Council’s Lifelong Learning and Leisure service seeks your views over the summer

Communities, families, groups and individuals are being asked for their views about the delivery and the future of important local services over the summer months.

Aberdeenshire Council’s Lifelong Learning and Leisure Service is currently undertaking one of its largest ever programmes of public engagement activity.

Staff are looking to speak to people face-to-face at events in the area throughout the summer, from July to September, and have already been out in communities.

Everyone of all ages is encouraged to tell them what they think about the future of learning and leisure in Aberdeenshire, with the branding: “Shout it out – we’re here to hear”.

Engagement activity will focus on a broad range of community services, including libraries, museums, sport and leisure, early years and community learning and development.

Chair of the council’s Education, Learning and Leisure Committee, councillor Isobel Davidson, said: “We want as many people as possible to make their views known, so that we can tailor the Service to meet the needs of local people now and into the future.

“People can make a real difference to how services are delivered and support the council’s vision to ensure communities are vibrant, equitable and economically sustainable.”

Vice chair, councillor Ron McKail, said: “This ambitious programme of engagement will help us have a clear and detailed understanding of what communities need and want from important community services over the coming years, so we hope people won’t be reluctant in coming forward.”

While visitors to local events in all six areas of Aberdeenshire are encouraged to speak to Aberdeenshire Council staff in person, the consultation is available online.

Staff will be in attendance at the following Aberdeenshire events (by area):

Banff and Buchan

July

Sat, July 28 and Sun, July 29
Banff Castle, Medieval festival

August

Thu 2 and 9
Under the Sea, Fraserburgh Lighthouse Museum am

Sat 11
The Marble Beach, Portsoy Harbour

Fri 17, Sat 18 and Sun 19
Fraserburgh Gala

Thu 23
Duff House, Outdoor Theatre

Buchan

July

Mon 23 – Sat 28
Peterhead Scottish week

Sat 28
Peterhead Farmers Market

Tue 31
Bushcraft, Aden Country Park 10.30am-3pm

August

Sat 4
Peterhead Farmers Market

Wed 8
Peterhead Rockpool rummage am

Sat 11
Peterhead Harbour Open Day

Sat 11 and Sun 12
Maud Railway Museum 12-4pm

Sun 19
Pipe Band/Highland Dancing Comp, Aden Country Park

Formartine

August

Wed 1
Woodland Wednesday, Haddo Country House 10.30am-4pm

Sat 4
Fyvie Live Music event

Sun 5 and Mon 6
Turriff Show

Wed 8
Ellon Flower Show

Woodland Wednesday, Haddo Country House 10.30am-4pm

Wed 15
Woodland Wednesday, Haddo Country House 10.30am-4pm

Garioch

July

Monday 30 July
Garioch Community Centre 10am to 3pm and 5pm to 7pm
Staff from Lifelong Learning and Leisure including arts, sports and community learning, will be on hand to speak to the public and assist them with the completion of the survey.

August

Sat 4
Four Crags Bennachie 9.30am
Wicker works, Bennachie 11-4pm

Wed 8
Fetternear Estate, Woodland Olympics am

Sat 11
FOCUS Inverurie
Drystone Dyking, Bennachie
Basketmaking, Bennachie 10am-4pm

Sun 12
Drystone Dyking, Bennachie

Tue 14
Millstone circular, Bennachie 6.30pm

Thu 16
Young Driver Roadshow Inverurie

Sat 18
Lourin Fair Old Rayne

Sat 25
Thainstone Show, Inverurie

Kincardine and Mearns

July

Sun 29
Stonehaven Car Boot Sales 8am-1pm

August

Wed 1
Mill of Benholm, Butterflies & Moths 10am-12

Sun 5
Stonehaven Car Boot Sales 8am-1pm

Thu 9
Get creative with Geology, Stonehaven 1-3pm

Sun 12, 19, 26
Stonehaven Car Boot Sales 8am-1pm

Marr

July

Sat 28
FOCUS Banchory

August

Sun 29
Jaguar Enthusiasts Car Club rally, Drum Castle

Thu 2
Walk in the Park Mar Lodge 7-8.30pm

Sat 4
Aboyne Games
Victoria Week, Ballater
FOCUS, Aboyne Green

Sun 5 – Sun 12
Victoria week Ballater

Thu 9
Ballater Highland Games
Walk in the Park Mar Lodge 7-8.30pm

Sat 11
Tarland Show

Sun 12
FOCUS, Victoria Hall Ballater

Mon 13
Summer Kart Racing League – Deeside Activity Park

Thu 16
Walk in the Park Mar Lodge 7-8.30pm

Sat 18
FOCUS Banchory Town Hall

Thu 23
Leith Hall, Huntly – Scotland’s Gardens Open Day
Walk in the Park Mar Lodge 7-8.30pm

Sat 25
Lonach Gathering
Night Flight Aberchirder 8.30pm

Thu 30
Walk in the Park Mar Lodge 7-8.30pm

Throughout summer

ALIS – Storytime, Rhymetime, Bookbug sessions
RANGER SERVICE – Activities at various sites and dates
MUSEUMS – various planned activities
ACTIVE SCHOOLS – Summer Programme
AFC Summer Holiday Programme
SWIM CENTRES – lessons, aquasplash, Rookie Lifeguarding
Macduff Aquarium

Midmar School Parent Council Meeting

I was delighted to attend my first Midmar School Parent Council meeting. It was great to meet head teacher, Liz Shepherd along with a very dedicated team of staff and parents. In two hours I could glean only a small sample of the good things going on at Midmar. The Parent Council have a busy fundraising calendar and are keen to help provide extra learning and leisure opportunities for the school and indeed the wider community. Mrs Shepherd reported to the meeting the anticipated school roll and staffing levels for the 2012/13 period. Plans are underway to redesign the school car park and Aberdeenshire Council are to report back on this issue very soon. An application to build an extension to the school was granted in February for a 7.4 x 8.8m extension.

I look forward to returning to their next meeting in the new term. Meanwhile I am sure all staff and pupils will be counting down to the summer holiday period with the break extending to 7 weeks this year!

Additional in-service dates for your diary

The Scottish Government has provided two additional in-service days to support teachers in their development for new qualifications in Curriculum for Excellence.  The additional days will be:

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Monday 29th October 2012

This will mean all secondary schools and secondary departments of special schools being closed on those days. Primary schools will not be affected and will remain open.

Views of local graduates wanted

I have spoken to many young residents in the area who are struggling to find work after graduating. Citizens Advice Scotland have launched a survey to seek the views of people who have graduated in the last six years and to find out what their hopes for the future are. Citizens Advice Scotland are very well placed to lobby the government on any policy which their work highlights to be in need of change. Please send them your views and experiences by completing the survey below:  

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/graduateemployment1

Feedback from School Estate Consultation

The feedback from the session at Westhill Academy held on 10 January 2012 can now be viewed here:

http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/buildingimprovements/WesthillPresentation.pdf

It is clear that local authorities do not have the money available to provide all of the services they would like to due to depleting budgets. With increased wealth and quality of life, people’s expectations are also now higher. At the recent School Estate Consultation organised by Aberdeenshire Council, conflict between the two ideals was apparent.

While pupils and parents feel that more money should be spent on upgrading school buildings, toilets being a recurrent complaint, teachers remain committed to providing the educational stability for their charges but at the same time acknowledging that a pleasant environment is important to learning.

A balance therefore must be struck to meet increasing aspirations from a reducing pot of money.

Local authorities must work with local communities to pull out the stops which currently prevent groups such as Parent Councils who are keen to get involved to make improvements to their school. If such groups want to, for example, re-decorate classrooms during holiday periods, current Health & Safety requirements make it impossible to do this. I see no good reason why parents cannot be allowed to help improve their children’s learning environment. In many cases senior pupils are prevented from these activities for the same reasons. Perhaps even helping out with younger pupils’ after-school activities has too much red tape restricting volunteers getting involved.

Closing schools which are not cost-effective is an emotive subject. Every parent wants to choose which school their child attends. While local authorities look to find better ways to spend public money, communities need to be flexible and consider the concept that it might be unfair to other service users that a small group present a higher per-head cost to the education budget. It could be the case that if money is being spent on keeping small schools open, repairs and maintenance will not be possible in other schools. There are also the social benefits of learning within a larger group of peers to consider. Meanwhile, local authorities need to weigh up the loss of jobs for local school staff and the impact of a school closure on that community.

Whichever way the council decides to cut its cloth, it must be tailored with all these things in mind and a “one-size fits all” approach should not shape our children’s future.