Pupil to stop her food blog
The nine-year-old Argyll schoolgirl who shone a light on Scottish school meals while raising over pound;100,000 for charity is to stop blogging. Martha Payne’s blog, NeverSeconds, rating Lochgilphead Primary’s dinners, became an internet sensation after a council ban was overturned. Now she intends to hand the blog over to schools from around the world for a week at a time.
Inquiry for the looked-after
The decisions made about when or if a child should be removed from the family home are to be examined by the Scottish Parliament’s education and culture committee. The new inquiry has been promoted by the committee’s recent investigation into the educational attainment of looked-after children. “This inquiry is . about asking the difficult questions to make sure that these systems are working for children and their families,” said convener Stewart Maxwell.
Youth volunteers give 12m hours
Youth work volunteers gave more than 12 million hours of their time to communities in Scotland in 2011-12, according to a survey by YouthLink Scotland, the national agency for youth work. Based on an average youth work staff rate of pound;10 per hour, YouthLink Scotland estimated that this would have cost more than pound;128 million if paid for from the public purse.
Three taken off GTCS register
Three teachers have agreed to be removed from the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s register under its new removal with consent rules. Andrew Beattie, a science teacher at Selkirk High, had been convicted earlier this year of possession of indecent images of children and two charges of sexual assault of a pupil; Malcolm Stopani, who taught at Scotstown Primary in Aberdeen, had been charged in 2009 with kerb-crawling although the case was never tried in court; and Kimberley Wilson, an English teacher at Dumfries High, admitted altering the PE grades of three pupils, publishing inappropriate remarks about a pupil on Facebook and allowing a 16-year-old pupil to drink alcohol at a party at her home.
New strategic director named
Education Scotland has appointed Craig Munro, head of schools at Fife Council, as its strategic director (strategy, performance and corporate resources). Mr Munro was chair of the ADES performance and improvement network, which published a report on attainment this year.
