posted by Alita Spink|Schools and Learning Support Officer – Schools and Learning

Up to 70% of schools have a bereaved pupil on their roll at any given time. One study found that 92% of young people will experience a significant bereavement before the age of 16 years. With the right help and support, most of these children will not need professional help. What they do need is the understanding of familiar and trusted adults. Schools are well placed to provide this, and with some training, the ability to do so will be greatly enhanced. We are often at a loss to know what to say to a child or young person who has been bereaved and what we can do to help them.

Follow the links below to find information and resources to support to bereaved pupils.

 School support for Bereaved Children

Child Bereavement UK (CBUK) works with a wide range of schools to provide bereavement awareness training.

CBUK offers a range of support, training and CPD accredited e-Learning programmes that are suitable for all school staff to help them develop the skills to support young people experiencing a bereavement.

The CBUK website provides a host of information including free downloadable literature, best practice advice, and details of forthcoming CPD certified bereavement training in Scotland. For further information please contact the Child Bereavement UK team.

posted by Rodger Hill, Service Manager, Schools & Learning

When is it?   Thursday 4 February 2016 – 1 – 2 pm

Who is this for?  Teachers,  employers, parents/carers and anyone one else interested or involved  in the development of  equalities and inclusion agenda, particularly around career education from 3 -18.

Where?  Live on Glow TV

Sign up here: https://meet.glowscotland.org.uk/equalitiesandinclusion/event/registration.html

About the Glow Meet:

This interactive session will  bring you key information about the latest developments of the area of Developing the Young Workforce.

You will hear from Charlotte Govan, project officer for Improving Gender Balance with a particular focus on STEM career pathways. She will share some of the latest facts and initiatives with you on how to embed careers and contexts in your teaching to promote gender balance.

The session will also provide an overview of the ‘Modern Apprenticeships for All’ programme delivered by Oumar Akram from BEMIS as well as information on wider employability issues relating to ethnic and cultural minority communities.

Time will be set aside for you to ask questions about the presentations as well as the wider Developing the Young Workforce agenda.

Hope you can tune in and join us.

Paul McWatt | Education Officer | Education Scotland | Foghlam Alba
Tel: 0141 282 5256
Mobl: 07811 214924
Address: Unit 7, Blair Court, Clydebank Business Park, CLYDEBANK, G81 2LA
Web: www.educationscotland.gov.uk

 

posted by Eileen Jackson, Early Years Collaborative Programme Manager

FOCUS:  New approach is delivering improvement at grassroots level

A world-leading Angus early years project has been hailed as an ‘inspiring example’ of the work going on to deliver positive outcomes for young people.

The praise for the district’s Early Years Collaborative (EYC) came from Chidren and Young People’s Commissioner Tam Baillie on a visit to the Barnardo’s Family Service Angus Grenfell House, Arbroath.

Mr Baillie received an insight into a range of Angus projects, including EYC, which at its launch in 2012 was the worlds’ first national multi-agency quality improvement programme.

To read the article in full please click on the link below…………
early years work praised p5

Posted by Margo Williamson, Strategic Director

I Chair a group of staff who are putting together an action plan in response to our Investors in People award. They are a group of talented, committed staff who tell me what life is like working in different areas of the directorate. Last week they suggested I write my own blog and I will, but for now I thought I would offer another contribution to the Children & Learning Blog.

A few weeks ago I had lunch with a former lecturer of Northern College, John Cheyne. He was an inspirational teacher when I was a student and then I had the pleasure of working with him. John, a resident in Angus and ever provocative asked, “So what does a Strategic Director do?”

In an attempt to answer his question, I thought I would share with you my week; a typical week in the life of a Strategic Director.

I swim every morning at 6.30am so let’s get that out of the way. I always have lunch, no matter if I only have 10 minutes in which to eat it and I always read fiction before I switch off my bedside light.   I am currently reading, Anne Tyler’s latest novel.

Monday

St. Margaret’s House 9am, the Heads of Service and me gather for our diary meeting. We outline our week; we discuss our challenges, any overlaps or ‘please takes’ and get a general impression of how we are all working with and for people in Angus that week.

I went on to have a 1-1 meeting with the Interim Head of Adult Services. Our discussion focused on Self Directed Support and the implications for people living in sheltered accommodation.

Monday is the day the Executive Management Team meet the Leader and Depute Leader of the Council. This is a key meeting of the week where we consider any ‘live’ issues and short term planning challenges facing the Council. This week we discussed concern about sheltered housing and shaped the all Member/Officer group (MOG) planned for 26th November on budget.

Sandwich in hand, I headed to Chair the Council’s Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce group where we finally completed and signed off our draft Youth Workforce Strategy for Angus Council. This will hopefully be approved by our elected members on 10th December.

Spin class, yoga class, late – very late dinner, then bed.

 Tuesday

The Executive Management Team meet every Tuesday morning. We are over half way through the financial year and it was appropriate to consider the impact of innovation, the Transforming Angus Programme and savings to date. There was a lot to praise staff for in terms of their achievements and, their efforts were truly recognised.

Lunch bag in hand I made for the car and a drive to Brechin. Being a good citizen, I did not eat and drive but got to Forster Roofing in time to meet John Forster, Maureen Douglas, Steve Scott and six enthusiastic, confident, young, modern apprentices. My evaluation on leaving: I want to work for such an ethical firm with clearly evident values leadership. I am just not sure about the cold, the rain, the heights and my age regarding an apprenticeship as a roofer. Forster’s are planning to increase their footprint in Brechin so a career change may be a possibility.

Teatime took me to The Strathmore Centre where I had tea with some young service users and the Children with Learning Disabilities team. The care, support and diligence with which the team tended their young charges to ensure they have every opportunity to lead a happy, healthy life had me driving home humbled once again by the selfless commitment of our staff.

Wednesday

I had competing priorities- a five authorities meeting about the Dartington wellbeing research in Perth or Chair the People Directorate Senior Leadership Team (SLT) meeting. A Head of Service who lives in Perth took the wellbeing research meeting while I met with the SLT.

My afternoon was with the Convenor and Vice Convenor for Children & Learning. I updated them on a range of issues and we discussed Committee on 10th November.

Finally for the first time this week, I had a couple of hours to respond to emails, make some calls and complete some tasks, a key one being some work on the preparation of Angus Council’s Best Value Audit likely to take place this winter.

 Thursday

I would prefer to write about last Thursday where I had the delight of teaching S5 and S6 of Arbroath Academy but that would be cheating. So, sticking with this week, 5th November, was the monthly Transforming Angus Board meeting where we monitor progress against the main projects:

– Angus Digital

– Cultural & Leisure Trust

– Agile Working/ Accommodation

– School Estate Major Projects

– Help to Live at Home

– Passenger Transport (inc green fleet)

– Procurement Review (attached)

This was followed immediately by a regular meeting with the link inspector of the Care Inspectorate. She was keen to explore progress around our action plan for Adult Services; integration with Health and next steps regarding our preparation for an inspection of Children’s Services. No date on the horizon but what was clear, our focus on self-evaluation and improvement remains a priority for all of us.

A dash to the dentist proved unnecessary. The waiting room which I had ample time to study was beige; painted woodchip with a brown corduroy carpet; Wave radio which everyone tried not to tune into; and newspapers thumbed by many and out of date.

 Friday

I started the day with a phone call with the Leader of the Council to make arrangements for me substituting for him at Remembrance Sunday wreath laying. (I must remember, Newtyle, Sunday. I must remember). I had a teleconference about Foundation Apprenticeships and then I tagged on to a short walk out to the loch with two of my team.

As a trio, we quickly got into co-coaching mode offering angles on challenges we were not seeing. Sometimes the best work appears to be carried out in the most unusual spaces.

In the afternoon, I wrote two Committee reports, commented on several others written by a range of authors and went to the vending machine to buy chocolate bars I did not need to eat.

Back at my desk, a colleague responded to my feedback on his work….

He was gracious but joked he felt like Baldrick with his poem!

I had to look it up….  (not having watched Blackadder)

Blackadder commented that “it started badly, it tailed off a little in the middle and the less said about the end the better — but apart from that it was excellent.

Perhaps my subtlety was not as subtle as I though!

Reflection – tread lightly on other people’s efforts.

 

 

 

 

Posted by Margo Williamson, Strategic Director – People

I recently read ‘The 21^st Century Public Servant’,

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-social-sciences/public-service-academy/21-century-report-28-10-14.pdf

a paper based on research by two academics from Birmingham University. For me, the paper highlights the essential relevance of the skills and attributes for those who serve. It reflects a shift away from experts in particular fields imparting their knowledge on those lesser experts who also serve, whether as an elected members or officers. It proposes a role that requires a generic skill set where values, engagement and interactions create the best outcomes with and for our citizens. Of course, those interactions must be built on trust.

Since the inception of Curriculum for Excellence, the relevance and importance of skills has been to the fore. How often have we heard, ‘we are preparing children for jobs, that have yet to be created’? For me, that always seemed about their future, not mine. Yet, here we have a paper quite clearly defining the 21^st Century public servant that we all need to be now. A public servant who cares about the people they work for and the environment they want to work and live in.

So how does this apply in the teaching and learning world?

Visible Learning research showed teachers’ subject matter knowledge had little effect on the quality of student outcomes. It appeared not to be the subject knowledge that had the impact on performance but how well the teacher organised the learning. Might it also have been how much the teacher wanted the child to learn and enjoy their area of expertise? There is nothing more rewarding than enabling another to enjoy an area of learning you are passionate about.

If this subject expertise is less important to outcomes, what are the characteristics of a good teacher? Are they the same as the ones outlined in the paper for a 21^st Century Public Servant?

Storyteller?

Navigator?

Networker?

Resource Weaver?

Learner?

Or my old favourite, Teachers and other professionals around the child seeing themselves as Boundary Spanners? those who can demonstrate care for a young person, inspire them to learn (their subject) and work with all others to ensure every one of them succeeds.