Charity to aid children in UK
- Save the Children has launched its first appeal to help UK children. The charity says they have borne the brunt of the recession, with some missing out on meals or new shoes. Researchers surveyed 1,500 children aged 8-16 and 5,000 parents, focusing on lowest-income groups. Some 61 per cent of parents had cut back on food.
New education chief appointed
- Aberdeen City Council has appointed a new education, culture and sport director. Gayle Gorman, Cambridgeshire’s learning director since 2010, will start this autumn. Previously, in England, she was national senior director for literacy. She led the Every Child a Writer programme, was lead senior adviser at Essex County Council and curriculum development adviser for Suffolk County Council. She was born in Scotland, graduated from the University of Glasgow and began her career as a primary teacher.
Financial fillip for students
- Most Scottish students will start university with financial support in place, the Scottish government says. The Students Awards Agency for Scotland has processed 117,000 applications in record time, including 105,405 submitted by the end of June. “This shows we are in a strong position and ready to deliver the best package of student support in the UK, with a minimum income of pound;7,250 for the most vulnerable students, from next year,” said education secretary Michael Russell.
Campus merger for blind school
- Edinburgh’s Royal Blind School will merge its two campuses by 2014. The present facilities, which can take 120 pupils, are deemed too big, since the roll is expected to drop to around 25 over eight years. Royal Blind School chief executive Richard Hellewell said they would increasingly specialise in educating pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, autistic spectrum disorders or motor or learning disabilities.
Salmond opens `energy hubs’
- First minister Alex Salmond has officially opened two “renewable energy hubs” at North Highland College in Thurso: the Engineering, Technology and Energy Centre, and the Centre for Energy and the Environment. Local MSP Rob Gibson said: “We will only maximise Scotland’s vast and exciting renewables potential if we have the very best skilled workforce to drive forward the reindustrialisation of Scotland.”
