Meeting of the Parliament 06 February 2024
I thank Donald Cameron for lodging the motion, and I thank colleagues across the chamber for a positive debate.
As Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, I welcome the opportunity to celebrate excellence in education. Undoubtedly, there is much to celebrate at Dunoon grammar school, as we have heard. I have committed to visit the school in the coming weeks with my colleague Jenni Minto, who is the constituency MSP.
Dunoon grammar school’s success is testament to the hard work of the staff and the opportunities that have been created by the teachers and senior leadership team, working shoulder to shoulder with the local community. Its success is also, of course, testament to the pupils, who, like all our young people, have been through much in recent years. However, they continue to inspire all of us.
Members across the chamber have made contributions to the debate. Before I come to them, I welcome the pupils in the gallery and, in particular, their headteacher, David Mitchell. There was some debate among MSPs about where he belongs in respect of his constituency and his origins—that is what MSPs do. Welcome to our Parliament. This is your Parliament, and it is fantastic to see you here.
Donald Cameron spoke with great warmth about the reception that he received from modern studies pupils. I have to say, as a former modern studies teacher, that I would expect no less.
The school is the world’s best school for community collaboration. What an accolade. I very much look forward to visiting it in the not-too-distant future to see for myself the excellence on offer.
I will respond to some of the points that have been raised in the debate.
Emma Harper spoke about the history of the school. As we all know, Scotland has a very proud educational legacy. We would do well to learn from that and to build on that history.
Emma Harper also spoke about the vision schools programme and Holocaust education. Only last week, I met Kyle academy at Dynamic Earth. I was delighted to be involved in the awards ceremony that recognised the intrinsic importance of Holocaust education in Scotland’s schools.
Liam Kerr mentioned the educational ecosystem. I know that that was inspired by the report. I hope to meet Gillian Hunt, who is in the gallery today, on my visit to Dunoon in the next few weeks. Liam Kerr knows that I will always work on a cross-party basis in relation to education, and his office will soon receive an invitation to mine, if it has not already received it. That invitation has been extended to members of the Opposition to talk to them directly about educational reform. I hope that, in the coming weeks, subject to parliamentary business being agreed, we will have a wider debate across the chamber about educational reform. I look forward to working with members on that.