Northern Alliance PROMOTING Equity Week

A message from Mr John Swinney, Deputy First Minister

While I am not able to join you at this event, I want to take this opportunity to thank school and system leaders, teachers, support staff and all in the Northern Alliance for your continued dedication to support our children and young people in these extraordinary times.

Closing the poverty-related attainment gap is, as you know, a key priority for Scottish education and is at the heart of our shared commitment to improve the life chances and opportunities for every child and young person. This is a challenge that you have responded to with focus and commitment, with schools and leaders of learning working in partnership across the Northern Alliance and with Education Scotland.

The importance of collaboration and collegiality in addressing the challenges our young people face cannot be overstated, particularly in light of Covid-19. The Northern Alliance has shown how island, rural and urban schools and local authorities of different sizes can so effectively come together to deliver shared solutions to close the attainment gap, improve learning outcomes for your young people and support our school communities, including strengthening and sharing learning from the use of Attainment Scotland Funding and Pupil Equity Funding. Your use of digital platforms to support this event and to ensure that schools continue to share learning and benefit from a range of Alliance support going forward is pioneering and an impressive example of how you have re-focussed your efforts in light of the pandemic.

I therefore wish you every success with the Northern Alliance Equity Week and with your continuing work to close the poverty-related attainment gap and to support our children and young people from the most deprived backgrounds to achieve their full potential. I thank you all and I look forward to further opportunities to engage with you more directly in the future.