Children and Young People

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| Children and Young People | Corporate Objectives for The Highland Council |

Nurturing the Talents of Young People

The Council aims to do all we can to foster the talents of children and young people.   This means ensuring they are safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included.  Good progress is being made in improving educational attainment, access to early years education and sporting activity. Attention is also being focused on reducing alcohol misuse, teenage pregnancy and the number of persistent offenders.

Targets are to:

• Reduce the number of young people not in employment education or training by 40%.
• Encourage all schools in Highland to form pupil councils.
• Reduce the voting age for Community Council elections to 16.
• Offer access to National Entitlement Cards to all secondary school pupils with 70% take up within a year.
• Review and consult on childcare and educational services for young children to ensure there is a sustainable network of quality wraparound child care in Highland.

Highland leads the way in integrated children’s services

A major report published recently has found that the Highlands is leading the way in providing joined up services for children and families.  Researchers Dr Morag MacNeil and Dr Bob Stradling spent four years looking at how Highland children’s services were delivered, how changes and challenges were being met by staff, and the impact on children, their families and their communities.
  
They concluded that considerable progress has been made in the development of joint working between schools, social workers, youth workers, youth action teams and the police, and that working together can be seen to be well established across Highland. The full report can be found at
http://www.uhi.ac.uk/home/research/research-centres/uhi-centre-for-rural-childhood

Getting It Right For Every Child

We have a key role in the Scottish Government’s policy of “Getting it Right for Every Child”, which will ensure that all children get the help they need when they need it. The aim is to reduce the number of children referred to the Reporter;  reduce the time children are looked after in care; reduce the number of children placed outwith the authority and increase the number of looked after children leaving school for further education.

See it... Hear it... Share Your Concern

If you have a concern about the safety of a child:

• Speak to a childcare professional, a social worker, police officer, teacher or health worker.
• Call the local contact number: 01463 703488 or email: CPAdmin@highland.gov.uk
• Or call the national contact number: 0800 022 3222

Improving the Skills of Young Drivers

An extra 295 young drivers will get the chance to take advanced driving instruction through the Highland Wellbeing Alliance’s Pass Plus Scheme this year, thanks to a £40,000 funding boost from the Council’s Community Safety Unit. Candidates can apply to register for the discounted course of six lessons from approved Pass Plus driving instructors and they will receive a £100 grant towards the Scheme. Leaflets are available from the Driving Test Centre or by telephoning the Council’s Road Safety Unit on: 01463 702690.

Highland’s New Young People’s Champion

A full-time youth convener has been appointed in Highland to be the sounding board for youth issues in the Highlands and to have a direct line into policy makers and decision takers. Gillian Slider is also a member of The Highland Council’s Education Culture and Sport Committee, with full voting powers.  Gillian is the first full-time Youth Convener in Scotland.