We are running an information for Pastoral, Guidance, ASN and Nurture teachers, and support staff about supporting care experienced young people in their setting.

The session will briefly touch on the context of care-experience, share findings from our research and share the supports offered by the Adoption UK organisation to schools and families. These supports are open to all kinship families, adoptive families or any family caring for a child or young person with FASD.

Book a free space on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/online-education-cafe-info-session-for-pastoral-asn-and-nurture-teachers-tickets-936543144757

We would be extremely grateful if you were able to share this opportunity with the relevant staff in your local authority.

Many thanks,

Amy & Paula

Education Service – education.scotland@adoptionuk.org.uk – Supporting Education and Schools | Adoption UK Charity

Adoption UK – Scotland Gf2, Rooms | 14 Links Place | Edinburgh | Scotland | EH6 7EZ

Adoption UK Charity Advice & information on Adoption

Helpline: 0300 666 0006

Email: helpline@adoptionuk.org.uk

Kinship.scot: Advice & information on Kinship Care

Helpline: 0808 800 0006

Email: advice@kinshipscot.org

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter via @AUKScot and Facebook

We hope you’ve had a lovely summer and managed to get a break to unwind before the start of the 24-25 session. Education Scotland’s Professional Learning and Leadership team are delighted to update you on our new offer for the year ahead, and we would be grateful if you could share this information across your networks.

 

REFRESHED WEBSITE

Education Scotland has refreshed its professional learning offer on its webpage. On here you can

• access Education Scotland professional learning programmes and search for Education Scotland endorsed programmes.
• access self-directed professional learning activities.
• find co-created workshops to download, tailor and deliver in your settings.

 

We would encourage you to signpost the new-look professional learning webpage to staff in your settings: Professional Learning | Education Scotland. We’ve also created a brochure with details on all of our offers which you can access here.

 

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP OFFER AND SUPPORT FOR PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Here’s an overview of what’s new; what’s been updated; and what we’re continuing this year.

What’s new for 24-25?

• Self-directed offers to support educators to take enquiring and coaching approaches to practice for the 2024-25 school session. These are accessed directly via our website.

Click here to find out more about Enquiry in Education

Click here to find out more about Coaching in Education

 

• A dedicated, facilitated programme for those in schools Leading Professional Learning begins in October 2024. Applications for this programme opened on Monday 12th August, and close on Friday 13^th September.

Click here to find out more about Leading Professional Learning

 

What’s been updated for 24-25?

• ‘Excellence in Headship’ becomes ‘The How of Change: Facilitated learning for strategic leadership’ and expressions of interest are now open of this new offer for headteachers and those who hold the GTCS Professional Standard for Headship.

Click here to find out more about The How of Change

 

• Our Aspiring to Middle Leadership and Middle Leaders Leading Change programmes continue to be offered in the 2024-25 school session. This year, participants can access this learning and where suits you with an optional completion certificate.

Click here to find out more about Aspiring to Middle Leadership

Click here to find out more about Middle Leaders Leading Change

 

What do we continue to offer in 24-25?

• Two new cohorts of Building Racial Literacy will be facilitated this session which we recruited for before the summer.
• We continue to offer Into Headship – Scotland’s national programme for aspiring headteachers.
• Our Connected and Collaborative Systems Leadership programme continues this year for experienced headteachers and system leaders. Applications for this offer opened today, and close on Friday 30^th August.

Click here to find out more about Connected and Collaborative Systems Leadership

 

 

We’re hosting introductory webinars in September where educators can hear more about the following programmes:

Tuesday 3^rd September 4pm – 5pm – Aspiring to Leadership Introductory Session

Click here to register

 

Thursday 5^th September 4pm – 6pm – Enquiry in Education Introductory Session

Click here to register

 

Monday 9^th September 4pm – 5pm – Middle Leaders Leading Change Introductory Session

Click here to register

 

Tuesday 24^th September 4pm – 5.30pm – Coaching in Education Introductory Session

Click here to register

 

 

Gordon Smith will be hosting a session of Outdoor Education and EVOLVE as part of our HT Induction programme. The session will take place on Monday 2 September from 1-2pm. If you are a new in role and feel that you would benefit from this training please feel free to click on the link below and join the session.

Join the meeting now

Signposts for Global Citizenship

Scotdec, Wosdec and Highland One World Development Education Centres offer a range of free, Career Long Professional Learning (CLPL) opportunities for educators to support the development of Global Citizenship Education within their setting.

Here you can find the CLPL twilights on offer for early, primary and secondary level educators over the coming year.

 

Climate Action Week 2024

Timed with the Scottish Government’s Climate Week, this year’s Climate Action Week will focus on how our homes and gardens could look in a climate ready future with pupils invited to design their own sustainable home.

Timetable

Early years-P3:

Tuesday 24th September 11.00-11.30am: Animal homes with RZSS

P4-S2: All lessons take place 9.30-10.15am.

Monday 23rd September: Imagining our future with Scottish Book Trust

Tuesday 24th September: How to engineer a sustainable home with Jacobs

Wednesday 25th September: How to design a sustainable home in association with SEDA

Thursday 26th September: Climate ready gardens with the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh

All ages Assembly Friday 27th September 9.30-10.00am.

Register here

TRAINING – PLANNING FOR RETIREMENT

We are pleased to be able offer places on a short online course focusing on pre-retirement planning run by Affinity Connect, a financial education company. The course will be delivered online – Monday 2nd September 09.30-12.30 or Thursday 21st November 13.00-15.30

 

This pre-retirement course is perfect for anyone thinking about retirement or who is already at the planning stages.

 

During the course you’ll learn how to:

Help plan for the lifestyle changes ahead

Maximise the benefits of your State and workplace pensions

Make the most of your tax-free cash

Understand the income options available from your pension

Achieve your retirement goals

 

If you would like to attend the course please click on the link below or use the QR code on the attached poster and book directly with Affinity Connect.

 

Affinity Connect (event-registration.co.uk)

 

Managers – please ensure that colleagues who do not have council email addresses are aware of and can access these sessions. The information is available Employee Policies and Procedures | Scottish Borders Council (scotborders.gov.uk)

corporate

One Good Adult : information and launch of resource : Wednesday 11^th September

One Good Adult: Information session | Events | Education Scotland

This session will provide an overview of the ‘One Good Adult’ resource created by the partners in the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board for all people who work / volunteer with children and young people in Scotland across all sectors including education, Health, Social Work etc.

One Good Adult Job Description (nhs.scot) was written by children and young people. It sets out what children and young people need from the adults around them to optimise their mental health and wellbeing.

 

Keeping your cool in school : information session Wednesday 2^nd October

Keeping Your Cool in School: information session | Events | Education Scotland

This session will provide an overview of the ‘Keeping Your Cool in School’ primary resource designed to support children in developing and maintaining positive relationships; becoming more confident in tackling challenging situations and enabling them to have a better understanding of their responsibilities in school and beyond.

Cool in School – A site about keeping your cool in school

 

Gender Based Violence : new guidance information session for practitioners Wednesday 18^th September

This awareness raising event will provide practitioners with an overview of the new Preventing and responding to gender based violence: a whole school framework  and considerations for next steps relating to future professional learning that may be required to support its implementation.

 

**NEW** Safeguarding : Criminal Exploitation page on the website

Safeguarding: Criminal exploitation | Resources | Education Scotland : This resource aims to support the knowledge skills and understanding of criminal exploitation of the education workforce. Includes professional learning for educators as well as resources to support learning and teaching.

Over a number of years SCES and the University of Glasgow have been working to ensure that as many students and teachers can access the required Catholic Teacher Certificate to teach Religious Education. It has just been confirmed that this year the eligibility for funding has been extended to include existing GTCS registered teachers, including NQTS.

This means that any teacher, currently working within a Scottish school and eligible to teach RE in a Catholic school can apply and receive a fully funded place to undertake the Catholic Teacher Certificate via CREDL or “Setting Out On The Road”.

Details of both courses can be found here:

Setting Out On The Road

CREDL

If you have any questions regarding the courses, please contact Roisin Coll: roisin.coll@glasgow.ac or Denise Porada: denise.porada@glasgow.ac.uk at the University of Glasgow.

TUESDAY 17^TH SEPTEMBER 2024

4.30 – 6.00PM @ Selkirk High School, Music Dept

 CLASS TEACHER SESSION

 As part of the Benedetti Foundation’s Residency Sessions in the Scottish Borders, there will be the opportunity for a free professional development session for primary classroom teachers, teaching assistants, trainee teachers, or anyone responsible for delivering music in the classroom. This session is aimed at educators who are non-specialist musicians and would like to gain more confidence and develop skills in delivering classroom music.

The workshop will be delivered by Head of Creative Learning at the Benedetti Foundation, Lucy Drever, and percussionist Calum Huggan who will be delivering workshops during the Residency.

The session will offer practical ideas and suggestions to help you feel comfortable with teaching music. We will cover topics including singing in the classroom, body percussion activities, creating soundscapes, using graphic scores, the percussion trolly in a creative way and embedding music into the curriculum. We will work with teachers to develop ideas for teaching music in an easy to access way for all and leave you with a bank of resources to support your work.

This workshop is free.

Please contact Sara Alakus to register

The Primary and Secondary CLPL programmes can be found on Archdiocese of St Andrew & Edinburgh website.

All of these offers can be booked through Business World.

An Introduction to NSA – 30 January 2025 – MS Teams 4.00-6.00pm 
This course is for anyone involved in the delivery of national standardised assessments to children and young people in primary or secondary schools who wish to understand the purpose of the assessments and gain familiarity with the functionality of the assessment platform. It also highlights examples of good practice in administering the assessments and provides advice and practical information for example, on the ability to stop the assessments or take a break, guidance regarding the timing of the assessments and assigning out-of-stage assessments.

 

A Closer Look at NSA in an ASN and EAL Context – 13 February – MS Teams, 4.00-5.30pm
This course will include content that is relevant when working with children and young people who require additional support with their learning or for whom English is an additional language. It contains details of platform functionality that can be used to support accessibility as well as practical advice on using NSA with children and young people who require additional support with their learning or have English as an additional language (EAL).

Staff who have previously administered the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA) or Measaidhean Coitcheann Nàiseanta airson Foghlam tron Ghàidhlig (MCNG) with their children or young people will gain insight and understanding into any changes to the assessment platform introduced for phase two of the assessments.

 

An Introduction to analysing NSA Data – Thursday 3^rd April – 9.30-11.30am – Inspire, Tweedbank

This course is for anyone involved in the delivery and in the analysing of standardised assessments to children and young people in primary or secondary schools. This course will use a set of demonstration reports to look at the assessments’ adaptive design and the long scale. We will also highlight key features of the Individual report, Group Diagnostic reports and Group Aggregate report that are used to report on children’s and young people’s achievement and progress. We will then consider how NSA data may be used to stimulate professional reflection and discussion and to help inform the next steps in learning.

 

Using NSA Data to Support Improvement – Thursday 3^rd April – 1.30-3.30pm or Wed 7^th May – 9.30-11.30am – both Inspire, Tweedbank

This 2-hour course is aimed at supporting primary and secondary practitioners, as well as school leaders who wish to gain a deeper understanding of how to use NSA data to inform and support in creating improvement.

Using demonstration data, delegates will be able to view reports, to inform next steps in improvement.

It is anticipated that all attendees will have experience of using the NSA reports and/or will have attended our course ‘An Introduction to Analysing NSA Data’.

 

Using Longitudinal Data and Reports in NSA – Wed 7^th May – 1.30-3.30pm – Inspire, Tweedbank

This course is for anyone involved in the delivery and analysis of outcomes in the national standardised assessments in primary or secondary schools. This course will introduce the Outcomes by Academic Year report (OBAY) and Learning Progress Report (LPR). We will review the key features of these reports and highlight ways in which they can be used to identify individual learner and cohort progress and give you an insight into how you might use these reports within your school.