The politician formerly known as Charlie is now Sir Charles Gray, as of last week’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List. The former education convener of North Lanarkshire council bowed out of local government last month after 49-years.
Other awards included OBEs for Tom Kelly, former chief executive of the Association of Scotland’s Colleges; Joyce Mudie, headteacher of Pilrig Park Special School in Edinburgh; and Kate Reid, former education director in West Lothian.
MBEs were awarded to Thomas Balanowski, a physics teacher at Linlithgow Academy; Joan Haston, deputy head of the visual impairment unit at Uddingston Grammar; David Johnston, principal teacher of modern studies and religious education at Greenfaulds High in Cumbernauld; Alan Milliken, adult literacy adviser in North Lanarkshire; and Catherine Robertson, a teacher at Bankhead Primary in Glasgow.
An inspection of child protection services in South Ayrshire found 11 of the 18 indicators used to judge quality to be very good or good; three were adequate and four weak. Among the recommendations is one to rectify “significant weaknesses” in risk assessment.
Scotland’s pupils are in tune with the nation’s political mood, according to an analysis of school mock elections by the Hansard Society. The elections saw the SNP gain 38 per cent of the vote, Labour 20 per cent and the Greens 11 per cent. Over 11,000 youngsters voted in around 240 schools.
Support for the SNP is increasing, according to the society, which organised similar ballots in the previous two Scottish elections.
A study by Enable Scotland, which campaigns for the rights of people with learning disabilities, has found that 93 per cent of such children have been bullied, half of them persistently for more than two years. It is as likely to happen on the school bus or in the street as it is in school, the report finds. But only 67 Scottish children were consulted as part of the UK-wide survey involving 564 young people.
Save the Children reported this week that over 90,000 children are growing up in families struggling on “unacceptably low incomes”. These latest findings on the extent of child poverty mean households of two parents with one child surviving on less than pound;7,000 a year. The report, Living Below the Radar, will be used to spearhead a renewed campaign for an end to child poverty by 2020.
Young carers are to be given a break from their responsibilities by coming together for a two-day national festival supported by pound;200,000 from the Scottish Executive. This will allow up to 500 young carers to meet in one place.
