News
- Have your say on the Additional Support for Learning Act
- New website for children and young people
- Raising awareness and understanding of the Additional Support for Learning Act
- Annual Conference 2008
- Young people’s blog – an online conversation
- Annual Conference 2007 Report
- Enquire is awarded the THA Quality Standard!
- Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004
- More on the Act
Have your say on the Additional Support for Learning Act
The Scottish Government is going to discuss proposed changes to the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. Children in Scotland has arranged a series of meetings for the Government. These meetings, which are free to attend, will give people the opportunity to hear about possible changes to the Act and the chance to feed back their opinions to the Government. The meetings are aimed at anyone who has an interest in the Act - for example, parents of children with additional support needs, or professionals working in education, health, social work or the voluntary sector.
14 May 2008
New website for children and young people
Our newly redesigned website for children and young people is now online. This site is a great source of information where children and young people can download useful guides, find out about local youth clubs or join in with the young peoples' blog.
The site has been developed with the help of designers, web accessibility experts and young people from across Scotland. We're still testing and making changes, and we welcome your feedback - please email Katy and Alex at the Enquire office.
Visit the new website for children and young people.
21 April 2008
Raising awareness and understanding of the Additional Support for Learning Act
A six-week media campaign to raise parental awareness and understanding of the Additional Support for Learning Act will be launched in Dundee on April 21. This pilot campaign will use radio advertising, a targeted postcode drop, newspaper adverts and editorials to ask parents to consider whether their child could benefit from additional support, and point them to sources of information. Its effectiveness will help to determine the shape of any potential national campaign.
The HMIE’s report last year (http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/aslr.pdf*) revealed that although parents felt their children were well supported by schools, they were not well informed about either the new concept of additional support needs or their rights under the Act to be involved in making decisions about their child’s education. As a result, during HMIE’s Count us in conference on 14 November 2007, Adam Ingram, Minister of Children and Early Years, announced that he would instruct officials to develop a media campaign aimed at parents, and the rights they have under the Additional Support for Learning Act
The media campaign will encourage parents to contact their child’s school or Enquire. The effectiveness of the campaign will therefore be monitored by the number of calls and website visits to Enquire, and the number of calls to local schools as a direct result of the campaign.
15 April 2008
Annual Conference 2008
Enquire's annual conference took place on 28 February. We were pleased
that the conference was sold out, and the feedback from the 150 delegates
has been excellent. For those who missed the day, or want to hear a
particular presentation again, Enquire will be making reports of the
day available on their website soon. There will be a report of the
whole conference ready by April, and in addition podcasts of the main
presentations.
Please check this website again in the next few weeks.
29 February 2008
Young people’s blog – an online conversation
Comments are a really important part of the Enquire young people’s blog*. Anyone can leave a comment. This means young people who visit the site have an easy way to have their say. Comments also give the blog authors feedback and a sense of audience, which helps their confidence and communication skills.
We hope the blog is a useful and appealing part of the site for children and young people. We are also using it to highlight information on the rest of the website, such as this end-of-term post for young people going to secondary school or leaving school.
The blog is already getting lots of hits and we’re hoping to increase the number of comments. If you’d like to help, please visit the blog*, leave a comment and encourage any young people you know to do the same!
9 July 2007
Annual Conference 2007 Report
The report from Enquire's 2007 annual conference entitled "Making Transitions
Work" has now been published, click here to download
a pdf version of the report(831kb)*.
5 June 2007
Enquire is awarded the THA Quality Standard!
Enquire is delighted to have been accredited with the Telephone Helplines Association (THA) Quality Standard. The standard is for helplines to assess, improve and maintain the quality of their service for users. The assessment process for this standard involved a very thorough look at all our policies and practices, contributing to our commitment to providing a quality information and advice service to all the people who contact our helpline.
3 March 2007
Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004
The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 came into force on 14 November 2005. The Scottish Parliament passed this Act with the aim of creating a stronger, better system for supporting children’s learning. The Act introduces a new framework for providing for children and young people who require some additional help with their learning. It aims to ensure that all children and young people are provided with the necessary support to help them work towards achieving their full potential. It also promotes collaborative working among all those supporting children and young people. The Act also gives parents rights. It gives them more say in their child’s education and more opportunities to express their views about the support they feel their child needs. It helps them in all their dealings with the local authority. The Act entitles children and young people to have the opportunity to have their views considered in the significant decisions that affect their education.
One year on ...
It is now a year since the new Additional Support for Learning Act came into force. Education authorities have been assessed by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) to find out how well its pre-schools, schools and all professionals working with children have included the new law into their daily practice. HMIE will be publishing its interim findings shortly, highlighting both the strengths and weaknesses of the new system.
More on the Act
You can view the Act on-line by clicking here and paper copies of the Act can be obtained from: The Stationery Office Bookshop, 71 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9AZ Tel: 0870 606 5566 You can also view the Act on-line by clicking here.*
The Scottish Government has produced a Guide for Parents which sets out information about the Act, including information on parental rights. The leaflet entitled "Guide for parents" leaflet can be downloaded from here.*
A Summary Handout was also produced for practitioners with an interest in the Act. The summary handout is available from this website*
A Code of Practice — Supporting Children's Learning has been produced by the Scottish Government and provides guidance to local authorities and other agencies with functions under the Act. The Code of Practice can be viewed and downloaded by clicking here.*
