| Strengthening the Highlands |
| What we will do for communities and older people |
| What we will do for the economy | What we will do for our environment |
| What we will do to make Highland Council more effective and efficient |
We will:
- Work with the Scottish Government to develop an ambitious 10-year capital programme to provide modern schools for Highland’s children and we will ensure the completion, on time, of the current 5-year programme of three new and five refurbished schools.
- We will continue to improve and better integrate services that enable us to 'get it right' for Highland's Children, including into employment.
- We will be good corporate parents of Highland's 'looked after' children and, by working with our partners, help them to reach their full potential as they move into adulthood, including into employment.
- Provide better support for foster carers, including kinship carers, by investing an additional £420,000 over two years from 2009-10. – completed 2009/10
- We will implement the Scottish Government's Early Years Framework, and continue support for wraparound childcare across Highland.
- Continue to raise levels of attainment in literacy and numeracy for pupils in pre-school, primary and secondary provision and maintain high levels of achievement in the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework and achieve the outcomes in a Curriculum for Excellence.
- Improve the quality of learning, teaching and leadership capacity in our schools and communities.
- We will increase the number of young people leaving school moving into education, training or employment (including activity agreements) to 90% by end March 2012 and we will achieve 450 Activity Agreements by March 2014.
- Place all schools at the centre of our communities and work to secure their long term future by developing community schools with a wide range of activities and services extending beyond the traditional school day.
- Continue to develop Gaelic Medium Education in pre-school and primary schools as well as expanding Gaelic Medium Education in the secondary sector and increase the number of Gaelic learners in our schools.
- Continue to provide opportunities to enjoy the arts, sport and cultural and enhance and promote the events, festivals and cultural programme of the Highlands.
- Give a high priority to Highland’s children being healthy and active and implement the Highland Play Strategy.
- Support civic engagement of Highland’s young people through pupil councils, the post of youth convener, developing Highland Youth Voice and representation in the Scottish Youth Parliament. We will work with community councils to lower the voting and candidate age to 16 years for community council elections.
- We will ensure a youth worker is active in every Associated School Group area.
- We will roll out a single smart card to all young people by 2013, giving access to leisure, libraries, arts and culture activities, youth information and school meals.
- We will achieve Eco School status or better for all Highland Schools by 2012.
- Focus on safe school transport, encouraging more healthy and environmental options such as “walk to school” pathways, safety support and safe cycle tracks.
- Work with the Scottish Government and partners to reduce the numbers of fatal and serious road casualties and use 20 mph speed limits to improve road safety for more vulnerable road users, particularly children and older people.
We will also represent the interests of the Highlands by working with partners, including the Scottish and UK Governments to promote services for children and families.
We will:
- work with the Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Higher Education institutions to address the issue of supply of Gaelic medium teachers and continue to seek funding for 2 new Gaelic Medium Primary Schools.
- Work with the Scottish and UK Governments to maintain the principle of providing accessible, affordable childcare to all. – integrated into 1.5