Education is top of the class after cash boost Council pledges £4.6 million will help kids reach potential
Renfrewshire Council has promised that an extra £4.6million in eduction funding will be used to help all children “reach their full potential”.
An additional £4.6million from the Scottish Government has been awarded to Renfrewshire to boost attainment for all pupils.
This is part of the Attainment Challenge and funding was announced by Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education, John Swinney, for ‘challenge authorities’. It is targeted at improving reading, writing, maths and health and wellbeing.
Renfrewshire first became a challenge authority in June 2016 and since then has seen improvements made in pupils’ reading age scores across primary three to seven. Data gathered also indicates that the gap between the most and least deprived pupils has been reducing in listening, talking, reading and writing, and numeracy measurements.
Councillor Jim Paterson, Education and Children’s Services convener, said: “Renfrewshire is ambitious for all its children to reach their full potential and we have been working hard to reduce the poverty- related attainment gap while also raising attainment for all.
“Having the next round of Attainment Challenge funding means we can continue with our education programmes to improve literacy, numeracy, and health and wellbeing of all children, no matter their background or start in life.
“We know the Renfrewshire Literacy Approach is making a recognised difference to children’s reading skills and we are building upon existing work in maths to better support children as they learn counting and numbers.
“We have already seen more than 1000 teachers and support staff undertake enhanced professional learning and we will continue to support teachers to further their skills and experience in learning and teaching.
“One of the areas we are now working on is the impact of children’s learning as they move from primary to secondary schools.
“We now have 10 transition teachers in place and almost 250 teachers and support staff have taken part in professional learning so they can better support children and young people.
“Around 80 per cent of teachers said that transition support had positively impacted on pupil engagement in school.”
Councillor Paterson said working with pupils’ families is crucial to paving the way to a brighter future for youngsters.
He explained: “We’ve also been working with parents and families through the Parents in Partnership programme to support their confidence in family learning at home and feeling confident approaching their child’s school to talk directly with teachers.
“We’ve seen an impact on pupil attendance figures, particularly for pupils whose parents took part in the programme.
“We will continue to deliver highquality, evidence-based interventions and initiatives that have been proven to make a difference to pupils and their families as we develop the best possible teaching environment in our schools.”