Tag: education

Stolen school files recovered

Dozens of school pupil files that were stolen from a city council worker’s home during a burglary have been recovered. The files contained information about  Broughton High, Granton and Forthview Primary School pupils who have had contact with the Education Welfare Service.

It’s understood that the data records, stolen during a break-in last month, concerned the childrens’ school attendance.

A city council spokesperson said: “The files were recovered on Wednesday after the car that had been used in the robbery was found. The files do not appear to have been tampered with and we have sent a letter out to all the families to let them know this.”

Files on local school pupils stolen

 

An investigation has been launched after the confidential files of 45 school pupils were stolen from an Edinburgh City Council worker’s home earlier this week. The files relate to pupils from Forthview and Granton Primary Schools and Broughton High School, who have had contact with the Education Welfare Service. 

The files were stolen during a burglary on Wednesday, BBC Scotland has revealed.

The council said the files were ‘predominantly’ about school attendance, and a city council spokeswoman added: “We are working closely with the police on this matter but believe that these files weren’t targeted by the thief. We are making contact with all the families this information relates to and have made staff available to them to help with any questions or concerns they may have.”

 

Olympic Reflections

 

The North Neighbourhood Olympic Torch Project came to a dramatic finale on the 30 May when participants took part in a Mini Olympians final event at Bangholm (writes Ricky Karoyan). Pupils were split into countries before taking part in various Olympic sports – from athletics to martial arts – and competing to win gold!  Pupils were awarded prizes based on effort and being a good player in keeping with the Olympic values.

The torch started it’s journey at Craigroyston Primary on Tuesday 21 February.  The torch was then delivered to St Davids and ended up at Lorne Primary on the 21 May.   As the torch travelled from school to school the pupils got to experience one of the Olympic sports, whilst also sharing the experience with a neighbouring school.  They even got to meet some Team GB Olympians, such as hockey player Graham Moodey) and athlete Lynsey Sharp, who visited schools in their Olympic Games kit!  This project involved P3’s from 11 schools from across North Edinburgh.

The activities experienced were hockey, basketball, judo, athletics, Paralympics events, handball, taekwondo, seated volleyball, fencing and boccia.

The pupils had a great time and learned lots of exciting new sports and skills with neighbouring schools.  Active Schools were really impressed with the effort that the classes put into their class presentations and their flag and mini torch making.

A special thanks to all the schools who supported this project and for their enthusiasm and energy.  Also a big thanks to Telford College who delivered our final festival, bringing lots of energy and excitement to the event. Lets hope our mini Olympians are future Olympic athletes in the making!

Ricky Karoyan

Active Schools Coordinator, Craigroyston Cluster

Telford students to showcase skills at Edinburgh Castle

Students from Edinburgh’s Telford College will showcase their work at Edinburgh Castle as part of an event to celebrate traditional construction skills this week.  Telford is taking part in this year’s Scottish Apprentice Week by sending students from its building courses to the Edinburgh Traditional Skills Exhibition.

The exhibition, which takes place over two days, will be launched by Fiona Hislop, Minister for Culture and External Affairs and is a collaborative partnership between Construction Skills, Historic Scotland, The National Federation of Roofing Contractors, The Stone Federation and Edinburgh’s Telford College.

John Laing, Sector Business Senior Manager at Edinburgh’s Telford College said: “We are delighted to have been invited to the Edinburgh Traditional Skills Exhibition to showcase the multitude of talents of our Traditional Building students. This event is ideal for our young roofing, stonemasonry and building apprentices to demonstrate skills as well as impart knowledge on those considering studying the various traditional building courses that are out there. They have also worked hard to put together innovative roofing and stonemasonry models, an ideal way for them to showcase their skills at the exhibition and also a great way of demonstrating the type of things individuals will learn on our traditional building courses.”

Construction Skills Scotland will also be on hand at the two-day exhibition to give out information to those interested in taking up a course or a career in the industry.

Miles Dibsdall OBE, Principal of Edinburgh’s Telford College who will also be attending the event said: “It is important for us to get involved in events like the Edinburgh Traditional Skills exhibition for Scottish Apprenticeship week. Teaching practical skills which will ensure students are ready for the work place is one of the main aims we have at Telford College and the fact that many individuals are able to learn as well as work is the best thing about modern apprenticeships.”

John added: “An event like this is extremely important for the construction sector. It is important to keep educating people of what’s needed for a career in construction as well getting the chance to talk about how important traditional building courses are to the future of some of our most historic buildings. The fact that we still have a significant number of individuals wanting to come and learn these skills is increasingly promising and having exhibitions like the one at Edinburgh Castle are a great way to get everyone in the same place creating a buzz about the sector.”

Local adult learners up for achievement awards

Best wishes to four groups of North Edinburgh adult learners who have been nominated for Adult Learner Achievement Awards at an event at the City Chambers this evening.

The groups – based at Muirhouse Millennium Centre, The Prentice Centre, West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre and Royston Wardieburn – are all supported by the local Community Learning and Development (CLD) team who are keeping their fingers tightly crossed!

Tonight’s City Chambers reception is the culmination of a number of events held to mark the 21st anniversary of Adult Learners Week across the city.

Trinity Academy in running for national award

Trinity Academy is one of four Edinburgh schools nominated in this year’s Scottish Education Awards. Trinity is in the running for the Global Citizenship Award for their relevant and cohesive programme of events that help students to engage in learning about citizenship and different cultures.

Joining Trinity Academy to fly the flag for Edinburgh are Gracemount High School, Stenhouse Primary School and  Woodlands Secondary School.

The City Council’s Director of Children and Families, Gillian Tee, said: “I am delighted that such a large number of Edinburgh schools and teaching professionals have been chosen as finalists for this year’s Scottish Education Awards. They demonstrate the excellent teaching talent we have in the city and I pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of the staff involved. I would like to congratulate them and wish them the very best of luck.”

The awards, which celebrate the achievements of schools and teachers across Scotland, are open to all publicly funded schools, including secondary, primary, nursery and special schools. There are also categories to recognise and reward the dedication of teachers, head-teachers and support staff across the country.

The Awards ceremony takes place in Glasgow’s Hilton Hotel on 12 June.

Another chapter for literature course

 

You may remember we gave details of the ‘Introduction to Modern Scottish Literature’ course running at The Prentice Centre earlier this year? Well, the free course proved so popular that they’re running it again!

Supported by The Prentice Centre and WEA Scotland, the new course starts on Monday 30 April from 2.30 – 4.30pm and runs for eight to ten weeks. Activities include readings, visits and discussions and once again the course tutor is Derek Suttie.

Interested? To find out more or to book your place on the free course contact The Prentice Centre on 552 0485 or WEA on 225 2580.

Introduction to Modern Scottish Literature – so good they ran it twice!

 

 

Flora Stevenson’s update

Comely Bank’s Flora Stevenson Primary School was evacuated yesterday when asbestos was discovered during building maintenance work.

Speaking last night, Head of  Schools Mike Rosendale said: “Pupils at Flora Stevenson’s  Primary School were relocated to a local high school on Thursday morning as a  precaution, after a small amount of asbestos was disturbed. An independent  inspection was carried out on Thurdsay afternoon and has indicated  that the building  is safe. A full clean will now take place with  the aim of reopening the school on  Monday. We  would like to thank all parents and staff for their cooperation and  assistance.”

Flora Stevenson's update

Comely Bank’s Flora Stevenson Primary School was evacuated yesterday when asbestos was discovered during building maintenance work.

Speaking last night, Head of  Schools Mike Rosendale said: “Pupils at Flora Stevenson’s  Primary School were relocated to a local high school on Thursday morning as a  precaution, after a small amount of asbestos was disturbed. An independent  inspection was carried out on Thurdsay afternoon and has indicated  that the building  is safe. A full clean will now take place with  the aim of reopening the school on  Monday. We  would like to thank all parents and staff for their cooperation and  assistance.”