Children and Families Latest News

On this page:

• Education, Children and Families Committee - 18 June 2008
• Education, Children and Families Committee - 3 June
• Cross Party Forum on rationalisation - 22 April
• Education, Children and Families Committee – 15 April
• City of Edinburgh Council meeting - 13 March
• Education, Children and Families Committee - 18 March

See the Annual Meetings Calendar 2008-09 (Excel) for the dates of upcoming meetings.

For past items and details of previous meetings see the Children and Families news archive.

Also see details of the current review of the Support to Children and Young People division.

Education, Children and Families Committee - 18 June 2008

The Education, Children and Families Committee will meet on 18 June to consider the initial recommendations of the Cross party forum which has been set up to review the Children and Families estate.

The forum has made initial recommendations to consult on the closure of three primary schools in Edinburgh (Bonnington, Lismore and Westburn).

The forum was set up six months ago to look at the problems and issues resulting from the fall in recent years of the child population in Edinburgh, with the number of pupils attending primary schools dropping by 5500 (18%) in the last ten years.

The Director of Children and Families, Gillian Tee, said: “I must stress there has been no decision to close the schools and it is important that there is full consultation. Options will now be examined in much greater detail to make sure the right decisions are made.

“The Education, Children and Families Committee will talk about how this should be done. It is likely that Elected Members will ask for detailed papers to be prepared and for a period of wider public consultation to begin at the end of the summer.

“This will give everyone an opportunity to look at the details of the proposal, ask questions, give their views, comments, ideas and suggestions and help us to understand what different outcomes could mean for schools and communities”.

The report that will go to the committee meeting on 18 June is now available on Council Papers Online (use the Committee Search button and enter the date and title of the meeting).

Education, Children and Families Committee - 3 June 2008

A number of reports will go to the committee including:

School Link Officers (Lothian and Borders Police)

Following on from the successful initiative that has seen police officers based in Boroughmuir and Tynecastle High Schools, the scheme will be extended to another four city secondary schools.

The project has seen improvements in behaviour at both lunch and finish times. In addition school exclusions have been avoided or reduced through early intervention as have the escalation of minor incidents.

Discussions are currently taking place to identify the four additional schools and the link officers will start in two of the schools in August with the remaining two schools getting involved in the project from January 2009.

Community Based Adult Education

This year adult education in Edinburgh will be celebrating 100 years of classes in the city. Another reason to celebrate will be the fact that this year there will be no increase in charges. The adult education programme runs a wide range of day, evening and weekend courses and the new programme will be launched in August with a special open event taking place at Drummond Community High School on Saturday 30 August

Assessment of Primary Class Sizes of 18

This report includes information on the current situation in Edinburgh’s primary schools and considers what work would need to be undertaken to allow Edinburgh to meet the Scottish Government’s class size target of 18 for P1 to P3

Parent Councils

The progress report on the first year of Parent Council’s highlights the fact that by April 2008 109 Parent Council’s had been established in Edinburgh’s schools. The work undertaken by Parent Council’s is also highlighted in the report.

Other reports going to the committee include:

• Child Protection Action Plan and Progress Report
• Anti-bullying and Anti-discrimination in Schools
• English as an Additional Language – Pressures and Priorities
• Emergency Works to Portobello High School

You can view reports in Council Papers Online by using the Committee Search button and entering the date and title of the meeting.

Cross Party Forum on rationalisation - 22 April 2008

Gillian Tee, Director of Children and Families, the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “At today's meeting the group discussed population projections, the effect of immigration on school rolls and the Scottish Government's request that local authorities work towards having primary class sizes of 18. The Group also took on board feedback from the Consultative Committee for Parents and School Councils on the criteria for evaluating the school estate.

"We are still discussing the primary estate and my officers have been asked to come back to the next meeting of the Forum with more detailed information. I am absolutely clear that the Forum is not ready to recommend any school for closure or amalgamation at this stage.”

Education, Children and Families Committee – 15 April 2008

The next meeting of the Education, Children and Families Committee will take place on Tuesday 15 April. A number of key reports will go to this committee including the Children and Families Service Plan, Organisational Review and Attainment Report 2007.

Further information on these reports is included in this update and the full Agenda and Committee papers can be found on Council Papers Online by using the Committee Search button and entering the date and title of the meeting.

Children and Families Service Plan

The draft Children and Families Service Plan is due to go to the Education, Children and Families Committee on Tuesday 15 April.

The department’s vision is for all children and young people in Edinburgh to enjoy their childhood and achieve their full potential.

Our strategic objectives are:

• Children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed
• Children and young people are successful learners, confident individuals, and responsible citizens who make positive contributions to their communities
• Improve life chances, especially for those children, young people and families who are at risk
• Children and young people are physically and emotionally healthy
• Children and young people are protected from harm or fear of harm within their communities
• Children and young people live free from poverty and we reduce inequalities
• Make effective use of resources

The plan sets out how we aim to achieve these objectives and sets targets and priorities for our service over the next three years. This plan will then feed into the wider multi-agency Children’s Plan for Edinburgh.

Organisational Review of Children and Families

A report on the outcome of the consultation on the Organisational Review of Children and Families will also go to the Education, Children and Families Committee. 137 responses were received that included staff, trade unions, schools, parent councils and other agencies.

There was general support for a number of the proposals including:

• Reducing the six Heads of Service to four and reducing the overall number of management posts
• Bringing together all services for vulnerable children including social work services, under leadership of one Head of Service
• Strengthening leadership of early years, community learning and development and schools under one Head of Service.

As a result of the proposals a number of changes have taken place and these are outlined in the report. In addition a further review of the service providing Support to Children and Families will take place to address the challenges faced by social work teams.

The recommendations put forward to committee will enable the Children and Families Department to address the budget pressures it faces and will result in £2 million savings to be achieved on an annual basis.

Attainment Report 2007

A report on achievement at pre-five and special and attainment in primary and secondary schools in 2007 has also been published and will go to the committee. This report includes information on 5-14 attainment levels for individual primary and secondary schools as well as exam result information for secondary schools.

City of Edinburgh Council Meeting - 13 March 2008

Youngedinburgh

Each year at one of the council meetings, young people are invited to attend to provide an update on their involvement in Youngedinburgh during the past year.

The first part of the council meeting on 13 March has been reserved for this purpose. At the meeting, MORI will outline the results of the Viewfinder Survey which is carried out every three years to get the views of young people across the city.

In addition, a number of young people will give a presentation to Councillors and outline their achievements over the past year.

Schools PPP2 Contract Report

A report on the schools PPP project will also go to the council meeting. The report provides an update on recent contract negotiations to address the site issues at Craigroyston Community High School and also includes changes in the proposed opening dates for several of the schools.

* Holy Rood would be complete by Easter break but the move would be delayed until the summer holiday to avoid any disruption close to the main exam period.

Other papers at the meeting include:

• Council Funding to Third Parties
• Scottish Futures Trust – Response to Consultation

View reports in Council Papers Online by using the Committee Search button and entering the date and title of the meeting.

Education, Children and Families Committee - 18 March 2008

Strategic Management of School Provision: Intakes for August 2008

Initial indications are that the number of pupils entering P1 in August 2008 will be higher than the previous year although primary rolls overall continue to fall. In January 2007 there were 3,641 registered catchment pupils whereas comparable date as of 2008 shows 3,771 which is an increase of 130 (3.5%).

By contrast similar date for the secondary school (S1) intake suggests a drop of 114 pupils (3%) compared to 2007. Partly as a consequence of this drop in registrations, all catchment pupils will be accepted at their secondary schools without a need to prioritise out placing requests. There are still localised problems at some primary schools in meeting catchment needs and the report identifies the issues and how they will be managed.

Other reports going to the committee meeting are:

• School Session Dates 2009/10
• Education (Additional Support for Learning Scotland Act 2004) – Review of progress
• Child Protection Action Plan
• Report concerning the changes introduced by, and council implementation of, the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 and associated regulations, guidance and strategy
• Policy on the placement of children and young people with kinship carers
• Burdiehouse/Southhouse Community Centre
• Performance Report – Children and Families – Dec 2007/Jan 2008-03-11
• 20:20 Vision initiative – update
• Naming of Early Years Centre based at Queensferry Primary School

View the committee reports in Council Papers Online by using the Committee Search button and entering the date of the meeting and the name of the Committee that you are looking for.

Older news

For news items previously featured here, see the Children and Families news archive.