Back to School

Welcome back! The summer has flown by and it’s almost time for the new school year to begin. This month, our new look eNewsletter is packed full of useful things for the year ahead. Simply click on the menu buttons below to jump down to the article you want to read.

Exam results
Exam results came out this week – we hope your teenager got what they were hoping for! Nationally, the results held steady for the third year in a row. There was a drop in the number of pupils being presented for Highers and National 4’s, however, passes for Higher stayed at over 150,000. Click here to read more.

Exam Results Helpline
If your child didn’t quite achieve what they were hoping to, or did better than expected, the Skills Development Scotland Exam Results Helpline is open until Wednesday 16 August. Trained advisors are on hand to help your young person decide on their next steps. They can also offer advice to you as a parent. The number to call is 0808 100 8000. You can find more information about the service here.

Understanding your child’s qualifcations
Do you fully understand your child’s exam results and the meaning of their qualifications? The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework can help you compare your child’s qualifications to your own, and enable you and your teenager to make decisions about future learning and progression routes. Click here for more information.

Help for Parent Councils & PTAs
If your parent council or PTA has new members or office bearers, or maybe your whole group is new to the world of parent councils, fear not. SPTC has a huge resource of leaflets and guides for every role, every event, every eventuality. Find them here.

Using the SPTC website
Some of our resources are visible for members only on the website – to log in and view these just pop on to our website, click on the member login box on the right hand side and fill in your details. Any parent at a member school can create an account: register one for free as part of your SPTC membership!
 

easyfundraising
easyfundraising is an easy and effective tool for parents and supporters to raise money for your parent group. When shopping online at most retailers, if you use your easyfundraising link, you can raise money for your parent group. Find out more about this here. 

Free Information & Training sessions
SPTC offers a variety of different information and training sessions for members, face-to-face and online depending on your membership level. Sessions we offer include: Parent Council Essentials, Helping to Improve your School, Involving All Parents and many others. Find out more here.

If you are on our mailing list, you’ll receive an email when there is an information session happening in your local area. You’ve received this email, so you’re already on our mailing list, but if other members of your group would like to join, they can do so here – www.sptc.info/news-events/e-news-sign-up/
We’re Hiring
We’re looking for a new Regional Adviser in West and South West Scotland. This is a sessional post for someone passionate about parental engagement. Click here for more information.

Scottish Learning Festival
Registration is now open for this year’s Scottish Learning Festival. Taking place on the 20th and 21st of September from 9am – 4pm, the SLF is the annual exhibition for the education sector in Scotland. It is free to attend and parents are welcome to come along. You can register for your free place here.

Hello! We hope everyone had a restful and/or fun-filled Easter break. We’re heading in to the final term for this school year. Here is your April news for parents and carers.

For daily updates on what is going on in Scottish education and the latest news for parents and families, make sure you’re connected with us on Facebook and Twitter.

We hosted our AGM & Lecture on 23 March and it was a fantastic evening! Thanks to all who came along and to those of you who listened online to our live broadcast of Dr Janet Goodall’s lecture. If you missed it, you can listen back to the lecture on RadioEdutalk online and Dr Janet Goodall’s slides are available for download on that page as well.

Usually we only have one event a year, but this year is special – it’s our 70th Birthday! We’re planning something special, so keep an eye out for news about that in the next few months..

What does your school run look like? For April’s Parents survey, we’re working with Sustrans, a national transport charity, who are conducting a survey to better understand the concerns and challenges of school travel faced by parents. They will use your answers to shape their services, resources and initiatives.

Click here to take part
Please take this opportunity to have your say. For more information about Sustrans and what they can do for your child’s school please contact: schools-scotland@sustrans.org.uk

This survey will close on Monday 24 April.

If your child has access to Glow, they will now be able to download all the Microsoft Office 2016 applications for free, through their Glow account. This offer is available for use on up to 15 personal devices; up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets (Windows, iPad and Android) and 5 phones.

The Office apps – which include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote provide a learning platform that translates beyond school and into the world of work.

To download the Office 2016 apps, log in to Glow and either click on the Download Office Now tile or go to the Office 365 Home tile and once in O365, click on “Install Office 2016” at the top right of the page. Click here for more information.

It’s almost membership renewal time again! If the contact details of your parent council have changed since August 2016, please get in touch with us and let us know! We will shortly be sending out renewal information and membership packs for the upcoming year.

Email sptc@sptc.info

 Things to look out for

We’re hiring in Edinburgh and the Lothians. We’re looking for a new Regional Adviser to deliver our Information and Training Sessions in schools in the area.

Full training will be given, we’re just looking for someone who is confident and organised. A background in training or education would be beneficial, an interest in parental engagement is essential.

If this sounds like you, contact Eleanor at eleanor@sptc.info or call 0131 474 6177. Click here for more information and a full job description.

Remember to keep an eye out on our EventBrite page to see if any of our free training sessions are happening in your area.

Bikeability Scotland is a cycle training programme that supports more than 33,000 children to develop an essential life skill every year. This national scheme is designed for delivery within the school setting (typically P5-S1), and comprises of 3 main levels, aimed at supporting the next generation of confident and responsible cyclists.

When your child takes part in the Bikeability Scotland cycle training scheme at
school, they’ll learn how to ride confidently and safely; skills that will stay with them forever.

Bikeability Scotland cycle training is happening now in schools across the country. Join the Revolution – Find out more at bikeability.scot

Our Partnership Schools Scotland project has been featured in the April-May copy of Children in Scotland magazine. Read the article here.

Over on the SPTC Blog, Nick Thorpe from Fathers Network Scotland is looking at the evidence around the importance of father-child relationships, and our Executive Director Eileen has been trying to clear up some of the confusion around what is really happening with National 5 next year.

Our Annual Report for 2015-2016 and the Our Year in Numbers summary are now available to view on the SPTC website. You can find them here.