The Education and Children’s Services Committee met earlier today and a number of substantive items were discussed.

Looking back at the minutes of the previous meeting, an update on the Dunfermline and West Fife Catchment Consultation took place. There is one final consultation event taking place tomorrow at Inverkeithing High School and there is still the option to respond, and I would advise anyone who wishes to input in this to provide a reply.

A report on Pupilwise and Parentwise surveys took place, an opportunity for pupils and their parents to give their feedback on the Education service. It was positive to see an increased take-up of this. I raised a couple of points. The first was regarding the figure of only 37% of pupils believing their school knows what they like to do outside of school. I brought up my own positive extra-curricular experiences as a young person, and commented that support from school was important as part of this. As such I believe this figure should be increased, and it was positive to hear this was a common theme that was identified and they would be looking to do more.

I also asked about how we could get more children involved in helping in the local community, which was at 51%, as I believe this has benefits for both the community and children. The department is looking to increase this and said they had added further questions to the survey to help with this.

The next report was on Our Minds Matter, which focusses on the mental health of our pupils. I am very supportive of this approach, especially in light of last week being Mental Health Awareness week, as it is important to supportive young people in their formative years of life. I noted that S4 Pupils were the most likely to be referred for mental health issues, with 28% being anxiety and 7% school related stress. I noted this also coincided with the start of exams and asked what was done to help with mental health difficulties related to exams. The answer was that some special interventions such as assemblies and workshops are used, as well as this being part of the PSE curriculum. Schools are also proactive throughout each year of a young person’s education, and it was noted they did work to improve resilience.

The most contentious subject was a review of School Transport. While some of the review focussed on Safer Routes to Schools which I am happy about, part of it focussed on reducing Transportation provision to schools by increasing the minimum distance for pupils to receive subsidised transport. Along with it appeared every other Councillor, I was unhappy with this and an amendment to that effect was passed. I also made the point this would almost certainly increase the numbers of parents driving children to school, which will make school traffic problems worse, leading to it being more dangerous and more problems for local residents.

The other subjects discussed included a new exclusion policy and also thee support provided for voluntary organisations over the coming year, which were both backed by the Committee.