A message from our Quality Improvement Manager, Kathleen Johnston:

‘As we approach the end of term, most of us will be back in school or ELC. Children will be learning and playing together and hopefully we will be putting this Lockdown behind us for good. Despite the huge hurdles we have overcome and the ones we still have to face, I am amazed at all that we have achieved as a collaborative of practitioners. I’m lucky enough to be part of two Northern Alliance networks and within each group, colleagues have been sharing practice with one another and working together to provide support and problem solve – particularly useful in supporting one another through the alternative certification model! Colleagues are coming together in our secondary subject support groups to share and network – please get in touch if you are interested in becoming a member.

‘Connectivity has been a real issue for some of us during our time at home. Over 1,000 colleagues shared the barriers that you are experiencing through the Northern Alliance Connectivity survey, and many of you also shared how you are overcoming these barriers in order to connect with your children and young people. We hope to share some of these great ideas on our Northern Alliance Connects website over the coming weeks.

‘Relationships are building and colleagues are finding comfort in being able to connect with each other at this time. There have been some really exciting developments, such as sharing learning using Virtual Classrooms and being able to offer free access to the World Education Summit 2021 – such huge potential for us all as educators!

‘We have also seen the launch of the National e-Learning Offer, supporting children and young people to engage in learning online via live online lessons from e-Sgoil, recorded learning opportunities from West OS, or access to resources to support learning and teaching from Education Scotland. You can access all three strands of the National e-Learning Offer here. Look out for e-Sgoil’s study support sessions which will be running throughout the holidays.

‘Moving forward into the coming weeks and months, we are not sure what is ahead. However, wherever you are, we can offer you a friendly space to connect with colleagues. You decide what you want from your network – to connect, to share practice or to work on a shared development – you decide. In the meantime, I hope you have a lovely holiday and we look forward to working with you when you are ready to connect.’

You can get in touch with Kathleen by emailing Kathleen.johnston@argyll-bute.gov.uk