Category: LTA

Meta-Skills for Schools

CLPL

Our first CLPL session ‘Get Meta-Skills Savvy‘ takes place on Wednesday 26th August at 4pm. Join us for an update on what’s new on the Gen+ app, and how we can support you to make the most of your Meta-Skills journey. Book your space now.

Refreshed Content

We’ve been hard at work; with new Industry Innovators lessons ready for you, and our CLPL Resources will have a whole host of new material in the coming weeks to support your practice.

Evidence and Impact

We listened to feedback from our Gen+ teachers and have reimplemented optional Impact and Evaluation materials for you to use with your learners how you see fit. You can download these from our Supporting Materials hub.

Get Awarded

Did you know that you can sign up for a Gen+ Dynamic Youth Award through Youth Scotland for learners to earn an SCQF Level 3? Designed to complement existing learning, this helps teachers support learning further without adding to workloads. You can find out more about this here.

Take a Peek

Our Case Study hub is packed with inspiration from schools across Scotland, and highlights the variety of ways the programme is utilised, with its flexible design making it the perfect resource bank to support right across the curriculum.

Anti Racist Education CLPL sessions with SCOTDEC

An introduction to anti-racist education – 19/10/2026 2.00-3.30pm on TEAMS

This session will provide a space for educators to explore anti-racist approaches to education and provide tools and resources to support both professional learning and classroom approaches.

We will share the Anti-racist Curriculum Resource for educators and demonstrate a selection of tools to explore five key themes in the classroom: Challenging Bias, Identity and Intersectionality, Power and Privilege, Race and Racism and Taking Action for Anti-Racism.

This interactive session will highlight practical guidance, offer space for personal refection and build confidence in delivering an anti-racist curriculum.

Building an Anti-Racist Curriculum through literacy – 03/11/2026 4.00-5.30pm on TEAMS

Join us to explore how to take an Anti-racism approach to reading, writing, listening and talking at First to Fourth Levels. Learn about the new Anti-racism Literacy (ARL) Framework, and how this can be applied to different genres to explore identity, power, race and racism. Reflect on ways in which anti-racism learning in literacy can move outside the classroom and to taking social action and civic participation in the wider community. Explore classroom-ready teaching materials, including materials for SQA Level, and consider ways in which the ARL approach can be applied to any text in your setting.

Further information for both sessions:

Is this for me?

This course is perfect for

· Teachers who are committed to developing their own racial literacy, whether at the beginning of their journey or building on previous professional learning

· Primary and secondary teachers looking for engaging, practical ways to build anti-racism into lessons

Why should I attend?

· Anti-Racist education is a national priority, and this session supports the wider work of Scotland’s Anti Racist Education Programme

· The resources link to Education Scotland’s Anti-Racist Curriculum Principles

· Leave with classroom-ready practical resources to use in your setting

What should I expect?

🧠 Interactive activities to deepen professional understanding and explore the new materials

🧰 Classroom Tools and methodologies to use in your context

🔗 Links across the curriculum and to current frameworks and policy agendas

📝 Signposting useful resources to support your journey

👥 Time to reflect and discuss with colleagues

Book via Business World or contact clpl@scotborders.gov.uk

Free online training webinars for the National Standardised Assessments

An Introduction to the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland is useful for anyone involved in the delivery of national standardised assessments in primary or secondary schools who wish to understand the purpose of the assessments and gain familiarity with the functionality of the assessment system. It also highlights examples of good practice in administering the assessments and provides advice and practical information. It will be particularly useful for anyone who is new to the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland (newly qualified teachers or teachers new to their current stage) or as a refresher for anyone who hasn’t used the system recently. 

  • A Closer Look at the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland in an ASN and EAL context includes content that is relevant when working with learners who require additional support with their learning or for whom English is an additional language, including details of system functionality that can be used to support accessibility and some practical advice on using NSA.  

The webinars will take place via Microsoft Teams, with links to join being sent directly to all signed-up delegates. The dates for this term are:

Course

Date

Time

An Introduction to the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland

Monday 19th January 2026

4.00 pm – 5.30 pm

A Closer Look at the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland in an ASN and EAL context

Tuesday 20th January 2026

4.00 pm – 5.30 pm

Both of these courses would be valuable for teachers engaging with the NSA system for the first time, whether new to stage or to the profession. This invite will be sent out to all active users who have signed in to the system within the last 12 months. However, it would be extremely valuable if you would be able to highlight these webinars to new users, as well as further promoting these webinars in your local authority as appropriate.

Places are limited so delegates should sign up here to register their place as soon as possible to avoid disappointment:

https://forms.office.com/e/EHncS1FMn3

Please note that a valid school email address is needed to register. Please also note that we will be unable to accept any attendees who have not registered in advance. Further dates for these webinars will be made available again later in the academic year. Gaelic versions of these webinars will also be hosted later in the academic year.

If you would like any further information, please contact the service desk on 0330 403 0041 or support@nsa.scot

Emerging Literacy Links

The Emerging Literacy training package is available online – via the portal pages which have lots of information on them and the recorded training is in 4 parts that covers the emerging literacy training on each page.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/sb/earlylevelportal/emerging-literacy-and-english/

Emerging Literacy & English, Oral Language & Phonological Awareness – Early Level Portal

Emerging Literacy & English, (pre) writing – Early Level Portal

Emerging Literacy & English – Concepts of Print – Early Level Portal

Education Scotland Early Level Reading resource – Learning to read in the Early Years: A professional support overview | Resources | Education Scotland

Update on SBCway Curriculum Team

I’m writing to share an updated overview of the curriculum support currently available to schools from our SBCway curriculum team. While the team’s remit is broad, the current offer is focused on key identified priorities and is designed to be responsive to your school’s specific needs. This support is not about imposing solutions, but rather about engaging in consultation and discussion to understand your context, followed by tailored time to provide support.

📚 Literacy – Elaine McHendry

  • Availability: Tuesday to Thursday
  • Support Areas:
    • Planning for writing
    • Assessment across all literacy strands
  • Contact Elaine directly > gw09mchendryelaine@glow.sch.uk

💙 Health & Wellbeing – Rachel Scott

🔢 Numeracy & Maths – Jenny Archbold

  • Availability: Monday to Wednesday
  • Support Areas:
    • Magma Maths (with a particular focus on Cheviot schools)
    • Planning, using, and resourcing a CPA (Concrete–Pictorial–Abstract) approach
  • Contact Jenny directly > gw15archboldjennifer@glow.sch.uk

If your school would benefit from support in any of these areas, please reach out to arrange an initial conversation. The team is keen to work collaboratively to ensure the support provided is meaningful and impactful.

James Bewsey

Quality Improvement Officer

Scottish Borders Council

Emerging Literacy Training Package

The training package is available online – via the portal pages which have lots of information on them and the recorded training is in 4 parts that covers the emerging literacy training on each page.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/sb/earlylevelportal/emerging-literacy-and-english/

Emerging Literacy & English, Oral Language & Phonological Awareness – Early Level Portal

Emerging Literacy & English, (pre) writing – Early Level Portal

Emerging Literacy & English – Concepts of Print – Early Level Portal

Education Scotland Early Level Reading resource – Learning to read in the Early Years: A professional support overview | Resources | Education Scotland

SCOTDEC March PL Events

Our final two sessions for this year respond to current and relevant global citizenship themes. These sessions include: the launch of a new section of the A’ Adam’s Bairns? website, ‘exploring Scottish identity + diversity through music’ on the 27th March, and a follow-up session from last year exploring ‘approaching the Israel-Palestine conflict in the classroom’ on the 20th March.