School handbook guidance launched following consultation

I was delighted that the School Handbook guidance was launched today at Musselburgh Burgh Primary School this morning. The event signaled the delivery of our commitment to update the School Handbook to ensure that parents get the information they need from their child’s school.

School Handbooks are an important source of information for parents to help them support their child’s learning and their school’s improvement.

With Curriculum for Excellence embedded in all our schools, we carried out an extensive consultation with parents across the country to make sure that the information the School Handbooks provide is relevant to their needs. The National Parent Forum of Scotland helped us with organising and hosting these consultation events and I would like to thank them for their support and importantly, all the parents and carers that took part and provided their views. We are listening to parents and they have told us that they want to be involved in supporting their child’s learning and that they want their schools to be the best they can be.

Schools will publish the new School handbooks in December and will provide more information about how the school is delivering Curriculum for Excellence for all its pupils and what opportunities it provides for parental involvement.

We know that parents’ active involvement is a massive boost to a child’s learning and development as was the case at Burgh Primary in Musselburgh today, where parents were instrumental in improving the learning environment for children and active partners in supporting their learning. It was great to hear the pupils talking about their involvement with pride and confidence.

Dr Alasdair AllanNational Parental Involvement Coordinator

Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages

Launched along with Iain Ellis Chair NPFS and Lorraine Sanda National Parental Involvement Coordinator