KGVI course, which began in the 1950s in memory of King George VI. As part of the two year course, the future leaders, all aged between 17 and 21, attend two residential weeks at The Boys’ Brigade HQ at Carronvale, where they are mentored and visited by course staff members. The course includes training in child protection issues, leadership and drill as well as physical training.

Liam Boath ,21, is a current KGVI candidate and a fourth year student at Abertay University and is hoping to move on to Teacher Training. He said: “KGVI being credit rated is excellent because, it will help show to future employers, or universities, that we can learn new skills and apply them to our lives, not only to help ourselves progress, but to help those around us to be the best they can be, just like the KGVI course encourages us to be.”

Mitchell Kinnen, 17, is a sixth year pupil at Calderside Academy and is hoping to start University after the summer. He said: “Part 1 of KGVI helped me overcome a big confidence issue, which I have had since Primary School. It has helped me decide on my further education options and being able to get credit points for my uni application, is totally awesome. KGVI is an amazing experience and I have enjoyed every minute of it.”

Alison Chambers, former member of KGVI staff and Faculty Head at Moffat Academy said: “SCQF is being used more and more to measure achievement in schools, colleges and universities and now KGVI, what an achievement! Having the course on the SCQF scale allows cadets to use this as a focus point in personal statements, CV’s and job interviews. When asked about their rich KGVI experience they will now be able to say that the course is at the same level of Advanced Higher in schools or HNC in colleges. The experience of the KGVI course is very different to the experience of working towards an Advanced Higher or HNC but when it comes to a broad leveller, KGVI is up there at level 7!”

The Boys’ Brigade was founded by by Sir William Alexander Smith in Glasgow on 4 October 1883. From this one Company the BB has grown in to a worldwide movement and has worked with millions of children and young people. In Scotland, around 20,000 young people aged 5 to 18 take part in one of its 450 groups every week.

Council warns school placing requests ‘may not be met’

It’s often a worry for parents when their wee ones make the step up to ‘big’ school, but even more so for the parents who choose to send their child to a school outside their catchment area. It’s not always possible to get a place at the school you’ve chosen for your child, and many face an anxious wait over the coming weeks …

The City of Edinburgh Council is warning parents who have applied for primary school places outwith their catchment that they may not be met due to the pressure of rising rolls.

A report to the Education, Children and Families Committee on Tuesday (5 March) will list the schools where placing requests may not be met.

The number of P1 registrations has increased by 3.5 per cent on last year to 4632 and the Council has received more than 700 placing requests so far for the next school year.

There has been a decrease in the number of these requests following a concerted campaign to encourage parents to learn more about their local catchment school and the benefits of their child attending there. This has led to a 15 per cent reduction on the number of requests received last year.

Councillor Paul Godzik, Education Convener, said: “Parents who have submitted a placing request should be prepared for the fact that they may not get the place they were hoping for and recent experience has been that appeals are unlikely to be successful. However, their child will be registered with their local catchment school and will start next August alongside other local children.

“Historically, Edinburgh has had a high rate of placing requests when compared with other parts of Scotland. However, since I became Convener of Education I have met a number of parents who faced similar situations in the last few years. Happily, they report things have worked out and that their local catchment school is providing very well for their child. I would encourage all parents who are thinking about placing requests to reconsider their catchment school and perhaps pay it a visit, as it is becoming clear many requests will be refused this year.”

To help ensure there are enough places for catchment children, planning permission has now been received for extra classrooms at three city primary schools – Wardie, Trinity and Granton, all of which need of more classroom space due to the large number of registrations. These extensions will be in place by August, and a planning application for new classes at Victoria Primary is also being considered.

A working group made up of parent, officer and school representatives has been set up to look at the challenges facing city schools in light of rising rolls and an increase in population.

WARDIE - extension agreed — WARDIE – extension agreed

Make a new start in March with Tomorrow’s People

A free personal development programme in Muirhouse is looking for new participants to start on 1st March.
If you are aged 16 – 24, unemployed, not in education or training and keen to learn new skills, meet new people and gain new experiences then please get in touch.

The Working It Out programme runs for 16 weeks and offers a range of activities and challenges that allow you to develop personal skills, volunteer in your own community and improve your job prospects. Participants are supported throughout the programme and for up to 12 months after. You can earn up to £40 in expenses every week and receive a free Ridacard.

Working it Out is run by Tomorrow’s People, based in North Edinburgh Arts Centre. If you are interested in making a positive change in your life, increasing your skills, or getting a job, then please contact Heather on 0798 966 Opportunities to make a new s9019 or e-mail hlaw@tomorrows-people.co.uk

MBE for top teacher Tracey and more Forthview news

Our thanks to P5 teacher Ian Holden for keeping us up to date with everything that’s going on at Forthview Primary School:

We put out an appeal for used stamps last year and the response was really good – they were able to support a local charity called Pass It On, who help disabled children with access to computers, with a big donation. We’ll continue collecting until June, when we hope to sell the stamps to collectors and give the raised funds to The Sick Kids Hospital and Pass It On. I’ve tried to up the pace of our appeal now, contacting lots of local businesses to see if they can help – United Wire have already been helpful, as have City of Edinburgh Council and I am sure others will be too in due course. If you can help please get in touch!

Forthview’s P5a appeared at the childrens’ exhibition in the Mews at The Queen’s Gallery at Holyrood last month, one of four local schools involved. I’m also pleased to say that 16 pupils from my class won the best film category in the Children and Families department’s Safer Internet Day competition, designed to increase awareness of how to work safely online.

And last but definitely not least, Forthview’s Family Support teacher Tracey Berry received an MBE in the New Years Honours List for services to education.

Head Teacher Moira Heatly said: ‘Tracey Berry has been working with families at Forthview Primary and previously at Craigmuir for 18 years. As a teacher she took on the role initially as home link teacher but over the years that followed, the value of the role was recognised and it has since evolved to being a crucial part of Forthview’s school community. Tracey sees her role being about making the sure that the children are ready to learn and to do this she reaches out to all the parents, carers and families, many of whom did not have positive experiences at school, to help them to engage in learning with their child. Tracey is highly valued by the families at Forthview, who know that she always goes above and beyond to support them. They are happy to acknowledge the impact she has had on their lives. This award of an MBE is well deserved.’

Everyone at Forthview is very proud of Tracey – congratulations!

Ian Holden, Forthview Primary School

Pass marks for city schools

A report to the city council’s Education, Children and Families Committee sets out how Edinburgh Schools have been performing in the last year – and the report shows that, in the majority of indicators, city schools are performing above the national average.

Changes of note include improvements for some of the lowest achieving pupils, who have made considerable improvement over the last three years to within one per cent of the national performance level. Overall evaluation of improvements in early years level have been classified as ‘very good’ and there has been an improvement in Maths and English by the end of S4 which now sits above the national average. This clearly demonstrates the impact a renewed focus on employability skills is having.

Across the board there has been significant improvement in PE by the end of S4 which can be linked to Health and Wellbeing education under the Curriculum for Excellence and the 2 hours of quality PE prescribed by it. In Higher exams, there has been very good performance across the city in English, Mathematics, French, Physics, Computing and German.

High Schools that achieved very good examination results include The Royal High School, Boroughmuir HS, Currie HS, Firrhill HS, James Gillespie’s HS and St Thomas of Aquin’s, with significant improvements having been made at Craigroyston HS and Wester Hailes Education Centre.

Councillor Paul Godzik, Education, Children and Families Convener said, “I would like to congratulate schools for their continued improvement, the report shows how much is being achieved across the city. It’s clear from this report that some schools are making significant improvements and I would like to congratulate them for that. We will be looking to all our schools and continuing to work closely with them to ensure the upward trend continues.”

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Outstanding Oaklands!

Local school MOVEs on up to become Centre of Excellence

Oaklands School is to become a MOVE Centre of Excellence – only the third school in Scotland to achieve that status. The special school on Ferry Road will receive the MOVE quality mark accolade at a special assembly on Monday 17 December.

MOVE (Movement for Learning and Life) helps children who have complex disabilities to:

Acquire and maintain increased independence in sitting, standing, walking and transferring,
Learn, gain and maintain more mobility through transference of skills,
Experience better health, enhanced personal dignity, improved communication skills and access to education.

The MOVE programme is shown to improve functional mobility skills and empower children and adults who have complex physical and learning disabilities to better direct their own lives. The MOVE Programme uses a family/person centred approach to develop functional mobility, based on current theory and research in education, therapy, biomechanics and motor science.

MOVE teaches functional motor skills that the child will need as he / she grows and develops and begins to access the wider world outside of school and home life. Skills taught are carefully selected and aim to help the child reach their identified goals and may include learning to walk 100 meters so they can walk from a car to the entrance of cinema, being able to sit unsupported so they can travel on a bus or being able to pivot transfer to access toilets in the community where disabled facilities can be poor.

Increased abilities in sitting, standing and walking decrease the burden of care for families and care providers. These increased abilities also bring new opportunities for greater participation and involvement in family life and for inclusion into the wider community.

Oaklands School embarked on the MOVE programme with three pupils in 2003, and now supports 23 pupils following the MOVE programme – four pupils have graduated from MOVE. The school has enthusiastically embraced the MOVE concept, and annual MOVE Day celebrations are a particular delight at Oaklands – whether that’s travelling through time and space or enjoying an unforgettable Strictly Come Dancing event!

The school was visited by MOVE Partnership’s CEO Nigel Carter in September and he was clearly hugely impressed – a subsequent glowing Quality Mark report said:

‘The MOVE Programme at Oaklands School is of high quality and is outstanding as compared against the components of the MOVE Quality Mark. The programme is outstandingly led and managed by Anke Baillie, the MOVE Programme coordinator, with outstanding support from the Head teacher, Maureen Mathieson, the leadership team and the Oaklands MOVE Group, who are ensuring that all possible time, effort and resources are being made available to ensure the success of the MOVE Programme.

‘Documentation and procedures are outstanding enabling all to understand and follow the MOVE process and procedures across the school. Students are well motivated and enthusiastic to do their best due to high expectations and a commitment and enthusiasm from all staff.

‘The superb learning environment of the school allows a creative and innovative approach to the delivery of the MOVE Programme that focuses on the key elements of individual pupil need and ensures that MOVE is integrated fully into the school systems and processes. Students make excellent progress and are keen and willing participants in their programme and are supported fully by their parents and carers.

There is a great deal of innovation taking place at the school that it is a model for excellence for the MOVE Programme.’

In short, Mr Carter described the Oaklands setup as ‘the best evidence of good practice I’ve ever seen!’

The presentation of the MOVE Quality Mark and MOVE Regional Centre of Excellence award will take place on 17 December.

Congratulations to all at Oaklands on a tremendous achievement.

Happy birthday, Rowanfield

A very happy birthday to Rowanfield Special School, which has now been part of the Drylaw community for ten years!

The school celebrated their special birthday with an extra-special party on Friday – and the children were all involved in planning the programme IN JUST A WEEK!

They did a great job – there was a piper, a video booth, a memories tree, food and refreshments (thanks to Miss Thomson, P6/7!), and videos of past events at Rowanfield.

Then there was an opportunity to sing the Rowanfield School song, a presentation to Mr Glover who’s been a volunteer at the school since it opened and three P7 pupils devised, wrote and recorded a Rowanfield Rap – all in under an hour!

You can’t really have a birthday party without a birthday cake, and Rowanfield pupils starred again – Cameron baked a lovely cake and Darren decorated it with the party’s Angry Birds theme!

Head Teacher Leanne Sharpe told guests: “I think our children have done remarkably well in organising our party – every one of them has helped in some way and they have all worked really hard to make the party a success, so it’s great to see everyone enjoying themselves”.

Senior pupils Dale and Liam helped the Head Teacher cut the birthday cake.