Council and High Life Highland partnership working acknowledged during pandemic

Earlier this week at a meeting of The Highland Council’s Education Committee (18 November), the partnership working between the Council and High Life Highland staff was recognised by senior representatives of both organisations.

Welcoming Steve Walsh to the Committee to deliver his progress report, Councillor John Finlayson said: “Today’s report from High Life Highland provides an update on the valuable work High Life Highland has taken forward over this year to support our communities and our schools. And while High Life Highland closed all facilities in March, through innovation and a determined approach, many services were moved online to provide support during lockdown.

"I think it is also important to convey our appreciation to the hundreds of High Life Highland employees who, like Council staff, volunteered to support the pandemic response in many ways in communities right across Highlands”.

High Life Highland’s Chief Executive Steve Walsh also acknowledged the partnership working of by staff in both organisations who supported communities during the pandemic.

He added: “I would also like to thank Executive Chief Officer for Education and Learning, Nicky Grant’s team, especially the Area Managers and Head Teachers for helping us get our school based facilities back online for community use and also for the really positive engagement that we have had from our Active School’s Coordinators and Youth Development Officers.”

The Highland Council’s property and facilities management teams were also recognised by Mr Walsh for their work in bringing facilities back to use such as water safety management.

During the ‘Lockdown Innovation and Technology’ section of his presentation, Steve Walsh highlighted the organisation’s service ability during the pandemic and how this was achieved through innovation and agility. An example of this was High Life Highland’s ability to deliver music tuition online to over 3000 Highland students during lockdown.

High Life Highland deliver instrumental tuition on behalf of The Highland Council.