Five things you need to know today
Schools are closed
All Edinburgh schools are closed from today for three days due to strike action by support staff including janitors, cleaners and classroom assistants. The latest pay offer put to the workers by the local council organisation COSLA was a 7% rise backdated to April. Unison the union has rejected the offer saying it is too little, too late. Unite and GMB are recommending the offer is accepted and have suspended strike action.
The Director of Education sent a letter to all parents and carers at the end of last week to advise them of arrangements:
Letter from Amanda Hatton to parents and carers
Dear Parents and Carers,
Closure of Primary, Secondary, Special Schools and Early Years settings
You may be aware from media coverage that industrial action is planned by groups of Council staff in our schools and early years settings next week.
We have been notified by the trade union this will take place on Tuesday 26, Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 September. The impact means all our schools and early years settings will close on those days if the strike action goes ahead.
Children and young people should attend as normal on Monday 25 and Friday 29 September.
As the industrial action includes pupil support assistants, early years colleagues as well as catering, transport escorts and cleaning staff, it will not be possible to ensure the safety of the children and young people.
Individual schools and settings will share their plans for contingency learning and checking in with you for the three days.
Free School Meal payments for eligible families will be sent out by the Council’s Transactions Team on Friday 29 September.
The industrial action also affects childcare provision by Out of School Care providers and means families will need to make alternative arrangements for the three days. Lets will also not be able to go ahead during the strike action.
Should there be any changes to the planned industrial action, we will be in contact with you immediately. I am sorry that these arrangements have had to be put in place to close our schools and early years settings but I hope you understand our position.
Yours sincerely,
Amanda Hatton, Executive Director for Children, Education and Justice Services.
SEWF23 Community Hub
| Join The Melting Pot “on a journey to create a wellbeing economy that prioritises people and the planet” 🌐 In a couple of weeks, the Social Enterprise World Forum 2023 will take place in Amsterdam with a focus on “Climate Action, Sustainable Change”, bringing together Social Entrepreneurs, Purpose-Driven businesses and policymakers to raise awareness of social enterprise as a global mechanism for social change. In tandem with the event, The Melting Pot will be acting as a community hub in Edinburgh, enabling people to have the opportunity to connect with the Global SEWF23content, whilst also networking and sharing ideas at a local level. |
The Gathering
Organised by SCVO, the Gathering is the largest free voluntary sector event in the UK, a place for all the amazing people working in the sector to network, showcase what they do and learn from each other.
Over two days on 7 and 8 November 2023, thousands of amazing people from the voluntary sector and beyond will join us at Edinburgh’s EICC to connect, learn and be inspired.
As well as bringing you a packed programme of workshops, seminars and activities – including online sessions for our most popular events – this year the exhibition will be back, showcasing a wide range of exhibitors from the voluntary, public and private sectors.
https://scvo.scot/the-gathering
Edinburgh Tool Library funding
The lovely people at Edinburgh Tool Library have received a £5,000 grant from The Scottish Building Society Foundation which was set up earlier this year with Foundation Scotland in an effort to give back in the society’s 175th year.
The funding will be used to back a cycle project where volunteers will be trained up as cycle mechanics. The Cycle Kitchen will help to tackle transport poverty and improve self reliance.
Our September issue
Our September newspaper was published and distributed by the beginning of the month. We are now in the middle of producing our October paper which will be packed with new stories all about what is going on in Edinburgh and the people in the news. If you have a story for us then get in touch. And if you would like to receive a newspaper in the mail ahead of everyone else then sign up by clicking on the image below.
And if you click on the image below it will point you in the direction of one of our most popular stories of this last week.(yes this is a bonus sixth thing!)
