Highland Parent Council Partnership conference

8th November 2017

Parent representatives from 206 Parent Councils across the Highland region have been invited to attend the Highland Parent Council Partnership conference which will be held on Saturday 18 Nov 2017 from 9:30am to 3:30pm.

Guest speaker at the conference - to be held at Highland Council, Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness - will be John Swinney MSP, Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills.

This annual conference is an opportunity for parent representatives from the 206 schools across Highland to meet and discuss the educational opportunities and concerns currently affecting children and their parents, as well as the opportunity to listen to keynote speakers in the morning from a variety of backgrounds and to ask them questions.

The afternoon will be devoted to regional workshops so that every delegate can have their say.

2017 marks the first time that a cabinet secretary from the Scottish Government has attended. As in previous years, Highland Council is supporting the event, and Director of Care and Learning Bill Alexander will also be speaking, and responding to questions and issues raised on the day.

The Highland Parent Council Partnership, which organises the event, is inviting all Parent Council chairs, and/or representatives from each of the 206 School Parent Councils across the Highland region, to attend and get the opportunity to ask the Deputy First Minister questions that are relevant to their children and their schools.

Fergus Weir, Chair of the Highland Parent Council Partnership, said: "We are very pleased that the Deputy First Minister has agreed to attend our annual event. It offers parents in the Highlands a unique opportunity to hear directly from the cabinet secretary about the Government's ambitions and plans for education, with the opportunity to ask questions and hear his answers in person.

"Our aim is to get a representative from every school in the Highland region attending on the day to ensure that we can show Mr Swinney an accurate representation of the current educational challenges facing children and parents across the whole of the Highlands. We aim for the event to be valuable, informative and engaging for all parents who attend."

To register to attend parent representatives should sign up online: http://bit.ly/2xGbe4T

Further information on the Highland Parent Council Partnership is at: http://www.highlandpcp.org.uk/