Barrhead experiment

Barrhead High School, now officially opened, is the first to incorporate Renfrewshire’s new policy for social education. At a time when the controversial Green Paper was no more than a twinkle in the inspectorate’s collective eye, the local education committee agreed that a “school youth organiser” - soon to be renamed “depute head (social)” - should be appointed to take charge of the planned youth wing. His duties would include the organisation of leisure activities within school time and the supervision of informal further education in the evenings.

30% more applicants for `big four’

Applications for secondary training at Scotland’s “big four” colleges of education are up by about 30 per cent on last year. The colleges have been preparing figures for the meeting on Tuesday of the committee of college principals, when distribution and reallocation of applications will be discussed. Uncertainty of graduate employment and the crisis in Scottish industry are bringing more applications to the colleges from both graduands and people in industry and commerce.

Anger among women advisers

Women advisers in Glasgow are protesting that they have not been given what they consider is their proper share of the new appointments as assistant heads. They have circulated letters to councillors and MPs saying that in view of the responsibility women advisers have held in schools, it might have been considered appropriate that they should have moved to the post of assistant head automatically, as has happened in other areas.

Truancy at Madras College

Mr Alexander Inglis, head of Madras College, Kilrymont, has criticised Madras College management committee for not taking strong enough action against parents of children reported for non-attendance at school. The committee was considering the case of a girl who, it was said, had 245 absences out of a possible 350 attendances. She had only a few weeks to go before leaving school at the age of 15. It was a waste of time reporting such cases, said Mr Inglis.