Dumfries and Galloway Council

I am so proud of these inspiring educators who have been nominated and are now finalists as Dumfries and Galloway’s education heroes 2024. We know there are committed teachers who are unwavering in their determination to support children and families across our schools day in, day out. It is wonderful to see some these people recognised by our communities. Looking forward to the final in November ! Thank you Dumfries and Galloway life and all those involved and sponsors Joanna Campbell Dumfries and Galloway College Andrea Thompson DL Derek Crichton

Join us to look back at last year's Lifetime Achievement Gold Winner. Do you know a colleague who has made a positive impact on the profession? Enter them for the 2025 Pearson National Teaching Awards: https://bit.ly/4djzrhS Department for Education #Education #Teachers #TeachingHeroes

‘Through Young Eyes’ gives us all the chance to listen to the powerful voices of young people and hear about their experiences of Poverty in a rural part of Scotland. This week I attended the 2 launch events in Stranraer and Dumfries of ‘Through Young Eyes’ which is a short film made by young people in Dumfries and Galloway to allow them to tell the story of Child Poverty from their owned lived experiences and to push us all to do more. The Young People and Youth Workers who made the film have really challenged all organisations to ask themselves this question- are we doing enough to tackle the Child Poverty in our region? There needs and must be more we can do together. I am really proud of our Youth Work Team for working on this over the last few months and huge credit needs to go to Laura Kiltie and Zoe Nix for leading it. Thanks to all the panelist’s (especially the young people) who took part in the discussion including Valerie White Alan Webb Also huge credit to Martyn Robertson and the team at Urbancroft Films for supporting us to make the film. You can view the video at: https://lnkd.in/e4KcBZq7 #challengepoverty #youthwork #CPW24

I was at the initial showing and panel discussion for this short film earlier this week #challengepovertyweek24 Now it is available to share. Please watch, listen and think about what our young people are telling us about living in poverty in our region. The themes will be familiar to people throughout Scotland and also affect people of all ages. I’m so proud of our youth work team as they challenge us all to do more. If child poverty is our priority we must look more ways to increase family incomes and reduce their costs of living. Over 26% of our D&G children live in poverty. Crushed, isolated, hopeless and stigmatised. Please watch ⬇️

All our headteachers together today working with the wonderful Steve Munby and his messages on the importance of Imperfect Leadership. The pace and pressure is so great across the system we needed time to focus on our purpose and gather our thoughts to support our leaders and each other. Hearing Steve’s experiences reminded us about balance, that asking for help is a strength, showing up with hope, courage and pragmatism. A roomful of talented, authentic leaders and role models for children - #knowingwedontknoweverthing #doingtherightthing Dumfries and Galloway Council

Our Wigtown County Building as the lovely backdrop for the gathering of young journalists and photographers from Douglas Ewart High School. Thank you to the Wigtown Book Festival for giving them this great work experience. The team will work hard over the next 10 days to review and document the Wigtown Book Festival events and be a credit to their school and the Wigtown Festival Company who have given them this chance to learn from the best. Thank you and we look forward to seeing your work in print!

Sunrise over the emerging new Dumfries High School hub South West Scotland Morgan Sindall Construction Dumfries and Galloway Council Neil McIntyre It’s great that pupils, parents, staff and the wider community can peek in through the wee windows to see all the work going on a pace. Rhubarb the Retriever also welcomes your welfare facilities for our four legged friends.

Watch this space for updates on the new Dumfries High School as it emerges from the ground - what a transformation it will be for the learners and the staff team.

Not all secondary schools can offer a full range of Advanced Highers or at times, particularly in our smaller secondary schools, a broad choice of Highers where pupil numbers are low. But by carefully working together, four councils have proven that live, on-line delivery of lessons CAN work across 40 secondary schools. We have successfully driven and delivered this approach over the past 3 years with results for hundreds of pupils across 10+ subjects comparable to class based teaching. Absolutely delighted that SWConnects at Dumfries and Galloway Council with South Ayrshire Council East Ayrshire Council and North Ayrshire Council won the Digital Transformation Award at the MJ Awards and also Highly Commended in the LGC awards this month. This recognition in UK awards for local government validate what we have achieved - if other Councils want to talk to us about what SWConnects is doing, we are happy to share what we have learnt. Get the basics right with good planning, excellent teaching and high quality feedback - with coordinated timetabling, school leaders engaged and basic IT kit being the ingredients needed to succeed. We know that pupils are often expected to study online at SCQF 6/7 if they move on to FE/HE - our project proves it works for school aged pupils studying for qualifications too. I accept it might not always be perfect but in rural areas and where resources are stretched we have to look to different approaches and challenge some of the long standing models of delivery. As we wait for the outcomes of the independent review of qualifications and assessment I hope to build on what SWConnects has initiated and consider the role of online live learning for senior phase pupils.

Today I met with Alan and Jessica from Scottish Rugby to learn more about the development of rugby in our schools and communities. Lots of common ground in our shared priority for thriving communities and the direct (and less direct) benefits of sport and physical activity for young people. Nearly 2000 young people take part in rugby across the region- training, learning and playing competitively. This includes 450 girls and young women across D&G which is particularly heartening. We discussed wide ranging issues facing our young people as evidenced by our ‘10,000 voices’ research and where we can direct work in response. Together, with the generous support from Holywood Trust we foster good relationships and build connections across parters in communities and with established rugby clubs. We will promote healthly lifestyles, help young people grow in confidence and guide them to access pathways for wider achievement and accreditation. I am looking forward to getting an further invitation to see the rugby development officers working directly with pupils and schools. Derek Crichton Dumfries and Galloway Council @jess John Halliday