Agenda item

The Convener and Vice Convener advised the Committee as to a number of good news stories as follows –

• Middleton Park Primary School

Middleton Park Primary School had made it through as a finalist in a national competition.  The school had been shortlisted in two categories at the Scottish Education Awards 2016, namely the Creative Learning Award and the Raising Attainment in Numeracy Award.

A ceremony would be held in Glasgow on 8 June 2016 where judges would reveal the winners.  The awards were designed to recognise and reward people who dedicated their lives to children and young people, and showcase the work and innovation happening in classrooms across the country.  The Committee wished them every success.

• Riverbank Primary School

The Convener reminded Members that at the previous meeting of Committee, she advised that Riverbank Primary School was being recommended for a Level 2 of the Rights Respecting Schools Award and now advised the school had been awarded the Level 2 accreditation.  This was a fantastic achievement to be the only school in the United Kingdom to have been accredited on three occasions.

• Primary School Catering Staff

Aberdeen’s primary school catering staff had been given a prestigious award for their healthy school meals.  The culinary crew had been presented with the silver accreditation for their use of local, seasonal and organic ingredients to create healthy, freshly prepared meals for school children.

The silver accreditation represented the level of service provided in all primary schools across the city and was awarded after a successful audit inspection which was carried out at Scotstown Primary.  The Soil Association Scotland’s “Food for Life” awards aimed to improve the food choices young people make.

The national recognition followed months of hard work by many individuals on menu planning, recipe makeovers, food provenance and organic ingredient sourcing.  This was a fantastic story of genuine achievement in improving the lives of school pupils.  The Convener commended catering staff and all of the Catering Team for the great lengths they went through to prepare healthy school meals fresh with ingredients from farms of the North-east.

• Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was a free book-gifting charity for young children from birth to the age of five.  From next month every looked after child in Aberdeen enrolled in the global initiative would have the chance to receive a book in the post every month until their fifth birthday.  Every book would be personally addressed to each individual child and all titles in the Imagination Library were published by Penguin Random House and carefully selected by a panel of experts in early childhood literacy and reading.

Dolly, who described herself as being “dirt poor” in her early family life, was inspired to set up her Imagination Library as a tribute to her father, a smart and hard-working man who was unable to read or write.  She wanted to guarantee access to books, inspire a lifelong love of reading and help children reach their full potential.  Since setting up the first Imagination Library in her hometown of Tennessee in 1995 the Dollywood Foundation had sent over 70million free books to child worldwide, with more than 1.3million posted in the UK and counting.

The Convener thanked Gayle Gorman, Director, and Margaret Cruickshank, Principal Planning and Development Officer, for their hard work in bringing this initiative to Aberdeen.  It had transformed many lives around the world and she was sure Aberdeen’s looked after children would benefit from Dolly’s passion and generosity.

• Shop Front Design Project

This was a project, set up by Aberdeen City Heritage Trust and was part of the Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design which was aimed at encouraging children and young people to understand design concepts and allow them to be creative.

Two hundred primary school pupils were challenged to design shop front windows which would attract a customer base in Aberdeen.  Classes from Ferryhill, Hanover Street, Skene Square, Sunnybank and Walker Road schools worked on the projects since January 2016.

The Convener was thrilled to be at the Tivoli Theatre earlier this month to see the enterprising young designers unveiling their own 3D models of shop windows.  The models ranged from designs for fashion houses to cafes.  Some budding designers even included the layout of their premises and furnishings while others identified opening hours and put together potential menus.

It was a great opportunity to engage with young people to raise awareness of the built environment and to think about how design affects our daily lives in urban areas.  An overwhelming and colourful response reflected the enthusiasm and unbridled creativity of the youngsters.

• Imagining Aberdeen:  Children’s Parliament

Children from across the city were Imagining Aberdeen as a place where children were healthy, happy and safe.

Four Aberdeen City schools, namely:  Bramble Brae Primary, Manor Park Primary, Riverbank Primary and Tullos Primary were participating in the project.

Phase one of the project saw 300 children considering life in the community, at home and at school and exploring the idea of human dignity.   While phase two saw 20 children - our Imagineers - taking part in a Mural Project which captured children’s vision for the city.  The Leader of the Council, the Vice Convener and the Convener visited Harlaw Academy on 28 May to see children from across the city working with Children’s Parliament and Imagining Aberdeen as a place where children were healthy, happy and safe.  The Mural would be touring around the four participating schools, and each of the schools had organised their own programme of activities around the Mural initiative.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to commend the achievements of the Service as detailed above; and

(ii)        to request the Director to write to Dolly Parton, on behalf of the Committee, to thank her for bringing the Imagination Library to Aberdeen.