Weekend visit to Auchterarder

Visited my brother's new house in Auchterarder this weekend ... lovely spot. Had a really good lunch there on Saturday, followed by plenty of good wine, whisky later, and even the odd cigar on his balcony overlooking some local hills.


Dreadful day all round ;-))

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy this morning ;-))

Reading "Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy" to a group of children at Forthview Primary School this morning - certainly hope my reading skills are up to the job ;-))

Actually looking forward to it, as my own son (now nearly 9 and moved on from Hairy Maclary!) used to really love Lynley Dodd's books when he was little ... a little known fact I was able to pass on to the children (and staff!) is that Hairy Maclary isn't actually Scottish ;-(( Everyone assumes so, but if you follow the Lynley Dodd link, you'll see she is actually a New Zealander - the giveaway in the books are all the antipodean plants and trees in the wonderful pictures. Not a Scottish plant or tree to be found!

Another Headteacher appointment committee this afternoon. They seem to come thick and fast.

St. Cuthbert's Primary School this morning ...

Visit to St. Cuthbert's Primary School this morning, with my 'Children and Families' hat on ... very much looking forward to it, as the only Primary that is wholly contained within my own electoral Ward!

Very calm atmosphere in all the classes I went into - even the children going into the main hall to watch a slide presentation were remarkably quiet? And the entrance hall, public corridors etc. all looked great with really colourful and informative displays on every inch of the wall-space!

There's a languauge unit within the grounds - housed within a pretty old Temporary Unit (T.U.), which is clearly getting passed it's best, but despite that the work inside seemed really impressive. The 'grounds' themselves could also do with a bit of investment and I'll need to tread carefully (sorry about the pun) looking for such investment in a school that happpens to be within my ward ;-))

Met with some officers from the Council's Sustainable Development unit later this afternoon ... some issues brewing about just how much 'sustainability' can be built into the second-round of school buildings programme. It's the usual panic to clarify costs and terms in the last few weeks of negotiation before the final contract is signed, hopefully in January. I do sense that the tension will continue until the last few hours before contract closure!

Edinburgh Leisure briefing ...

Breifing on "Edinburgh Leisure" this morning ... first Board meeting coming up in a couple of weeks, so went in to see the Chief Executive who took me through the paces as regards history of the company and current issues, challenges and successes!

Very much looking forward to playing a positive role on the Board in a few weeks time - as someone who uses Craiglockhart Sports Centre and Dalry Swimming Baths I do appreciate the facilities provided at a local level here in Edinburgh.

Later this afternoon, a further meeting on The Learning Hubs project that is being developed for the City ... does seem to have huge potential and really keen to see it trialled (at least) in a specific geographic area - best way to test it before any much wider roll-out.

Council Executive meeting today - education business

Council Education Executive meeting today ... main focus were the budget reports for Month 6. Several of the Council Departments are showing pretty adverse variances at this half-year stage - needless to say the Department with the most challenging situation is 'Children and Families'.

I really do think some of the problems are a direct result of success - you may think I would say that, but I do believe it to be true. There's been a huge transformation in the vacancy rate for Social Workers; and now appears to be many more referrals, partly as a result of this but probably more as a result of an increasing awareness of child protection requirements generally ... I do have to note though that the increase in Social Workers - although to the good obviously - has led to a big spike in the numbers of probationers and all the training requirements that go with that. So great progress, but big costs, more workload and more training - seems to be the perennial local government 'two steps forward, one step back'.

There were several other reports which merited quite a bit of discussion; Closing the Gap; 2020 Vision; Go 4 It; Play 4 It; Duke of Edinburgh scheme; to mention but a few - they can all be seen through Council Papers on Line by following this link and the actual agenda is here.

Prestonfield Primarty School visit ... after very busy weekend! ... and local CC this evening

Visit to Prestonfield Primary School this morning ... bit of therapy for me, having looked after the family all weekend with partner abandoning me for a visit to London! Was actually quite enjoyable and on Saturday went along to watch a second-team Primary football match expecting my son's team to get thrashed (in the pouring rain) only to witness them winning 7-5. Not an experience I had much of when at Primary myself ... there were only 11 boys in the class, so NOT playing for the football team just wasn't an option; and we were so bad that any defeat kept in single figures was considered an heroic victory of persistence over talent. No wonder I don't particularly like football ;-((

Anyhow, back to Prestonfield ... really interesting school design (75 years old), with all the classes in a 'courtyard effect' around a central garden. All the classes seemed very settled and there was a very welcoming atmosphere to the whole establishment. I'll bet they even have a successful football team ;-))

Hutchison and Chesser Community Council (CC) meeting this evening ...

Director's Meeting

Director's weekly meeting this morning ... main topics under discussion continue to be the budget for 2007/08 and the financial closure (or not, to date) of the second-round of the school building programme.

Budget looking particularly tight, with no easy answers I'm afraid. I would say this wouldn't I ... but it really does appear to me that the 'services' for children and families are just in greater and greater demand - despite falling 'school' numbers - and this is leading to some systemic pressures for the future that are just not going to be easily addressed.

Frying pan and fire definitely come to mind ;-((

Greendykes Children and Families Centre and LDC yesterday!

Local Development Committee (LDC) meeting for Edinburgh Central yesterday evening - was so busy all day long that I failed to have any time to make a blog entry - desperate state of affairs ;-((

LDC was enjoyable - honestly! A few presentations on planning issues and how the Council deals with developer contributions (section 75 planning gain); which were followed up by small discussion workshops. There was a good level of debate and some robust views aired about how aggressively (or not) the Council was pursuing developers for additional infrastructure contributions.

Also a paper on the small grant awards that have been given to date, and Central LDC still has a fair bit of a budget left - so any Central Groups out there with a good project idea; get it into the system quick ... if you're not sure how it all works, have a look at this LINK The stalwarts from Hutchison and Chesser Community Council were there of course, and I'm hoping they'll get an application in quickly!!

Greendykes Children and Families Centre visit this afternoon ... was my first Children's Centre visit since taking on the new post and it was a real eye-opener. Management and staff I met were absolutely first-class and the service/s being provided were obviously being fully utilised by the wider local community. There were some really challenging children (from very challenging families) in the centre but there was an unquestionably positive atmosphere and approach being followed. Great to see.

Did prompt a question in my mind though - all the children there are 'referred' through social work and/or other avenues and by its very nature the centre is providing completely first-class services ... but it's not including the children in mainstream provision of these services (or vice-versa for that matter) and it's certainly a different approach than if these children were more general special needs, where they would be included in mainstream provision if at all possible as that's widely seen as a much more powerful route to improve their (and others) experiences and life-chances. Would genuinely welcome any thoughts on this??

Primary School Heads meeting ... and CCWP this evening

Primary School Heads meeting this afternoon ... by far the biggest number at any of the 'Heads' meetings I've been to so far.

I've now done most of the 'Heads' group meetings, and all have been remarkably civilised - teachers are obviously just far too polite ;-))

Joking aside, I've had small pre-meetings for all of the groups (where 3 or 4 group office bearers have turned up) and these have been much more informative and useful to me - just goes to prove that it really is pretty difficult to get a good two-way dialogue with fairly large audiences.

Consultative Committee with Parents (CCWP) this evening - not a great turnout compared to a few weeks ago, and again I found the meeting quite difficult to chair in that it still is a fairly large group and I'm not convinced that a large round-table meeting is the very best way to handle all of this committee's business ... I'll need to give some thought to possible alternative formats??

Visit to Northfield Young People's Centre (YPC) today ... and selection meeting this evening

Visiting Northfield Young People's Centre today (YPC) ... will be the first YPC I've visited since I took on the 'Children and Families' role - although I do remember visiting several YPC's back in 1999/2000 when I was 'Vice-Convener of Social Work' for my first year on the Council! Haven't visited Northfield before though, so very much looking forward to it ... had some difficulty in finding it actually, which ironically is probably a good thing in that the building does blend in with the surrounding estate and isn't in any obvious way a Young People's Centre.

The young people at the Centre made me very welcome, gave me a comprehensive tour of the facilities, thrashed me at pool unfortunately, and even allowed me to join them for their evening meal. There are only 7 places at Northfield, lots of staff on a constant rota, and quite obviously pretty high paper-costs for running such a facility. But ... just looking at those costs doesn't portray the intensive, and necessary, care the young people at Northfield are obviously receiving and which is clearly a positive investment in all our futures, not just theirs.

I was impressed with Northfield.

On to the internal Labour Party selection meeting this evening ... I really didn't enjoy the process, but managed to get through it successfully and am now the Labour Party candidate for the new "Fountainbridge and Craiglockhart" multi-member ward. 39 Branch Members present for the vote, biggest turnout so far for the 17 new wards, and only goes to underline the stiff competition there was ;-((

Campaigning

Campaigning all day today ...

Alternative to Edinburgh Zoo?

18-month old relative staying with us over this weekend ... house feeling a bit chaotic ... two young kids, hamster, cat, tank full of fish, stick insects everywhere (literally) ... don't feel I ever need to visit Edinburgh Zoo ever again ;-))

"Council Away Day" ... all day today

Full Council 'Away Day' all day today ... all the parties involved, which is a healthy sign given the change in voting system and thus the absolute certainty of coalition next year.

Around lunchtime, rushed up to St. John Vianney Primary School, which was celebrating its 50th Anniversary - they had an absolutely fantastic display of the past 50 years all along the hall corridors. It really was first-class and must have taken pupils/staff/parents a lot of work to pull together. An excellent event all round. Oh, and the buffet-lunch provided was rather good also ;-) ... confusion does now though abound in the 'worst sausage roll in Scotland' debate ...

Local Ward meeting & Head Teacher appointment

Meeting this morning with some relevant officers about better coordination of activities at a local level - activities aimed at preventing and combating anti-social behaviour ... there is a lot of good work going on but, as the local meeting a few weeks ago showed, its not always visible to all members of the community. There has been discussion on numerous occasions about producing a "local map" showing all accessible facilities, bus routes etc. etc. and including key contact numbers for all types of events that arise ... more hopeful that this may now actually be produced for the Moat, Chesser and Hutchison area.

Later this afternoon, involved in a Head Teacher appointment process ... some very noisy pavement works going on out in the Quadrangle of the City Chambers, which thankfully we were able to suspend for a couple of hours. I fear the contractors may charge us downtime ;-((

"Learning Hubs" & Achievement Awards ceremony this evening

Meeting this morning about "Learning Hubs" - basic concept being the use of a 'school' as a central 'hub' or 'portal' for the wider community to have access to the internet and a rich variety of content relevant to that local area ... all sounded very feasible and I feel a pilot coming on! Apparently not that unusual to have this type of set-up in many parts of the U.S.

Standard Life Achievement Awards ceremony this evening ... very enjoyable event. Literally dozens of innovative projects up for the six main categories of award, and all of a really excellent standard. The ceremony itself was up at The Hub at the top of the Royal Mile, and made for a great venue and atmosphere.

So refreshing to be part of something so positive and celebratory - but will it generate the press coverage it so obviously deserves ... I'm not holding my breath fortunately ;-)

Council Executive meeting - NOT in the City Chambers!

First Council Executive meeting today that's NOT being held in the City Chambers, but instead at the Salvation Army Hall in Wardieburn!

Hoping all goes well and that we actually get a few new faces along in the public gallery. To be blunt, we're lucky to get ANY members of the public along to a City Chambers meeting, so I'm all for giving this a try - if it doesn't work then we can revert back, but I see no harm in giving the 'roving format' a trial run at the very least.

Later this afternoon first meeting of the Recruitment Committee to begin the process of replacing Roy Jobson, as Director of Children and Families now he has announced his retirement in June 2007. We're just agreeing advert etc. but it will get the ball rolling and ensure we have a replacement up and running for a bit of a handover before Roy departs - pretty crucial if you ask me.

"Eco Schools" event and "An Inconvenient Truth"

Eco Schools event this morning out at the the conference centre of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Gogarburn. Really, really impressive morning with several schools and teachers presenting what they are up to with the Eco Schools scheme ... the standard was just great.

Three primary schools awarded their "Green Flag" level award, capping off a thoroughly enjoyable event.

And later this evening went to a Youth Services Advisory Committee viewing of "An Inconvenient Truth", the Al Gore film documentary. It is pretty powerful and seemed very appropriate to be watching it the very day the Stern Report hit the headlines.

... all in all a very 'green' tinge to today's diary!

Decorating finally finished ;-))

Decorating of the dreaded spare bedroom finally, finished this weekend!

Hallelujah!



You just don't realise what a job this was from this very boring photograph!!

Might get back to some semblance of 'weekend normality' now - although I'm sure there is another "scheme" in the pipeline that is just waiting to be revealed to me at the appropriate moment ;-((