Renfrewshire Council

Renfrewshire Children's Services Partnership 

This week, our Director of Children's Services, Janie O'Neil, shared the news of our Very Good rating following a joint inspection of Renfrewshire's services to children and young people at risk of harm.  

Such positive endorsement is testament to the dedication and amazing work of everyone involved.

I would like to thank and congratulate all the teams within the Children's Services directorate together with colleagues across the Council, Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership, Police Scotland, Scottish Children's Reporter Association, Children's Hearing System and third sector organisations for their work to continue to improve outcomes for all our children, young people and their families.   

View the full joint inspection report (Care Inspectorate website).   

Visits to Park Mains High and Glencoats Primary Schools

I recently accompanied Janie on visits to meet with the headteachers, staff and pupils at Erskine's Park Mains High School and Glencoats Primary School, in Paisley. 

By summer 2027, we expect to have increased capacity at Park Mains to 2,000 pupils and have engaged both the school and local community to help shape our extension plans. It was interesting to catch up with senior pupils and staff to hear about the ongoing projects. We spent time looking at the new modular classrooms which have been very well received by teaching staff and pupils alike. The S6 pupils discussed their role in supporting the leadership team with various activities throughout the school such as mentoring younger pupils and developing relationships with the local community. It's an impressive school, both in terms of the facilities and atmosphere; the kids have a great attitude, and you can feel the strength of the school ethos in the relationships between the teachers and young people. I'm looking forward to seeing their plans and projects come to life.  

Read more on our plans and engagement at Park Mains High School (Renfrewshire Council website). 

The flexible learning resource at Glencoats Primary provides targeted support to staff and primary aged pupils with additional needs from a variety of schools across Renfrewshire. I had a tour with the headteacher and met with the team to understand more about the work they do across the cluster schools, particularly around the strategies and techniques to support children who have social, emotional and behavioural needs in mainstream education. It was great to have the opportunity to visit a few of the classrooms and see the fantastic engagement from the kids who were full of smiles and clearly happy in their environment. By chance, I also met the parent council chair and one of her colleagues who were in the school prepping for an upcoming event and got a real insight into their commitment and the strength of school community. 

Many thanks to Alan Dick, Carol McCormick and their teams for supporting the visits. Next stop, Riverbrae School in Linwood and Williamsburgh Primary School in Paisley. 

Improving Our Workplace survey  

Thanks to everyone who shared their views in our recent Improving our Workplace survey. Our People and Organisational Development team will now analyse the responses and report back with key findings and next steps before the end of the year. 

The insights gathered will be used to inform important decisions on a number of key priorities including workforce planning, employee benefits, new and updated policies to support you at work, our workplace improvements, employee recognition, and learning and development. 

We aim to conduct a similar survey every three years to ensure we continue to live our values and make Renfrewshire Council the workplace we all want it to be.  

COSLA Excellence award win  

Well done to the team behind our state-of-the-art renewable energy network at the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS). Their innovative work topped the Scottish Government -Delivering Excellence Award category at the COSLA Excellence Awards last month. 

The District Heating Network takes treated water headed for the White Cart River and redirects it to a new energy centre built next to the sewage works in Paisley. The energy produced is 90% greener than a gas boiler and is the first of it's kind in Scotland. 

It's great to see this project recognised for helping businesses to manufacture in a cleaner, greener way, using renewable energy to support their drive to meet net-zero goals, while being cost-effective too. 

Find out more about the District Heating Network (Renfrewshire Council website). 

Winter wellbeing 

With the colder months approaching, our preparations in readiness for winter are well underway to ensure we continue to provide the essential services local people rely on. If you haven't already, please check your eligibility for the NHS flu and COVID-19 vaccinations. It's vital we all do what we can to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our communities.  

Visit the NHS Inform website for further information and appointment booking details 

Paisley Halloween Festival's 10th anniversary parade 

Our award-winning festival kicks off in Paisley this weekend celebrating its 10-year anniversary with the return of the much-loved Halloween parade. This is the culmination of months of hard work and planning so I wish all the teams well and look forward to another successful event. If you plan to attend, or are travelling around the town over the next few days, please note the key changes to this year's programme and the new parade route. There are a few additional restrictions on access and parking for the event, unavoidable when hosting an event of this size in the town, so please check the Paisley.Is website for all the details.  

Paisley Halloween Festival information (Paisely.Is website) 

Best wishes,

Alan

Published Friday 25 October 2024