Tag: education

Next generation of builders and carers ‘set to rebuild Britain’

Westminster government announces radical skills reforms giving young people opportunity to develop skills in priority areas for the country

Young people are set to benefit from 120,000 new training opportunities as part of a ‘radical skills revolution’, giving them the chance to develop skills where they are most needed across the workforce to rebuild Britain.

More skilled brickies, carpenters and healthcare support workers will soon be trained up as the UK Government continues it’s drive to get Britain working, with landmark reforms announced today that refocus the skills landscape towards young, domestic talent. 

The measures, backed by a record-breaking £3 billion apprenticeship budget, will open up opportunities for young people to succeed in careers the country vitally needs to prosper.

More routes into skilled work means more people building affordable homes, more care for NHS patients and more digital experts to push our economy forward. This includes an additional 30,000 apprenticeship starts across this Parliament. 

This unprecedented investment is a critical step in delivering the government’s Plan for Change mission to create a decade of national renewal. They say they are backing our young people and investing in skills as an engine of economic growth – putting more money in people’s back pockets and breaking down barriers to opportunity.

 Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “A skilled workforce is the key to steering the economy forward, and today we’re backing the next generation by giving young people more opportunities to learn a trade, earn a wage and achieve and thrive. 

“When we invest in skills for young people, we invest in a shared, stronger economic future – creating opportunities as part of our Plan for Change.

“But everyone has a role to play in a thriving economy, and we’re taking our responsibility seriously providing more routes into employment, it’s now the responsibility of young people to take them.”

To support this, the Westminster government is: 

  • Implementing a 32% increase in the Immigration Skills Charge, which will deliver up to 45,000 additional training places to upskill the domestic workforce and reduce reliance on migration in priority sectors. As announced in the recent Immigration White Paper.  
  • Refocusing funding away from Level 7 (masters-level) apprenticeships from January 2026, while maintaining support for those aged 16-21 and existing apprentices. This will enable levy funding to be rebalanced towards training at lower levels, where it can have the greatest impact.  
  • Launched 13 new Level 2 construction courses for adults in non-devolved areas under the Free Courses for Jobs scheme. 

In addition to the £3bn apprenticeship budget, the government is backing the new generation of workers through:  

  • £14 million of adult skills funding for construction to be devolved to local mayors for next academic year, expected to support up to 5,000 additional adult learners. 
  •  £136 million for Skills Bootcamps across a range of priority sectors in 2025-26, providing training to over 40,000 learners.  
  • £100 million over four years to expand Construction Skills Bootcamps. 
  • Ten Technical Excellence Colleges specialising in construction skills, opening in September 2025. 

 As part of the UK government’s Plan for Change, the reforms are a vital step in delivering our youth guarantee and addressing skills shortages to drive growth while creating better opportunities for young people and adults across England.  

Today’s announcement comes following a dramatic fall in the number of apprenticeship starts over the last decade, and as recent ONS statistics show as many as one in eight 16-24 year olds are not in employment, education or training.

Scottish education charity launches campaign to raise £50k for children’s rural learning

The Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) has launched its ambitious fundraising campaign KEEP RHET FREE, aiming to raise £50,000 by December to ensure that children across Scotland continue to access free, unbiased, high-quality rural and food education.

The campaign was launched at a food and farming day at Bonnington Farm near Peebles last week (15 May), where close to 100 school children, farmers, teachers, and RHET supporters gathered to celebrate the hands-on learning that RHET has delivered for over 25 years.

The campaign was developed to support RHET to evolve and focus on securing a new rigorous, long-term fundraising stream alongside Scottish Government funding.

“RHET is free for schools — but it’s not free to run,” said Katrina Barclay, RHET’s Executive Officer. “With rising costs and increasing demand, RHET needs to find new and robust funding streams to continue its important work.”

Each year, RHET engages children through farm visits, classroom talks, and food education activities, helping young people understand where their food comes from and how the countryside works.

RHET Chairman, Hugh McClymont, says: “Every year, over 80,000 young people across Scotland experience something they’ll never forget thanks to the Royal Highland Education Trust.

“But without new avenues of support, these important experiences for children to learn about food, farming and the countryside could be at risk.

“I’m asking for individuals and businesses to dig deep and support a charity that makes a real and lasting difference in the lives of young people and supports vital storytelling for the agricultural industry.”

RHET’s goal is to give every child in Scotland the chance to learn about food, farming, and the countryside, to create a wider understanding of the environmental, economic, and social aspects of rural Scotland.

“This is so much more than a school trip,” said Nicki Istephan, a local teacher from Peebles. “RHET brings the curriculum to life. It helps children see the real world beyond the textbooks. It is important that our curriculum reflects our local community and provides the children with life-long skills”

Every pound raised via the KEEP RHET FREE campaign goes directly to delivering rural learning experiences across Scotland’s 12 RHET Countryside Initiatives.

To find out more, donate, or get involved, visit www.rhet.org.uk/keep-rhet-free.

Scottish Handball and Oriam launch pioneering sports scholarship

Handball players from around the world who could help to boost Scotland’s status in the sport are being invited to apply for a new scholarship programme that is thought to be the first of its kind in Europe, if not worldwide.

The new Handball Scholarship is being launched in a collaboration between the Scottish Handball Association – Scotland’s national governing body for handball – and Oriam, Scotland’s Sports Performance Centre, based at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

The Handball Scholarship is an expansion of Oriam’s existing Sports Scholarship programmes, which help athletes to study at the same time as competing in high-level sport.

Handball is one of Scotland’s fastest growing team sports, with Scotland seeing a 500% jump in participation in the sport over the last two to three years, according to Scottish Handball. On an international level, the 2024 final of the European Men’s Handball Championship in Germany last year attracted 1.2 billion views.

This very fast and exciting sport involves two teams of seven players competing to score goals by throwing the ball past the goalkeeper into the opposing team’s goal.

Ewan Hunter, Chief Executive of Scottish Handball, said: “Handball is popular because it’s fast, exciting to watch and really easy to pick up.

The basic rules are very quick and simple to understand. And inclusivity is built into the sport, so boys and girls play together through primary school. We’re seeing very strong growth in handball at a grassroots level in Scotland and for the last couple of years, we’ve been focusing on developing pathways from there through into the higher levels of the sport.

“This scholarship programme is the next natural step on that journey and builds on our long relationship with Oriam.”

Scottish Handball has been a partner of Oriam’s since the centre opened in 2016 to help Scotland’s top athletes train and prepare for competition at the highest levels. Oriam is one of only a few venues in Scotland with a full-sized 40 by 20 metre indoor court for handball, and Scottish Handball hosts most of its major events here.

This includes Scottish Cup and Super Cup Finals, where the top two handball teams from England and Scotland in the Men’s Senior League and the Women’s Senior League compete for the British Champion title and European qualification.

Ross Campbell, Executive Director of Oriam, said: “This is an exciting expansion of our Sport Scholarship programmes that also deepens our partnership with the Scottish Handball Association. This allows us to work together to support handball athletes, not only from Scotland, but from across the world.

“The key aim of our scholarships is to help athletes perform both academically and in their chosen sport through access to our world class facilities and Oriam’s performance staff. All of these factors make this programme an exciting opportunity for athletes to be a part of.”

Katrina Gibbon, Performance Sport Manager at Oriam, explained the different elements of the Handball Scholarship in more detail. She said: “Athletes joining this programme will have access to specific technical training in handball and they’ll also have strength and conditioning sessions with our sports science team.

They’ll have weekly access to our hydro pool for recovery, alongside sports psychology support and access to physiotherapy through our Oriam Clinic. Oriam’s Athlete Lifestyle and Advocacy Co-Ordinator can also support athletes with any potential clashes between academic and sporting commitments.”

The partners say they are not aware of other programmes in the world of handball that combine academic study and athlete support in this way.

While handball is not played professionally in Scotland, as it is in other parts of Europe, the aim of the new scholarship is to continue building the sport at an amateur level.

“Handball will continue to be an amateur sport in Scotland for the foreseeable future,” Ewan said. “But we want to embrace that – and our hopes for this scholarship are really clear.

“We hope it cements the pathway for the development of handball at all levels. That means primary school, secondary school, community club, full club and age group level. We recognise that 99.9% of people who play sport in Scotland will not end up earning a living from the sport they play. But with this scholarship, you can still continue your development and growth as a handball player – without having to put your career or academic aspirations to one side.”

Athletes offered a scholarship will be able to show a strong track record in handball at an amateur club level or international age group level.

“We are looking for players who will add quality and value to the handball community here in Scotland,” Ewan said.

One of Oriam’s existing Sports Scholars, Rory Semple, has already played handball for Great Britain at Boys and Men’s age-group level.

Rory, 20, from Renfrewshire, started playing handball at Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow and is at Heriot-Watt in the third year of a degree in economics. “I started playing handball at school when I was 13 and through the years progressed to playing for Great Britain,” Rory explained.

“Now I’m playing at Heriot-Watt University and still at my club at Kelvinside in Glasgow, but playing under 20 at the Great Britain level.

“The Sports Scholarship at Oriam has been really helpful. It’s pushed me to absolutely smash my limits at physical training in the gym here. It gives me a great social balance as well because there are like-minded scholars my age here and we’re all competing at the same sort of level. The coaching staff are absolutely excellent too, so the support is 10 out of 10.”

Handball originated as a sport in the 19th century and has its roots in Europe, particularly in Germany and the Nordic countries, including Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The sport is played professionally in these countries and has also been one of the longest standing sports at the Summer Olympics.  02:07

The rules of the game include a ‘rolling substitution’ rule, meaning there’s no limit on substitutions during a game.

This means there’s “a space and place for anybody of any size, shape or physical fitness,” Ewan said.

Oriam’s facilities include multiple sports halls, outdoor pitches, an indoor tennis centre and a state-of-the-art gym. It also has a performance wing with facilities including a strength and conditioning gym, hydrotherapy pool, medical and rehabilitation suite and sauna.

Sports clubs and governing bodies who use Oriam as a training and performance hub include Scotland’s national rugby team, Heart of Midlothian Football Club and Scottish Squash.

British University and College Sport, the national governing body for higher education sport in the UK, ranked Heriot-Watt University 25th out of 127 institutions for the number of sports scholars it supported in 2023-24.

Oriam is a wholly owned subsidiary of Heriot-Watt and is funded by The Scottish Government, sportscotland – Scotland’s national agency for sport – and City of Edinburgh Council.

The centre is based on Heriot-Watt’s Riccarton campus to the West of Edinburgh and is around four miles from Edinburgh Airport. Other facilities on campus include the Marriott Bonvoy hotel, opposite the Oriam complex.

Scotland’s Headteachers highlight impact of attainment funding

Over £1 billion invested to support and improve attainment

Headteachers say the attainment of pupils experiencing poverty has improved, thanks to over £1 billion of direct investment from the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government’s flagship policy has provided headteachers with direct additional funding to help support children and young people. 

Schools have used the extra funding in a variety of different ways. The latest report looking at the impact of Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) found that it has helped schools employ up to 3,000 additional staff to support children and young people’s attainment and wellbeing.

This has included extra staff employed to support families, such as income maximisation officers, as well as support for pupil wellbeing from the third sector. The report also highlights how the targeted investment has supported better attendance, attainment, and relationships between schools, families and pupils. 

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth visited St Ignatius Primary School in Wishaw to hear directly about how the school is using Pupil Equity Funding. 

Ms Gilruth said: “Pupil Equity Funding has played a crucial role in our mission to ensure that children and young people impacted by poverty are given the opportunity to succeed.

“Since launching in 2017, we have invested over £1 billion in the programme, with targeted support now reaching a majority of schools across Scotland. 

“Each school has its own unique challenges when it comes to closing the poverty-related attainment gap, which is why we have put our trust in headteachers to develop solutions which meet the needs of their own pupils.

“I have been very impressed by the creativity shown by teachers – from supporting imagination in writing, to outdoor educational trips to improve confidence, wellbeing and relationships.

“The latest survey report indicates the hugely positive impact that this direct investment is making – with Scotland recording its lowest poverty-related attainment gap on record for literacy in primary schools.

“Pupil Equity Funding is also ensuring that more children and young people impacted by poverty are entering work, training or further study after leaving school.

“We are also taking further steps to tackle child poverty through education, including through funding early learning and childcare, free school meals and the delivery of free breakfast clubs.”

https://twitter.com/i/status/1922243937755873540

Pupil Equity Funding 2025 Report | Scottish Attainment Challenge | Learning in Scotland | Education Scotland

University of Edinburgh Summer School

Still figuring out what to study at university? This two-week summer course offered by the University of Edinburgh Summer School could be the perfect next step for those interested in science

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Applications close 20 May, find out more here:

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Cyber attack on Edinburgh’s schools and early years network

COUNCIL STATEMENT ISSUED LAST NIGHT:

This afternoon (Friday) we noticed some unusual e-mail activity on our schools and early years IT network.

As a precautionary measure we have reset passwords across our schools and early years network – including those of our learners and students. 

We have issued communications to all parents/carers and schools to advise of the phishing attempt and explain the action that we have had to take to make sure our IT networks remain secure and protected.

Schools and early years staff will be prompted to reset their own password on their return to school.

Students currently sitting exams will be given priority support to reset their password. They can access their personal revision materials by going to their school tomorrow (Saturday 10 May) between 10.15am -12 noon and a member of staff will issue them with a new password.

Study resources are also available on the information for parents/carers webpage on the Council’s website.

Education, Children and Families Convener Councillor James Dalgleish said yesterday: “This afternoon vigilant colleagues noticed some unusual and suspicious activity on our schools and early years IT network.

“As a result, we took the precautionary decision to immediately reset passwords for all users across our education service.

“We have contacted all parents, carers and schools to update them and explain the situation.

“I fully appreciate the impact this will have, particularly on those students preparing for their exams next week – but, unfortunately, we had no choice. This was a difficult but necessary decision to ensure our networks remain secure and protected.

“I want to reassure our students that they are our priority and that we are doing everything we can to make sure they can get back online as soon as possible. In the meantime, we are signposting them study support materials available elsewhere and individual schools will be uploading these to their websites too.

“We have created a dedicated webpage on the council website and will update this with further information as and when we get it.

“I’d like to thank colleagues for their vigilance and quick thinking today – and for their ongoing work over the weekend to minimise the impact on our students and their families.”

No data has been compromised. The council has have been in touch with SQA and EIS to make them aware of this attempted phishing incident. CEC is re also keeping Scottish Government’s cyber co-ordination centre updated.

Edinburgh Science on the road again

Generation Science brings exciting hands-on workshops to Edinburgh schools

Edinburgh Science is on the road again, bringing hands-on workshops and events to 18,000 primary school pupils across Scotland, including visits across Edinburgh from now until June via Generation Science.

Although most famous for their annual Science Festival, Edinburgh Science Charity also delivers a fantastic programme of educational events and workshops each year for children and young people, including Generation Science.

This fantastic programme sees science educators tour Scottish schools delivering a range of engaging workshops and shows which are all linked to the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) – helping to inspire a new generation to explore the world of STEM. Running for over 30 years, Generation Science has delivered hands-on learning to over 1 million children!

From February to June, the team will bring science to life across Scotland in a fun and high-energy environment. Using a mix of theatre, live demonstrations, audience participation and hands-on experiments every pupil is involved, including those who don’t typically engage with traditional in-classroom STEM education.

New STEM guide launches to support careers leaders to inspire students into engineering and tech futures

Careers leaders across the UK can now benefit from a new STEM careers guide to help drive passion and interest amongst young people for a future in engineering and technology – predicted to grow faster than any other sector between now and 2030.  

‘Advancing STEM careers provision in schools’ has been created to support those responsible for careers programmes in schools inspire students to view engineering and technology as an exciting, meaningful and accessible career option.   

The free resource highlights tips with practical strategies grounded in the latest research. 

Rebecca Healy, Careers Inspiration Manager, EngineeringUK, said: “The guide acts as the latest digest of current research about what works to increase young people’s awareness and inspiration about STEM careers, saves time and helps career leads bring to life the dynamic world of STEM.

“Engineering and technology careers span every sector, from sport to space. Engineers play a key role in improving sustainability and achieving net zero and they’re in demand at all levels, from apprentices to technicians, graduates to postgraduates.”

Developed in collaboration with EUK Education’s Careers Working Group, the free resource aligns with the Gatsby Benchmarks (England) and the Careers Education Standard (Scotland), to ensure that career planning is both effective and comprehensive.

EUK Education Careers Working Group includes careers inspiration experts from a UK secondary school, STEM Learning, UCL Engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Physics, BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Engineering and Technology 

More young people need to be made aware of opportunities and different entry routes into the sector, which employs around 6.3 million people, as employers are reporting skills shortages and difficulties recruiting. Currently around 16% of the UK engineering and technology workforce is made up of women. 

Séan Harris, Deputy Director General and Director of Membership at the Institution of Civil Engineers, commented: “The Institution of Civil Engineers recognises the vital role that career leads and educators play in inspiring young people and showcasing the exciting, diverse opportunities that a career in engineering can offer—particularly in addressing global challenges such as achieving carbon net zero.  

“As an active member of the EUK Education’s Careers Working Group, we are proud to support the launch of this new STEM careers guide.

“We hope it provides practical, actionable guidance to help career leads elevate STEM careers both within the school curriculum and as part of a broader careers education programme.” 

Download the guide  

Fettes College begins search for new head teacher

A recruitment process has begun for a new head teacher at Fettes College in Edinburgh, with the current Head Helen Harrison announcing her retirement from the role next year. The school has commissioned a specialist firm to help identify candidates, with applications due by 15 May.

Named after its founder, Sir William Fettes, the school opened in 1870 and has around 720 students with over 300 staff. It is the only school in Scotland to offer the option of A-Levels or International Baccalaureate in the Sixth Form and a top ten IB School in the UK. Although it currently serves young people aged 7 – 18, from next academic year it will also open a Pre-Prep and offer places to children from age five.

The Rt Hon Lady Morag Wise, Chair of the Governors, said: “Helen has selflessly devoted herself to Fettes for over 30 years – 19 in a senior leadership role and latterly seven as Head.

“She has made a significant contribution to the success of this place and her vision for Fettes has steered a path that ensures our students leave Fettes knowing themselves, looking out for others and ready to make a positive mark on their rapidly changing world.

“We are now beginning the work of securing a new Head in partnership with Perrett Laver to ensure we have someone worthy of leading this great school. The Governing Body is seeking a visionary educationalist who will bring energy and experience to the role of Head from September 2026. 

“This is a rare and career-defining opportunity for an outstanding leader.”

Helen Harrison said: “This place; the students and our staff mean the world to me, and it will always be the honour of my life to have led Fettes College and this community.

“I am immensely proud of our achievements, of seeing my vision for Fettes come to life, ground-breaking facilities under construction; and most importantly our students fulfilling their potential.

“However, by Founder’s Day next year it will be the right time to pass on this privilege to the next Head. Until that time it is business as usual and I will continue to give this job my absolute all.”