There will be significant travel disruption along the route of the Queen’s coffin on the afternoon of Tuesday 13 September.
Police Scotland will be putting in place numerous road closures from 1pm which will cause significant disruption across the city.
As a result, a number of schools and early years centres along the route will close early from 12 noon to allow pupils and staff time to return home safely before the Police Scotland closures are in place.
We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause. However, you will appreciate these are exceptional times.
All schools will open on Wednesday 14 September as normal.
The children of Winchburgh staked their ‘claim’ on their own designed playpark last Thursday. Over 500 children marked the official opening of the Auldcathie Playpark with a picnic and parade of flags featuring their reflections on Winchburgh.
Accompanied by local piper Rab Reid, 53 S1 pupils of the new Winchburgh Academy marched with flags, creating a colourful corridor to the playpark.
The ceremony was topped by John Hamilton, Chief Executive of Winchburgh Developments, handing the playpark over to the children who had designed it. The claim was made with a flag staked on top of the tallest slide mound.
Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow Constituency, joined the celebrations by holding the ribbon as Winchburgh Primary pupil Elodie Harris flew down the fly fox. She commented, “The Auldcathie Playpark is such a great addition to the village and the development of Winchburgh.
“Designed by the children who came together to claim the park for the children of the village, their piped parade from Winchburgh Academy, with their personally designed flags, is a memory I will carry for a long time.
“The joy and happiness and energy of the hundreds of Winchburgh children exploring this very big space of their own brand-new play area and play apparatus was very evident. It was a pleasure to join them and speak to them as part of the ‘opening claiming ceremony’ on this very special day.
“Thank you to the developers, park designers and engineers for building this very special place which will form a new heart to this growing village.”
John Hamilton, Chief Executive, Winchburgh Developments Ltd, commented,“It is fantastic to have the first phase of the Auldcathie development finally complete and marked with such a joyous occasion for the children of Winchburgh.
“The children have now claimed the playpark they designed, and we look forward to providing the next phase with more space for them to enjoy.”
The Auldcathie Playpark has received an investment of £300,000 from Winchburgh Developments and was designed by the children of Winchburgh, pre-covid. It consists of over 100 metres of children’s play facilities, with a sandpit and sensory areas for toddlers and young children, and adventure play areas for teenagers.
The most requested equipment now featured in the playpark includes a witch’s hat climbing frame, a 50-metre fly fox and a large slide.
Ian Harvey, Headteacher Winchburgh Primary School, commented, “We were delighted to attend the official opening of Auldcathie Playpark. This was a real-life learning experience for our pupils to see their playpark opened.
“Many learners have been involved in the initial design ideas, model building and visits to the construction site. This is another milestone in the history of our developing community. It was fantastic to share this experience with pupils from across the schools in Winchburgh.”
Mia Hendry flag bearer from Winchburgh Academy commented, “It’s been amazing to have been part of designing our new playpark and now seeing it in real life, it’s even better than we thought it would be.
“Being part of the ceremony today was a great way to open the park!”
Colette Murray Headteacher Holy Family Primary School commented, “It is so exciting for our pupils to attend the opening of Auldcathie Playpark, now sitting adjacent to our newly opened Primary School. Our pupils loved being part of the design process.”
One week before the release of Scotland’s exam results, Holyrood’s Education, Children and Young People Committee is recommending that replacing Education Scotland is an opportunity to ensure that Scotland’s education agency takes ownership for closing the poverty-related attainment gap.
In its report into the Scottish Attainment Challenge, the Committee notes with concern evidence the variation in education performance across local authorities in Scotland. The report asks Scotland’s education agency to urgently investigate the variations and set out the actions it is taking to ensure consistency across the country.
Teachers are singled out for praise in the report, despite some of the challenges faced in working towards closing the attainment gap. The teachers and headteachers who spoke to the Committee during the inquiry are described as “inspirational”.
Some of the Committee’s other recommendations are around ensuring that the voices of classroom teachers, parents, carers and children and young people are at the centre of plans for attainment challenge spending. The Committee asks the education agency to monitor this so that funding is used as effectively as possible.
The report also calls on the agency to monitor how local authorities ensure stability of funding for third sector partners, take account of the needs of rural schools and make sure that schools have access to external expertise to ensure they can measure the effectiveness of their interventions.
Sue Webber MSP, Convener of the Education, Children and Young People Committee, said: “During this inquiry the Committee heard positive stories about the work being done by schools to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap.
“However, in our report, we have noted Audit Scotland’s conclusion that there has been limited progress on closing the poverty-related attainment gap and that inequalities have been worsened by Covid-19.
“It is essential that the reforms to the Government’s education agency ensure the new schools inspectorate is able to monitor the effectiveness of the implementation of plans to close the poverty-related attainment gap.”
The allocation of funding is also examined in the report. Extra funding that was initially allocated to nine ‘challenge authorities’ is now being tapered in favour of a strategy which spreads funding across Scotland.
The Committee recognises that poverty exists throughout Scotland but asks the Scottish Government to monitor the impact of the tapering of funds from the challenge authorities and to report its findings.
With regards to how funds are spent, the Committee would like to see more work done on measuring the impact. Its report asks the Scottish Government to set out how it will, as a matter of urgency, establish a national baseline for measuring progress in closing the attainment gap following the pandemic.
It also asks the Government to explain how there will be sufficient challenge to ensure that both local and national targets are ambitious.
The type of activity primary school children do in PE lessons can affect how well they are able to focus afterwards, a new study has found.
Published in the British Journal of Education Psychology, the research found that physical activity performed as part of a group, rather than alone, had the greatest impact on children‘s attention scores.
Games-based activities also resulted in participants being better able to control their impulses.
Lead researcher of the Spanish study Dr Josune Rodriguez-Negro, who is a PhD researcher in the physical education and sport department of the University of the Basque Country, said: “The study findings highlight not only that physical education in schools can improve children’s attention and impulse control, both of which are linked to academic success – but also that different types of content can produce different results.
“Therefore it seems right to increase the amount of time children spend doing PE and for children to do PE first thing in the mornings to get the best results. Also, school leaders should select activity for lessons based on what they are looking to influence.”
A total of 135 children aged between six and eight took part in the study in a Spanish state school. They were split into three groups and each group was assigned to one of three intervention programmes: a balance intervention programme (BIP), a games-based programme (GBP) and a drama learning programme (DLP).
In the BIP intervention, children performed individual balance activities, like standing on one leg for a minute, whereas the other two interventions were group-based.
The study is believed to be the first to compare the effects of BIPs, GBPs and DLPs on children’s perception of the intensity of the intervention, how they felt and their cognitive functions.
The intervention programmes lasted eight weeks and were held during the school’s regular 90-minute weekly PE lesson, so there was no change to the structure of the school day.
Researchers found that after each intervention programme, children in the GBP and DLP groups ‘significantly’ improved their attention test scores.
Children in the GBP group also improved their impulse control scores.
However, children in the BIP group showed no improvement in either attention or impulse control scores. However, children in this group thought the activity they did was more intense than children in the other groups.
The type of activity children did had no bearing on how they felt during the intervention, they enjoyed it equally, whichever group they were.
● The Daily Mile has set out its ambition to reach 10 million children by 2032 at an event today at Scotland House in Birmingham during the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
● The event was to celebrate the 10th Birthday of the children’s health initiative, which started from a single school in Stirling in 2012 and now reaches over 3 million children around the world.
● Double Commonwealth Champion Colin Jackson CBE, Scottish Government Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport Maree Todd, Founder of The Daily Mile Elaine Wyllie MBE, and professors from Edinburgh & Stirling Universities spoke on the panel.
● The Daily Mile, supported by INEOS, is a transformative initiative where children run, jog, wheel or walk for fifteen minutes every day, improving the health, happiness and wellbeing of millions of children
The Daily Mile has laid out its ambition for the next 10 years at an event with the Scottish Government at Scotland House, University College Birmingham during the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
While celebrating the tremendous growth The Daily Mile has experienced since its inception 10 years ago, the event set out the goal to improve the wellbeing of 10 million children around the world by 2032.
Daily Mile Ambassador, Double Commonwealth Champion, World Champion and Olympian, Colin Jackson CBE chaired the event at Scotland House, University College Birmingham.
VIPs in attendance were Scottish Government Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport Maree Todd MSP, Founder of The Daily Mile Elaine Wyllie MBE, CBiol MRSB Associate Professor Epigenetics, Genetics and Physical Activity, Deputy Associate Dean for Research University of Stirling Dr Colin N Moran, and Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology The University of Edinburgh Dr Josie Booth.
Guests heard directly from the Scottish Government about Scotland’s ongoing commitment to growing The Daily Mile initiative. There was discussion about the positive impact The Daily Mile has on wellbeing and the most recent research and first-hand accounts from local teachers and pupils as well as the ambition to have more children take part across the UK and around the world.
Starting from just a single school in Stirling, there are now 3 million children in more than 14,000 schools taking part thanks to teachers and partners in 87 countries around the world.
More than 2,351,000 children in 9,700+ schools in the UK are signed up to The Daily Mile as more and more schools are joining every day.
The Daily Mile improves academic performance, physical and mental health, and ironically, even kids who have never exercised before love taking part, become fitter and more engaged with sport and P.E.
Elaine Wyllie MBE, Founder of The Daily Mile, says: “It is amazing to come together today with a successful group of former athletes, leaders and health professionals to lay out our ambition to see every child enjoy the benefits of The Daily Mile.
“Multiple scientific studies have shown that The Daily Mile improves fitness, allows teachers to develop trusted relationships with students, children achieve more at school and report feeling calmer and happier with better focus and mental wellbeing. We want to get 10 million children around the world doing The Daily Mile by 2032 and together we will make this happen.”
Colin Jackson CBE, Double Commonwealth Champion, World Champion and Olympian, says: “I am delighted to be here in Birmingham supporting The Daily Mile and celebrating its 10 years.
“The Daily Mile has made a significant impact on children’s wellbeing around the world. I am very proud to be associated with the programme and I am sure it will continue to inspire young people to maintain a healthy lifestyle in and out of school.”
Schools in Scotland are being warned to take precautions amid fears of a rise in crime over the summer holidays as cost of living soars.
As many schools across the country close their doors for the summer holidays, specialist insurer Ecclesiastical says schools will be an attractive target for criminals over the coming months.
Ecclesiastical is encouraging residents in Scotland who live near local schools to be vigilant this summer and report any unusual or suspicious activity they notice on school grounds.
Ecclesiastical has reported an uptick in schools being targeted over the summer months including vandalism, arson, break-ins, smashed windows, theft of lead from roofs and stolen laptops. In July last year, Kirkmichael Primary School1 in Perthshire was targeted by vandals who damaged the school’s playground including greenhouse and nursery playhouse.
Now with Covid-19 restrictions lifted and against a challenging economic backdrop and soaring prices, there are worries there will be a large spike in criminal activity.
Faith Kitchen, customer segment director at Ecclesiastical Insurance, said: “Schools are far more vulnerable during the summer holidays when school buildings are closed and largely unoccupied, tempting opportunists. It is vital that schools take steps to protect their premises from unscrupulous offenders.
“There are a number of measures schools can take to better secure school property and assets, which would ideally be a combination of both physical and electronic protection.
“Fencing around the perimeter can often offer a good first line of defence against unwanted visitors, while CCTV can act as a visual deterrent for those not wanting to be caught on camera. Vigilance from the local community can be a huge help.
“We urge those who live near schools to be vigilant this summer and report any unusual or suspicious activity they notice on school grounds.”
How to protect schools in Scotland this summer
Ensure CCTV systems have remote 24/7 monitoring services. Monitoring and alerting the police is far more effective than tracing criminals after a crime has taken place.
Install remotely monitored intruder alarms and change alarm security codes and passwords on a regular basis.
Install security lighting systems that have motion sensors to detect body movements.
Restrict access to school premises. Well-designed perimeter security such as walls, fences and electric security gates, and anti-climb paint help to prevent people from getting onto school sites.
Restrict vehicular access to the school site. Locate any designated parking as far from the school building as possible. The further thieves have to travel on foot the greater the risk of detection.
Use security marking systems such as SmartWater which can help with successful prosecution of thieves.
Ask the local community near your school to be vigilant and report any unusual or suspicious activity they notice on school grounds.
Inform neighbourhood watch schemes / police liaison officers of planned work over the holidays as thieves might pose as contractors.
Seek advice. Specialist insurers can offer advice and expertise to help schools manage security risks. Insurers can offer a combination of onsite and remote risk management services including security assessments and advice, alongside broader property protection and building valuation services.
Ecclesiastical Insurance offers a range of risk management support and guidance to help schools manage the risks they face.
Package of measures will increase childcare support for parents, boost the number of childminders and drive take up of childcare offers, to address rising costs
The UK government has today announced ambitious new plans to improve the cost, choice and availability of childcare that will benefit hundreds of thousands of parents across the country.
The UK has some of the highest-quality childcare provision in the world with 96% of early years settings rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding, but it is also one of the biggest costs facing working families today. This means some families, in particular women, feel they are not able to return to the workplace after giving birth due to the high cost of putting their child into paid care.
With the cost of living continuing to rise, the UK government says it is committed to doing everything it can to support families with their finances while keeping people in high-wage, secure jobs that help grow the economy. New plans are being set out today to ensure high-quality and affordable childcare is accessible to all.
To drive down costs for providers and parents, a new consultation will look at increasing the number of children that can be looked after by each staff member in early years settings.
It will propose changing staff-to-child ratios from 1:4 to 1:5 for two-year-olds, giving providers more flexibility in how they run their businesses while maintaining safety and quality of care. Childcare for children aged 0-2 is the most expensive for providers to deliver, largely given the need for higher supervision levels.
This could potentially eventually reduce the cost of this form of childcare by up to 15%, or up to £40 per week for a family paying £265 per week for care for their 2-year-old, if providers adopt the changes and pass all the savings on to parents.
Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi said: “Every child deserves a great start in life and that means giving families the support they need.
Childcare is an integral part of our economy, and these reforms prove again that this government is on the side of working families. I’m hugely grateful to the thousands of dedicated early years professionals who provide daily care and education to our youngest children, which is why I am determined to support them by giving them greater flexibility in how they run their services.
This in turn will support thousands of families across the country, helping to develop children’s skills while also supporting parents into work.
The Westminster government will also increase choice and affordability for parents by taking action to open up the childminder market.
While early years settings such as nurseries are the most popular option for families, childminders are generally the most affordable and flexible form of childcare. While the average cost of a two-year-old attending a nursery for 50 hours a week in England is £265 per week, this compares to £236 with a childminder. The government will support more people to become childminders by:
Reducing the upfront costs of becoming a childminder via financial support;
Allowing childminders to spend more of their time working from a greater range of locations – for example a local community centre or village hall rather than their own home;
Giving childminders greater flexibilities within the ratios when looking after their own children or siblings of other children;
Working with Ofsted to reduce inspection of childminders; and
Slimming down the childminder specific Early Years Foundation Stage, reducing the framework by one-third to ensure content is targeted and simpler to navigate.
Government will streamline the Ofsted registration process for providers. More providers registering would mean that parents have a wider choice of providers on which to use these schemes, to pay for childcare that supports their working lives.
The government will also encourage the growth of Childminder Agencies (CMAs). CMAs could ultimately become major players in the childcare market – stimulating competition and driving down costs while providing parents with more options for care. CMAs are central bodies that remove the individual administrative and regulatory burden on childminders, as well as often providing parents with tools such as mobile apps through which to book their childcare.
Minister for Children and Families Will Quince said: “I’m proud of the excellent quality of childcare and early education in England, which is a huge asset to working parents. But too many are struggling to balance work with childcare costs.
“We know there are thousands of parents who are eligible for government support but not taking it up. That’s why we want to increase awareness of the existing childcare offers, allow providers to provide services more flexibly and make sure funding gets where it is needed most.”
Also announced today is an additional £10 million investment for Maintained Nursery Schools, into the supplementary funding they receive from 2023-24.
These settings often care for some of the most disadvantaged children in the country and have additional costs that other early years settings do not – such as the requirement to have a headteacher – because they are constituted as schools.
Since the introduction of the Early Years National Funding Formula in 2017, the UK government has provided supplementary funding for these nurseries to protect their funding levels.
This additional funding forms part of a separate consultation on plans to reform how early years funding is distributed around England, to ensure the system is fair, effective and responsive to changing levels of need.
The UK government has spent more than £4 billion each year for the last five years helping families with the cost of childcare, but almost one million eligible families have not taken up their right to Tax-Free Childcare, which is worth £2,000 per year or £4,000 for children with disabilities. Universal Credit Childcare allows families to reclaim 85% of their childcare costs, worth up to £1,108 per month.
The government is also driving a renewed campaign via the Childcare Choices website so parents can access the support they are entitled to, through a ramped-up marketing campaign backed by £1.2 million, which launched last week. This will also encourage providers to take the necessary steps to offer the full range of childcare support to parents using their services.
Exchequer Secretary Helen Whately said: “Tax-Free Childcare provides a helping hand with childcare costs for working families but thousands of parents could be missing out.
“With almost one million families eligible, I want to encourage parents to take advantage of this support of up to £2,000 per year for each child.”
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Thérèse Coffey said: “We want more people to take up Universal Credit childcare financial support that is available now to help working families.
“We also want more childcare providers to register with Ofsted and unlock more places that can be subsidised to help with the cost of living.”
The government also offers 15 hours per week of free childcare or early education for all 3- and 4-year-olds, rising to 30 hours for working families, and 15 hours for disadvantaged 2-year-olds.
The Government recently announced that eight million of the most vulnerable households (around a third of all UK households) will receive £1,200 this year and all families will receive £400 – this is on top of changes to Universal Credit, National Living Wage and National Insurance thresholds, so that people keep more of what they earn.
This takes total government cost of living support to over £37 billion – higher than other major economies around the world.
Gemma, from Portsmouth, a mum of one uses Tax-Free Childcare. She said: As a working mum, it can be tough balancing childcare. But Tax-Free Childcare allows me to free up cash that can cover the costs of other things – when you’re talking about saving 20% of your childcare costs it can make a big difference.
The Government has recently launched a new website which brings government support on offer together in one place so the public can see what support they could be eligible for: www.gov.uk/costoflivingsupport
Featuring on radio, social media and bus stop advertising, the campaign aims to increase parents’ awareness and understanding of the childcare support available to them from the government, and maximise the number of people who take up our offer. This will coincide with the school summer holidays, maximising take up over the long break and beyond.
The campaign will signpost to parents, bringing together in one place the support available through Universal Credit, Tax-Free Childcare and 15-30 hours free childcare, clearly setting out eligibility requirements and providing a handy calculator so parents can estimate their entitlement. We will also look at simplifying the website further to make it as easy as possible for parents to understand the support available.
Universal Credit’s childcare offer can save families hundreds of pounds each month – for example, a single parent with a young child who works in social care three days a week could benefit by around £500 a month if they claimed support for their childcare costs.
Tax-Free Childcare helps working families, including the self-employed, to reduce their household costs and keep more of what they earn. Working parents with annual salaries of up to £100,000 can get up to £2,000 of childcare support each year, or £4,000 for children with disabilities.
Recent Tax-Free Childcare statistics from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have revealed that 512,415 families received up to £2,000 towards the cost of their childcare during the 2021 to 2022 tax year, up from 374,135 in the previous year. More than 384,000 families used Tax-Free Childcare in March 2022 – the highest monthly number of families recorded using the scheme since it was launched in April 2017.
The announcements follow visits by Children’s Minister Will Quince to the Netherlands, Sweden, France and Scotland – whose staff:child ratios for two-year-olds the consultation launched today seeks to mirror.
The Government will also explore how to improve recruitment and retention of staff in the sector, giving parents as much confidence in the care their child receives as possible.
Over 2,000 pupils to be involved via classrooms and online events
The Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour will bring two fantastic authors into schools this summer.
Ross Mackenzie, the recent winner of the Scottish Teenage Book Prize, will visit primary schools in Perth and Kinross as well as online from Monday 20 to Tuesday 21 June. As part of the tour he will discuss his latest novel, The Colour of Hope, a powerful adventure of a world purged of colour by an evil Emperor and the remarkable girl who might just be able to restore light and brightness to a drab, grey empire. Ross will explain how he creates his immensely likeable characters and vivid fantasy worlds, with time for pupils to ask questions.
Kate Gilby-Smith, author of Olive Jones and the Memory Thief, will visit primary schools in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and West Lothian from Thursday 23 to Friday 24 June. She will talk about Olive Jones and the Memory Thief, an ideal read for any budding scientists, tech industry pioneers and daydreamers. Kate will also use brilliant interactive activities to get children thinking about how they can come up with their own futuristic gadgets.
Ross Mackenzie is a multi award-winning author of books for children, including The Nowhere Emporium, which won the Blue Peter Book Award. He grew up in Renfrew, just outside Glasgow, and knew from a young age that he wanted to be a writer.
Kate Gilby-Smith is a children’s author and publicist based in London. While daydreaming during a philosophy of time travel seminar at the University of Edinburgh, she first had the idea for her debut book, The Astonishing Future of Alex Nobody.
The Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour is supported by Scottish Friendly and organised by Scottish Book Trust, the national charity transforming lives through reading and writing. During the pandemic, the tour has been delivered virtually throughout classrooms in Scotland, with educational watch on demand video content viewed over 100,000 times.
Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust said:“It’s wonderful that the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour is able to visit pupils both in person and via online events.
“Thanks to this, we are able to visit more classrooms than ever before, and this tour alone will reach over 2,000 pupils. Both Ross and Kate are great storytellers, and we are sure they will inspire pupils across a range of ages.”
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is educating young people about the detrimental impacts of air pollution and what can be done to tackle it as part of Clean Air Day.
Schools, businesses, local authorities and other organisations across Scotland, and beyond, are taking part in Clean Air Day – a national air quality campaign. Now in its sixth year, Clean Air Day’s theme is ‘Air pollution impacts our health from our first breath to our last’.
Air quality sensors are being installed at a number of schools across Scotland this week (June 13 – 17) as part of SEPA’s work. These have been installed at the request of the schools and will allow pupils to access real time air quality data, identifying issues such as vehicle idling around pick-up and drop-off times or even regional pollution events depending on the weather.
The pupils will then use this information to help put into practice positive actions they are learning through SEPA and Glasgow Science Centre’s ‘Our Amazing Air’ education programme to reduce air pollution.
Over the last six weeks as part of ‘Our Amazing Air’, youngers have been taking part in bespoke lessons and experiments about air pollution, how it affects our health and the environment and what positive steps can be taken to tackle the issue. This project has been delivered in conjunction with Glasgow Science Centre, as part of its long running partnership with SEPA.
SEPA has contributed to teaching materials for ‘Our Amazing Air’, with air quality experts visiting some of the participating schools and speaking directly to pupils about these issues.
The pupils have been keen to ask the experts about the serious issues and impacts around air quality and to discuss the practical measures that can be put in place to reduce overall pollution levels. The children have also been busy producing artwork and colourful banners to be displayed outside their schools.
Dr Colin Gillespie, SEPA’s Air Modelling Unit Manager, said: “Good air quality is essential for a good quality of life, helping maintain human health and wellbeing and our climate and habitats. It is also vital in our work towards becoming a net zero nation.
“There are many ways to improve air quality but, like climate change, it is vital to involve younger generations and inform them about the issues facing our environment today.
“Everyone has a part to play in helping to improve air quality and tackle pollution – and education is a vital part of this. SEPA works with local authorities and schools across the country to promote, educate and inform about air pollution. This year’s ‘Our Amazing Air’ programme was a great way to teach children about air pollution, how it impacts our health and the environment and what positive steps we can take.
“Clean Air Day gives everyone an important opportunity to consider how we can change or adapt our behaviour to improve the quality of our air and spread the positive message about the benefits of clean air.”
John Bynorth, Policy and Communications Officer at Environmental Protection Scotland, which coordinates Clean Air Day on behalf of the Scottish Government, said: “We are delighted with SEPA’s work to promote efforts for children to learn about air quality across schools in Scotland on Clean Air Day.
“These citizen science projects help young people better understand air pollution impacts and pollution sources. This contributes to their households making informed choices about the simple steps they can take to reduce their contribution and exposure to pollution and encourage cycling and walking.
“There is an ever-increasing body of evidence that suggests air pollution affects every part of the human body, from the lungs and heart to the brain, and even during pregnancy. On Clean Air Day, we can all do something to cut air pollution to benefit our health and the planet. On June 16, let us all work together to make Scotland’s air quality the best in Europe.”
Air pollution monitoring
SEPA initially started educational work around air pollution monitoring with a national teaching package (www.learnaboutair.com), that was developed with North Lanarkshire Council. Through the years, SEPA has extended its work into the classrooms up and down the country, working with more than half of Scotland’s local authorities on air pollution monitoring and educational projects.
Where possible, SEPA has been undertaking air quality monitoring around schools (on request or in partnership with local authorities) and this information is provided to allow pupils to learn about air pollution and how they can take steps to reduce air pollution around their schools.
School pupils in Edinburgh have helped mark Clean Air Day 2022 by pledging their own clean air goals.
This year, Clean Air Day highlights the negative impact poor air quality can have on our health, encouraging people to leave the car at home and take alternative, more sustainable modes of transport like walking, cycling or public transport where possible.
Sciennes was the first primary school in Edinburgh to set up a ‘bike bus’ – where children, parents and marshals group together to cycle, walk or wheel along an agreed route to school.
It was also amongst the first nine schools to introduce ‘School Streets’, which restricts cars outside the gates at the start and end of the day to create safe and welcoming environments for travel by foot, bike or wheel.
Councillor Scott Arthur, Transport and Environment Convener, joined pupils yesterday to find out about their efforts to travel sustainably, as well as sharing some of the work to improve air quality and support environmentally friendly travel across Edinburgh.
This includes a Low Emission Zone, which was formally introduced on 31 May and will limit the most polluting motor vehicles in the city centre.
He said:“We all have a right to breathe clean air and today we’re reminded just how important that is to our health and wellbeing. I’m proud to see our youngest residents engaged in the conversation about better air quality – they will be the catalysts for change.
“We owe it to future generations to do everything we can to create a cleaner, greener city for everyone. Thankfully there’s already lots going on – just last month the Council introduced a Low Emission Zone in Edinburgh, which will tackle air pollution in the densely populated city centre, with knock-on improvements to air quality expected across the wider city area. This will save lives.
“This is just one of a number of tools at our disposal to reduce air pollution. From investment in public transport, including bringing the tram to Newhaven, to transforming the city centre and areas around Edinburgh through our 20-minute neighbourhood programme, which encourages people to travel locally in ways that are cleaner, greener and improve our wellbeing, and progressing major walking, wheeling and cycling projects like George Street and City Centre West to East Link, I want to support people to make healthy, sustainable transport choices.”
John Bynorth, Policy and Communications Officer at Environmental Protection Scotland said: “The main thing we’re focusing on with this year’s national air quality campaign is that air pollution affects every part of your body.
“A lot of people know about the impacts relating to conditions like asthma, bronchitis and heart and lung disease but there’s emerging evidence that it affects your brain and cognitive ability and there’s research into how it affects unborn babies in pregnancy.
“It’s really fantastic what Edinburgh’s doing with Clean Air Day, particularly so soon after the launch of the Low Emission Zone, which is going to make a real difference to the health and wellbeing of people in the Capital.”
Lucy Gallagher, Acting Head Teacher of Sciennes Primary School, said: “We are very pleased to continue our support for Clean Air Day to raise awareness of children’s right to good health and to promote active travel. Our young people know that air pollution can harm the human body.
“They also know that young people are even more at risk and so they want to speak out to make a difference! We would like all our children to have clean air every day on their safe and active route to school.
Activities have been taking place in schools around the Capital in the lead-up to Clean Air Day. Pupils from Stenhouse, Craiglockhart and St Mary’s RC Leith primary schools have each designed clean air banners for their school gates as part of a dedicated poster competition launched jointly by SEPA and the Council.
Blackhall and St Mary’s East London Street primary schools have created banners through Our Amazing Air, a learning programme run by Glasgow Science Centre and SEPA.
On Thursday, children from Preston Street Primary School shared their ‘Clean Air Heroes’ with each other before cheering on classmates leaving school by foot, wheel or bike and at Canal View Primary School an air quality sensor was installed this week so pupils can learn about air pollution.
A new, dedicated webpage, Future Edinburgh, was also established this week to highlight projects underway or in planning that aim to address climate change, population growth and poverty, as well as tackling issues like air pollution and congestion.
Amongst initiatives are the development of 20-minute neighbourhoods to create a network of healthier, greener and thriving local areas where everyone can meet most of their daily needs within a short walk, wheel or cycle from their home, City Centre Transformation and Trams to Newhaven.
Next month, for Childhood Day, schools across Scotland and the rest of the UK will come together to raise funds for the NSPCC. This will help us deliver our services and support children across the country.
Childhood Day is the charity’s flagship fundraising event, when the public are encouraged to embrace their inner child, celebrating play to put the fun into fundraising.
As part of the celebration on 10 June, we are encouraging schools and nurseries to take part in The Big Breaktime – an extra hour of play with pupils, staff and parents being encouraged to give a small donation towards funding vital NSPCC projects, like Childline.
https://youtu.be/mMcOHBaKkN0
Schools can sign up for The Big Breaktime via the NSPCC’s Childhood Day hub The Big Breaktime | NSPCC From there, they will be able to download lots of exciting resources to help them plan a Big Breaktime in their school.
To sign up to the Big Breaktime, all you have to do is visit the NSPCC website, search for The Big Breaktime and fill in your school’s details with the registration form.
