Implications of Recommendations of Independent Inquiry into the Death of Cults Academy Pupil Bailey Gwynne

The Report of the Independent Inquiry into the death of the senior pupil of Cults Academy in Aberdeen City, Bailey Gwynne, was launched on 11 October. The report made 21 recommendations.

Unfortunately, after the publication of the report, one recommendation dominated the news, "The Scottish Government should improve the resilience of schools to the threat posed by weapons and give consideration to amending the law in relation to searching pupils." I was contacted by the press about whether I was in favour of this or not.

Having read about this tragic case, I am convinced that the real challenge for our schools and pupils is how we develop pupil - teacher relationships that enable pupils to reveal to teachers that a pupil at school is carrying an offensive weapon. In the case of the pupil who stabbed and killed Bailey Gwynne, the Inquiry learned that he was known by several pupils to have had a knife on his person at school on numerous occasions, including the day of his altercation with Bailey Gwynne. This, I recognise, means overcoming pupil fears about being labelled as 'clypes'.

This is a copy of my response to the press:

"Labour's Education Spokesperson in Dundee said:

I am sure that our Executive Director of Family and Children's Service, Michael Wood, will be coming forward with a report to Committee. I should expect that this will provide a comprehensive response to the recommendations from Andrew Lowe's report which map how best we can respond in Dundee to try to prevent such a fatality in our schools. The inquiry report's recommendation about enhancing the right of senior teachers to search a pupil is clearly marked for the attention of the Scottish Government and is for the future.

I note that the inquiry reported that the death of schoolboy Bailey Gwynne might have been avoided if those who knew his killer carried weapons had reported it to school staff. This suggests to me that we shall need to consider how effectively our schools are promoting an ethos of openness to communication between pupils and teachers to support such disclosures."

More recently, the Director of Children and Families' Service, Michael Wood, has confirmed that after liaison with staff and trade unions, he will indeed be reporting to the Children and Families' Service Committee with recommendations about how we should respond to this tragedy in our schools here in Dundee.

Council Recommends 44% Cut in the Places and £370,000 Savings in Support to Young People Disengaged from Full-Time Secondary School

Castlepark Centre in Dundee
Identified for Closure

On Monday the council published their report following their consultation on the proposed merger and downsizing of the Balerno, Connect Five and Castle Park Education Centres in Dundee. 

These three centres work with S1-4 pupils with complex 'social, emotional and behavioural' needs who have disengaged from full-time mainstream education. One of the main aims of the service is to provide support to maintain these young people within the city.

This report concludes that the Council should merge these three centres into one and places reduced by 44%. £510,000 savings should be taken from the work of these pupils and only £140,000 of the 'savings' reinvested in our secondary schools.

I have never been against the idea of finding better premises for these Education Centres two of which are based in buildings previously identified for closure. It is also clearly constructive to review how support for these troubled young people might be improved. Despite all the warm words in the Council's Report, it is difficult to believe that support for these pupils and their schools will be improved if overall resources are so drastically reduced. Most of the saving is coming from reductions in the highly skilled staff who currently work in these three Education Centres. Putting the job of working with these pupils back with our secondary schools is hardly a recipe for success. I am worried that if the resources of our existing secondary school staff are reprioritised for those disengaged from school, other secondary pupils will miss out on their entitlement to support for learning and guidance.

While the Executive Director of Children and Families' Service has provided more elaboration of how he thinks this will work, there are still many questions to be answered.

The Education Convener, Councillor Stewart Hunter, needs to tell us why he supports the reduction in cash for some of the most vulnerable young people in our city?

This is another example of how services for children's services in Dundee are being reduced by cuts passed on by the Holyrood Government; another short term cut which will cause long term damage.

Read or Download the Consultation Report