As I put this update together, it occurred to me that some of you might have thought “why’s he doing this?” and Michael Caine’s catchphrase ‘not a lot of people know that’ started to run through my mind. Why? Pippa, our Chief Executive, has an arrangement that when she is on annual leave, either Kirsty, our other Executive Director, or I is her designated depute. Who has that privilege depends on the time of year, and it’s currently me who is in the frame.
Our schools October holiday is almost upon us and I’d like to wish everyone taking the chance for a well-earned holiday, a refreshing break.
A comparatively little known fact about the Education Service in Argyll and Bute is that we have very recently become one of the first council areas in Scotland where every one of our schools has achieved the UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schools Award. A Rights Respecting School is a community where children’s rights are learned, taught, practised, respected, protected and promoted to improve wellbeing and develop every child’s talents and abilities to their full potential.
In her last update, Pippa talked about the refreshed priorities which Councillors agreed on 26th September. A number of key themes and principles have been clearly set out, one being Children and Young People. This is about giving young people the best possible start in life and ensuring we have the right skills for a prosperous future, contributing to making Argyll and Bute an attractive choice for families.
Delivering on that broad objective is something that involves almost every part of the Council – from Financial Services, Legal and Regulatory Support and Social Work working together on child poverty issues; Development and Economic Growth and Education working with the University of the Highlands and Islands and other partners to deliver learning for qualifications which support as many of our young people as possible leaving school and going into positive employment destinations (an area where we are in the highest performing quartile of Scottish councils); to Roads and Infrastructure Services providing transport to and from school, in often challenging circumstances, to the Cleaning and Catering staff who support the operation of our schools and the Property Services and IT teams working on the infrastructure needed to support learning in all its forms, both in terms of actual buildings and effective digital infrastructure.
Putting these thoughts together has brought into sharp focus for me something that I believe we sometimes lose sight of – that no team, Service or Department operates in isolation. Going back to the Council’s priorities, in delivering on these it’s all about ‘themes not teams’ to deliver the best possible outcomes for our people and communities.
I’ll finish this update by again wishing all of you who are going to be doing exciting things during the October holidays a great time.
Try to have fun as you keep up the good work!
Douglas
Douglas Hendry
Executive Director
