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Thursday 23 June 2005 |
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Welcome to the Children and Families newsletter This newsletter is published every two weeks and reaches out to the entire Children and Families Department. It is available online at the Edinburgh Grid for Learning at http://egfl.net We want to hear about the work being done in your team so please call or send us your stories, pictures, info on new staff, celebrations, special events, news etc. You can email us at gayle.st.croix@educ.edin.gov.uk or give us a call on 0131 469 3429. The copy deadline for the next issue is Monday 4 July. Social
Work review seeks contributions on service delivery The review's second call for contributions asks: As social work services are increasingly delivered through a mixed economy involving local authorities, voluntary and private organisations, how can each of these best contribute to the strategic planning, commissioning, purchasing and providing of services? As more people are going to need social care services over the next 20 years, meeting this need might involve working in different ways such as intervening at an earlier stage or different public services working together in new ways. What can social work and other public services, individuals and communities do differently to meet and manage this need and what changes are needed in the balance between an individual's right to social care services and their own or their family's responsibility for care? With improvements in technology likely to help in the delivery of social care services in the future, how can technology help people to meet their own social care needs and how can it be used in the organisation of services in the future? The deadline for responses to the review's second call for contributions is Friday 22 July and they can be emailed to 21csocialworkreview@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or posted to 21st Century Social Work Review, SWSPD, Scottish Executive, 1F South, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ. To find out more about 21st Century Social Work Review and the second call for contributions, visit www.21csocialwork.org.uk or call 0131 244 7683. St Thomas of Aquin’s
High School HMI report published Andrew McSorely, Head Teacher said: "This report is a fantastic achievement for the school community. I am delighted that relationships between staff and pupils have been described as 'positive' and that pupils 'enjoyed being at school, felt safe and secure and got on well with other pupils.'" For more information, please click here. Football clubs urged to take a shot at a Fairtrade ballScottish Premier Clubs are being urged to take a shot at using Fairtrade footballs to help tackle third world poverty. The City of Edinburgh Council has written to the Scottish Premier League, the Scottish Football League and the Scottish Football Association, urging them to consider using Fairtrade footballs in their community coaching schemes. The Council recently launched an initiative to provide every school and community centre in Edinburgh with a Fairtrade football. The initiative was launched at Tynecastle and Easter Road stadiums with the help of local school children. It was held in conjunction with the Show Racism the Red Card scheme, which has the Council’s full support. Kingsinch School gets glowing report For more information about the report, click here. New sports facilities planned for
Bangholm Planning permission has been sought for the
project, which will be completed from money from the Big Lottery Fund
and the Council’s capital expenditure programme. If planning
permission is granted, work will start on site in the autumn to provide
two rugby pitches, a synthetic hockey floodlit pitch, a cricket wicket,
training area, outdoor education base, six changing rooms and a
function/meeting room. The centre will also be used as a resource for
teaching before students embark on outdoor education trips. St David’s Primary HMI
report published Commenting on the report Head Teacher, Rosemary McMillan, said: “I am delighted with the report and I am particularly pleased that recognition has been given to the whole team here at St David’s including teachers, parents, support staff and pupils. Support from the parents has been fantastic throughout the review process and this report has really helped to cement what was already a very strong school community. For more information, please visit the news site. The Edinburgh Conference 2005:
Global Learning Delegates will engage in a conversation with Peter Peacock, Minister for Education and Young People, about Scotland’s place in the world of learning. With input from high profile international speakers and a selection of challenging workshops, the conference will explore best practice in the pursuit of excellence, professionalism and leadership in a global context. You are invited to join us on a path of discovery in how best to grow confident, successful citizens of the world. Book your place now by contacting Jackie on 0131 469 3095 or email jackie.mclachlan@educ.edin.gov.uk G8 events in Edinburgh: Time to Talk - Time to Act
Events include theatre, music, debates, exhibitions, conferences, film, dance. Printed brochures have been distributed to council establishments. For more information, please email martin.hutchison@educ.edin.gov.uk The Standard Life Edinburgh Achievement
Awards 2005 The Standard Life Edinburgh Achievement
Awards 2005 celebrate success, best practice, and innovation in all
aspects of Children and Families work and we would like to hear from
you. Closing Date for Applications is Friday 15 July 2005. Two of our senior and long serving staff will shortly be retiring. Alasdair Mackintosh, NLO for North West and Dixon Clark, Senior Community Education Manager for the City Centre will be leaving us in the near future. After graduating from Edinburgh University, Alasdair Mackintosh started his teaching career in Wandsworth, London and returned to Edinburgh in April 1978 when he joined the former Lothian Region's Education Department. Alasdair's first post in Lothian Region was as an Assistant Divisional Education Officer. Following several promotions within the department, Alasdair took up his current post of Neighbourhood Liaison Officer following council reorganisation in 1996. Dixon Clark started his career in 1971 with the then West Lothian County Council as a Youth Worker and therefore is one of the few staff within the department who has gone through two local government reorganisations - moving to Lothian Regional Council and then on to the City of Edinburgh Council's Community Education Divison when it was created. Most recently he has held the post of Senior Community Education Manager following the restructuring of the community education service. I am sure you will join us in wishing both Alasdair and Dixon well in their retirement. In addition we are pleased to welcome Iain Shaw, Principal Finance Manager for Children and Families. Iain is taking over from David Robertson who has been promoted to Business Support Manager within the Finance Department. Iain first joined Lothian Regional Council in 1986 and has had an education remit in Corporate Finance since 2001. Success
stories
As in previous years they will start with their sports and school leavers will go home with records of their time in nursery. They will also be celebrating the fact that they have received a Gold Road Safety Award on their first application. Earlier in the year, the school's road safety officer, Bridget Strachan worked in various ways to increase safety awareness: children and parents completed a traffic trail; parents found out more about car safety and staff hosted a twilight with staff from a neighbouring nursery school. Children proudly wear their fluorescent vests when out of nursery, are members of the traffic club and enjoy gym card activities in the Community Centre. Portobello scoops Enterprise
Awards Portobello High School was entered in the "Schools for All" category and was runner up to Drumchapel High School in Glasgow. Their submission was from the Alternative Education Department where pupils on the Lothian Step Up Programme worked alongside Nick Guise (teacher/classroom assistant) to plan an art exhibition and sale of their work. Works of art on display ranged from stained glass mirrors, sculptures and paintings, to jewellery. The pupils learned valuable lessons about working with adults in a positive way, and improved their communication skills and employability. The event raised £911 and donations were made to Magdalene, Northfield and Portobello Community Centres. Songs of praise for winning
choir In the "Choirs from Youth Organisations" the children sang 'The Forth Rail Bridge Song' and 'You Are My Brother" and received a Certificate of Excellence. The next class was "Scots Songs" and the choir won this with a Certificate of Outstanding Performance and were presented with The William Baird Trophy for singing 'Air Falalalo' and Highland Cathedral'. The third class was "Hymns" where the choir sang 'Come and Join The Celebration' and 'Lord, You Have Come To The Seashore' beautifully to receive another Certificate of Outstanding Performance and The Joan Simson Trophy. The choir were also delighted to receive comments from the adjudicator Colin Touchin, including "...a real sense of joy in the phrasing", "...delicate and delicious", Excellent rhythmic control", '...the resonant and sonorous climax of Highland Cathedral and the gentle conclusion is admirably drawn.", "...Impressive quality of tone and tuning - delightful to listen to...". The children returned to school feeling very proud of their success. The world
comes to Bonnington Parents, carers, older children in school and other friends were invited into the Nursery to read a story to the children. Some parents brought in food or an idea for an activity related to the story as well. Each parent and carer chose which story to read. When possible, the story was something that gave the parents the chance to talk about their country of origin or their language. This project has also
helped Bonnington to extend a warm welcome to some of these
families who have recently arrived in Edinburgh. Feedback from the children shows how much they have appreciated
their parents reading a book in their Nursery (‘Cool!’) and
bringing home a book with lots of photos of people and events that are
part of their daily life there.
Need IT work done over the
summer?
A reminder to teaching staff -
please immediately send in requests for IT work which you need done
over the summer.
BT want to make sure your requests are handled effectively and want to avoid backlogs in August wherever possible. Head teachers and business managers were e-mailed recently with all the relevant information so please check with them for more details. When making any requests, please include the following details:
- contacts available during the break
who can answer queries and approve spend
- all details including SYTA numbers,
room locations and new/existing user account details
- location of software media and
licence agreements.
Last chance for some free wheelin'
! login: edinburgh then password: smartcity Software updates
The Phoenix Ingres Project (aka PIP), which will
replace the schools and HQ pupil admin system has recently identified
its preferred supplier for the new software to replace Phoenix Gold
and the Ingres central pupil database.
Subject to reference site visits and contract negotiations, we will be looking at implementing SEEMIS's software to meet our future needs in this important area of children's information. Thanks go to all those who have helped in the process so far, from defining our current state of affairs, our vision for the future and evaluating the software options available. The project team is still working on the costs and benefits of moving forward and will package together all the information gathered in the "Business Case" to be delivered to the Senior Management Team in July.
Jobs
For details of teaching vacancies in
Edinburgh please visit the following link: http://channel1.internal.egfl.net |
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