New website for child protection
The Scottish government has launched a national child protection website to provide information on what to do about concerns over a child’s welfare. It has information targeted at children themselves, including cartoons and online games with child safety tips. Anne Houston, chief executive of Children 1st, said it was vital that children knew welfare concerns were taken seriously. www. childprotection scotland.org
EIS union loses nurseries case
The EIS union has lost a legal challenge to stop Glasgow City Council from appointing non-teachers as heads at its nursery schools. It said nurseries should have at least one registered teacher and the council’s approach would leave some without any. But the Court of Session ruled the union had failed to establish the decision was unlawful as there had been no such requirement since 2003.
Long delays in therapy services
Scottish children have to wait an average of 27 weeks for an appointment with a speech and language therapist, an ISD (Information Services Division) Scotland report has shown. In extreme cases, the wait can be 81 weeks. The average waiting time for a child to see an occupational therapist in Scotland was shown to be 40 weeks, while they have to wait an average of 33 weeks for prosthetics. Adults face shorter waiting times in almost all areas.
Skills updates on Facebook
National skills body Skills Development Scotland has launched a new Facebook page to keep youngsters up to date on its services and offers in time for exam results day. SDS will also open its exam results helpline on 7 August to support youngsters in planning their next steps. Those who “like” the new page will automatically be updated on new information, services and advice. www.facebook. comSkillsDevelopmentScotland
Early heads-up on exam results
Pupils who want to receive exam results by text or email before they arrive in the post have until today to activate their MySQA accounts. The deadline for registration has already passed, with 45,656 students signing up for the service; over 35,000 have already activated their accounts to receive their results by 9am on 7 August. All students who sat SQA exams will receive them by post on results day.
