Education Chair praises and thanks school staff at Education Committee

Chair of the Education Committee, Cllr John Finlayson, praised and thanked school staff at last week’s (20 May) meeting of the Education Committee. Members were also updated on Highland’s return to school journey at the meeting.

Cllr Finlayson said: “Despite the challenges of the last year, this has been an exciting term for our schools as children and young people have returned to reconnect with face to face learning. School staff have shown tremendous resilience and enthusiasm as they have coped with periods of remote learning.

“Our secondary schools have faced an additional challenge with the SQA’s alternative certification model. Their professionalism and compassion have been hugely important in supporting young people through the assessment process.

“Our school communities are at the heart of all of our work and we are grateful to all of our head teachers and all other school staff for their hard work and commitment as we come to the end of a very challenging school session.”

The Chair invited other members of The Education Committee who have been actively involved in supporting The Return to School Project Board, to provide further updates on the work that has been carried out and continues to take place, in terms of the return to school journey across Highland.

Cllr Graham MacKenzie highlighted examples of successful cross service working which ensured the re-opening of educational settings. These included: transport working effectively with schools and contractors in rapidly changing guidance; Catering and cleaning services ensuring continuity of education; effective central welfare support and hubs worked with Education & Learning to identify families in need of financial, practical and food support; and enhanced digital support within the service and supported by ICT services ensuring a robust response to delivering online learning.

Cllr MacKenzie also expressed his thanks to staff. He said: “Thank you to everyone across all services, including High Life Highland for their hard work, dedication, feedback, experience and support over the last year to enable a full time return to school for all our young people in Highland.”

Cllr Tom Heggie, Vice Chair of the Education Committee, updated Members on recruitment, leadership and parental and partner engagement.

He said: “Officers have engaged with the Highland Parent Council Partnership, often presenting at evening meetings on, for example, remote learning and SQA matters.  Further meetings are planned as we move forward. Our key partners in all of our work are our school communities and we are committed to a collaborative and empowered approach as we continue to develop our strategic vision for Education and Learning in Highland to improve outcomes for all”.

Jason Hasson, Chair of the Highland Parent Council Partnership said: “The importance of communication with officers and staff from the Education team has been vital during the lockdown periods. Being able to facilitate meetings where parents can, to the best of the officer’s abilities, ask and receive answers to those burning questions from parents and parent councils has been great. 

“With the preparatory work that had been done previously by staff and officers, it appeared to make the transition from lockdown to a safe return to school much smoother and this is due to the dedication of all concerned including teaching staff and parents. 

“It’s been a difficult time for all but now let’s focus on developing our children and moving on to bigger and better times”.

You can listen to the full update via the webcast on the Council’s website.