Colleagues in Early Years Team at NHS Health Scotland, organisers of the national Maternal and Early Years Conference, have let us know that they are looking for abstract submissions under the theme of ‘The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014′.

Ashleigh Oates, Senior Health Improvement Officer, told me that they are seeking creative, innovative and challenging practice examples to be presented as parallel sessions or at marketplace stands at the event.

This year the emphasis is on sharing examples of work that improves health and wellbeing, and reduces the inequalities of the most vulnerable children and families. Of particular interest is work that is undertaken in partnership with colleagues in other agencies and services.

Full guidance and a submission form, including indicative parallel session themes, can be found on the Maternal and Early Years website.

The deadline for submissions is 12 noon on Thursday 19 March. All submissions should be completed using the formal submission form and sent via email to Lynn Soutar, Programme Assistant, Early Years Team. You can email Lynn.Soutar@nhs.net for further informatation and with any further enquiries.

More information and details of how to register for the conference will follow soon.

The Conference will held at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on 21 May.

Today (2 March) Education Scotland staff launched the Community with colleagues in Dundee. ELCC practitioners came along to St. Paul’s Academy to hear from Education Scotland about the importance of being connected through Glow. Myself and Con Morris talked about how Glow is to become an important way for ELCC practitioners to find high-quality professional development material.

During the event, colleagues joined the Early Learn community, chatted via Glow and commented on some of the resources already available.

To join the community all you need to do is login to Glow then type http://bit.ly/earlylearn into the address bar. That will take you straight into the Homepage of the community.

In the top right-hand side of the screen you will see a ‘follow’ command. Make sure you follow the community and you will recieve updates from others who are also members.

The new Early Learn Glow Community has already attracted lots of new members. The Children and Families Team have uploaded several new resources for you to download. Among these new resources are extracts from the as yet unpublished resource The Learning Cycle – Planning and Assessment in the Early Level. Uploaded for comment are support materials on assessment skills: Engagement; Noticing; Interpreting. More support materials will follow.

We have also uploaded video material from Cowgate and Arnprior nurseries. More of that to follow if you find it useful.

To hear about some of the other ways that Education Scotland will be providing support to ELCC practitioners come along to the March ELCC Local Conversations.

17 March University of West of Scotland, Ayr
20 March Victoria Quay, Edinburgh
25 March Millburn Academy, Inverness

You can register to come along via Survey Monkey.

Resources for Media Studies National 3, National 4, National 5 and Higher for GME are now available on Glow.  We have also included a separate glossary of terminology.

Following the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified.

Key aspects for development emerged, which included primary and early years practitioners requiring guidance and exemplifications for assessment in the sciences.

To address this aspect the sciences team hosted a Glow Meet, Assessment in the Sciences, which was complimented by a series of professional learning twilight sessions across Scotland.
Practitioners have asked that the Meet be run again therefore join us on Tuesday 10th March 3.35-4.45 pm in Glow TV. – Register to take part live in Glow TV.

The Education Scotland assessment support documentation will be explored using exemplifications from the NAR and addressing particular science Significant Aspects of Learning.

Participants should be familiar with the Assessing Progress and Achievement Overarching Paper

We will also be using Annotated Exemplars therefore please download these documents prior to the session:

Highlighted Annotated exemplar

Highlighted Professional learning paper Assessing progress and achievement in the Sciences

Highlighted Sciences Progression Framework

Kirtonholme Primary School in South Lanarkshire have fully embedded the teaching of Scots in a whole-school approach. For more details, view their short film :  http://youtu.be/7y0zIhCLTbc

Places are still available at the Scottish Guidance Association Workshop Day on 7 March 2015 at the Carnegie Conference Centre,  Dunfermline.

The keynote speaker is Phil Raines, Scottish Government. Phil will offer insight into how the GIRFEC provisions of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act are being implemented, specifically regarding the statutory guidance that has been produced for the Named Person service, Child’s Plan, wellbeing and information sharing.

There are also workshops during the day.  For full details visit the SGA website.

Glow is working with Kinglassie Primary School in Fife to launch the Internet Safety – Learners site on 9-10th February. The school are using these day to work on a whole school Internet Safety activity. The site will be used to capture the learning that is taking place and to use the National Newsfeed on Glow to raise awareness of the site and get everyone involved in contributing during these days.

The aim is then to develop a case study of how the school used the technology to support them in delivering such an event and more importantly how this helped to have a positive impact on improving the learners experience.

The site is can be followed at: http://tinyurl.com/lkhaz5b

Education Scotland is running a project over the next year to improve its website.

This redevelopment work will focus on improving the user experience by enhancing navigation, mobile experience and menu system. We will be introducing Mega Menus to help users navigate to the content they are looking for. The site will also move to a responsive approach to support a better mobile browsing experience. And we are looking to improve the search tool on the website. If all goes to plan we will start to introduce these improvements from  March 2015.

Visuals outlining how the new site will look with further details on the project rationale and timeline can be accessed from the slideshare below.

If you have any comments or questions about this project please contact Mark Sproul, Head of Online Services at Education Scotland.

Call to educators: Is there an issue you would like to address in order to make a change that will improve outcomes for learners?

Scotland’s Creative Learning Partnership is offering you a unique opportunity to help you address a challenging issue and make a transformative change.  Issues and changes can be at any scale – from classroom-based to whole establishment/learning community.  This invitation is open to individuals from all education sectors so there is potential for cross-sectoral partnership working.

We will help you explore your issue by matching you up with a creative catalyst who will work with you, using creative approaches and coaching techniques, to help you plan and implement your change.

You are invited to register your interest with us by answering these questions:
•    What is the issue you would like to address?
•    What is the change you would like to make?
•    What is the impact you would like this change to have on learners?

On receipt of expressions of interest, we will select a number of projects to go forwards to the next stage. If selected, you will be invited to attend an event in Glasgow on 22nd January at which you will be asked to share your issue with a range of creative practitioners, who will, in turn, have the opportunity to present examples of their experiences of working in educational settings to you.

This pilot project will run from January through to June 2015, with the engagement element taking place from February to May in the form of tailor made support, whereby creative practitioners will be matched with education challenges at and following the January event. You will be expected to document your learning and experiences as your project progresses using film, voice recordings, visuals etc. and will be invited to participate in a final event to share your learning as part of the Emporium of Dangerous Ideas, June 2015.

Please register your interest by Wednesday 14 January, by emailing your response to the three questions above to:

Karen Lawson, Advisor, College Development Network: karen.lawson@collegedevelopmentnetwork.ac.uk (colleges)
or
Julia Fenby, Education Officer – Creativity, Education Scotland: julia.fenby@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk (early years; schools; community learning)

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Zero Waste Scotland, Stirling

(venue beside train station)

9.30 Registration

10.00 Welcome

– Introduction of Participants

– Sustainability Challenge & SCAP Knowledge Hub

– Knowledge Hub Scavenger Hunt (exercise)

– Learning Resources + Tools

– Sustainable Design Knowledge Building

– Sustainable Product Design (exercise)

12.25 Lunch

1.05 Sustainable Raw Materials + Textiles Knowledge Building

– Colouration Knowledge Building

– Case Study

– What is needed in the education sector to move the sustainability agenda and the circular economy strategy forward? (group activity)

– Q&A + Wrap Up

3.00 Close

Some assistance towards travel costs/accommodation for participants travelling significant distances will be provided by Zero Waste Scotland. Please contact Lynn Wilson if you wish to apply at Lynn.Wilson@zerowastescotland.org.uk

Spaces at the event are limited, with a maximum of 4 student participants, please book now by emailing Sally at stsp@glasgowclyde.ac.uk to reserve your place.

A new book club, Cuilean Cràicte, is being established to support children and young people in Gaelic Medium Education (GME).  It will be run by a group of volunteers which includes  professional publishers, translators  and parents of those in GME.  The book club will make available each month a Gaelic chapter book.  This will feature hot off the press translations of books by popular authors such as Terry Deary and Frank Cottrell Boyce.  The benefits to children and young people include

• fostering an interest in reading
• encouraging independence in reading
• supporting skills in literacy and Gaelic
• helping to improve vocabulary
• helping to increase fluency in Gaelic.

If you wish to join the club, please do so by 15 December 2014.  A minimum number of subscribers is required to enable this club to run. For additional information, please click here.

By Graeme Logan, Education Scotland Strategic Director for School Years

I visited Isobel Mair School this morning to celebrate their achievements following their recent inspection in August 2014 and to see some of the innovative practice taking place to support the learning and development of children with additional support needs.

The school, in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire, is a great example of putting the rights of the child at the heart of everything they do and by using this approach to develop their curriculum they are able to offer a fantastic breadth and depth of learning experiences for the children at the school.

As part of the inspection, the school and its practitioners were praised for their use of ICT, which is tailored to suit individual children’s learning needs, and to see that in practice was really inspiring. By using interactive whiteboard and smart table technology, practitioners are able to actively involve children in their learning, and encourage them to participate, which is having a positive impact on them and their skills development.

Learners also used a variety of communication aids to help them communicate independently where they shared experiences of their learning with one another, which really engages the children and increased their participation in learning activities.

Throughout our visit I was really impressed with the level of care and attention given to each individual child, and this one to one support is vital to supporting the children with additional support needs as they move through their school career from nursery age right through to the senior phase.

With it being this time of year we visited a number of classrooms where we saw the children learning about the Christmas story using a variety of different approaches.  We were also treated to a special performance of The Gruffalo by Class Bute at an open morning for parents. It was really magical to see the children have fun and their performance received a huge round of applause which put a smile on our faces.

I’d like to say a personal thank you to all the staff, parents and children we met for giving us such a warm welcome and an interesting tour of the school. Special thanks goes to Headteacher Mari Wallace who has delivered outstanding work at the school over the last ten years, and we’ll be sad to see her go when she retires early next year.

A Conversation Day planned and delivered entirely by pupils will take place at Inveralmond Community High School, Livingston, on Thursday 12 February 2015 10:00-15:30. The content and format of this day will be planned and delivered by a group of pupils from Inveralmond Community High School and promises to be an exciting, innovative and creative way to explore how we understand and deliver Great Learning in Scotland. This event is aimed at all those professionally involved in education.

Places at this free one day event will be in high demand, so apply for a place now!

Closing date for applications is Friday 19^th December 2014. Places will then be allocated in consultation with the pupils to ensure good balance across geography, sectors and other factors.

If you would like to apply for a place at this event contact Vicki.McKechnie@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk.

Education Scotland is undertaking a review of its approaches to inspection.  Over the coming months, Education Scotland staff will be engaging with stakeholders to consider future approaches to inspection to ensure they take account of recent changes and current priorities in education.  The review will look at all the different types of education settings currently inspected by HM Inspectors, and is not just about school inspection.  We are also seeking stakeholder views on how we can further improve approaches to improvement through self-evaluation through a revised version of How Good Is Our School (3rd edition) which we aim to publish in autumn 2015.  To include as many people as possible in this process, we are carrying out a range of consultation activities, including a series of regional conversation events starting in November.

The first event is being held on Tuesday 25 November 2014 – 10.00 – 15.00 at St John’s Academy, North Inch Community Campus, Gowans Terrace, Perth, PH1 5BF, if you wish to attend please contact Andrea Fraser andrea.fraser@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk by close of play Wednesday 19 November.

By Alastair Delaney, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Inspection

Maybe that’s a cliché, but we are certainly seeing huge changes across all sectors of education in Scotland at the moment.  And as Education Scotland’s Director of Inspection, it is my job to ensure that inspection takes account of all these changes, and remains fit for purpose over the next three to five years, and beyond.

So that begs the question – what is the purpose of inspection?  Education Scotland is clear that the purpose is three-fold:

• to give assurance to stakeholders  (notably parents when we are talking about school inspection) that learners are getting the high-quality education they deserve – and if that is not the case, to ensure  improvements are made as soon as possible;
• to build capacity for improvement through professional dialogue with practitioners and sharing good practice; and
• to provide advice to education policy-makers, based on first-hand observation of learning and teaching, and of what is working well in practice.

Education Scotland evaluates education in a wide range of sectors and settings across Scotland. Our inspection and review programmes include:  early learning and childcare settings; primary, secondary, all-through, special and independent schools; educational psychology services; strategic scrutiny at local authority and community planning partnership level; public and private colleges; community learning and development; voluntary services; teacher education; careers information, advice and guidance: and prison education.

The review we are currently undertaking includes all of these sectors and settings – and clearly it is important that we involve our stakeholders in considering how we might inspect in future. We have no firm proposals for change at the moment, as we are keen to explore a wide range of ideas for possible future approaches to inspection and hear the views of everyone who has an interest.

The highly successful Scottish approach to quality improvement in education attracts much attention internationally. It is based on our national consensus that: educational establishments and services evaluate the quality of their own work and plan for improvement where necessary; local authorities support and challenge the establishments and services in their areas to improve; and that these processes are backed up by rigorous, external inspection carried out by Education Scotland’s inspectors. These approaches are perhaps something that we take for granted – but they are recognised as world-class.

So why do we need to review what we do?

If we want to remain world-class, on-going review of our approaches is essential. Since I was first appointed as HMI in 2000, there have been massive changes in how we inspect. And this process of change needs to continue.

In recent years, our approaches to inspection have recognised the growing strengths in self-evaluation across all sectors of Scottish education. For example, since 2008 we have started school inspections by asking headteachers to tell us about their strengths and how they are working to bring about improvement, then planning our inspection activities accordingly.

Our current inspection models give high priority to the user-focus agenda by involving staff, parents, learners and community partners in the inspection process. They emphasise the need for inspection teams to establish and maintain positive relationships with the staff in establishments and services being inspected, and to work in partnership with staff to ensure the process is a positive one and leads to improvement – the “with not to” agenda.

There have been significant changes to the delivery of education through such developments as Curriculum for Excellence and GIRFEC. The Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce report brings us new challenges across all sectors relating to the skills for work agenda. And then we have the Children and Young People’s Act, the Statement of Ambition on adult learning, the National Youth Work Strategy and college amalgamations. We also need to take account of societal changes in the use of technology, changes in demographics, the sustainability agenda and the challenge of ensuring greater equity in the outcomes of Scottish education – to name but a few of the wider issues we need to take into account.

At the same time as this review of inspection, we have started work to produce the next edition of How good is our school? and we want to get your views on this important development too.

We have already held meetings with key stakeholders, including a meeting of a new External Reference Group in September and a seminar at the Scottish Learning Festival. A series of regional conversation events begins in November.

You can find out more about this consultation by visiting the Future approaches to Inspection and Review pages on our website.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Join us live from Glasgow City Chambers on Thursday 30th October to hear from learners and athletes about their Games experiences and future ambitions.

9.30 – 10.15 – Team Scotland athletes share their stories and answer your questions. This interactive session will feature athletes from a variety of sports

10.30 – 10.45 – Keynote from Paige McMahon

10.45 – 11.30 – Young people from Rathen and Kinlochbervie present their own Games journeys and speak about their personal success as well as their ambitions and hopes in the wake of the Games.

Register to take part in this event.

Remember you can see all the scheduled Glow TV events in Glow Connect!

360 degree safe is an online, interactive Self Review Tool which allows schools to review their e-safety policy and practice. It is available, free of charge, to all schools across Scotland.   It is suitable for both local authority and independent schools. 

 The tool suggests possible sources of evidence, provides additional resources / good practice guidance and collates the school’s action plan for improvement.  Sections of these policy templates can also be found in the links / resources section in 360 degree safe.

You can access the tool at http://www.360safescotland.org.uk/. If you wish to discuss this further then please contact your local authority representative. 

Quotes from the training events took place in June 2014:

‘I  intend to promote awareness of the tool to all North Lanarkshire schools and centres and will offer them the opportunity to be supported in using it.  I hope to establish a network for schools to share good practice and collaborate appropriately.’  Morag Hay, Quality Improvement Officer, North Lanarkshire Council 

Very worthwhile session. Felt the tool was very easy to use and helpful for staff.’ Mark Allen, South Lanarkshire Council