The City of Edinburgh Council’s Education, Children and Families Committee has approved membership of a new working group to strengthen partnerships with primary schools and nearby high schools in Wester Hailes.
The Education, Children and Families Committee on 21 June 2018 agreed to establish a working group to develop a long term plan for education in the Wester Hailes community, as part of the Edinburgh Schools Review.
It was agreed by the Committee that the Working Group would be made up of five councillors, consisting of a representative from each Political Party and would invite the headteachers and representatives of the parents from WHEC and the feeder primaries.
The Committee agreed that the Working Group should take into consideration the views expressed by staff and parents within WHEC feeder primaries on the importance of maximising the educational and other opportunities for young people in the area and should include but not be limited to:
- Research to understand the decisions parents and young people make about placing choices
- Dealing with reputation and communication issues
- Strengthening the curriculum offer
- Strengthening the partnership with feeder primaries and nearby high schools
- Consideration of options for a ‘re-brand’ of WHEC in response to concerns raised by some of the parents at the feeder schools, and to explore the feasibility of introducing a specialism in its curriculum such as a focus on Digital & IT skills and/or vocational skills, encouraging placement requests to come in, for those wishing to develop these skills for employment or further education.
