Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Education Services is eagerly anticipating the start of a new academic year.

New P1s
Schools across Dumfries and Galloway will welcome more than 1,500 new P1 pupils this week. It’s a busy week but the schools are well prepared for the new intake and teachers are looking forward to getting to know their new pupils. It’s exciting for the pupils as they start out on a lifelong learning journey, with no-one being able to predict where it will lead.

Probationer Teachers
Dumfries and Galloway Council welcomes 64 probationer teachers, 39 in primary schools and 25 in 12 of our 16 secondary schools, building on the previous success of introducing newly qualified teachers to the region. As they begin their careers, they are supported by teaching colleagues and other education authority staff while they bring innovative ideas, creativity and enthusiasm to classrooms.

School Meals
Dumfries and Galloway Council currently offers free school meals to all P1 pupils. Providing a good start in life for all our children is a priority for Dumfries and Galloway Council. Free school meals ensure that every child in P1 can have a nutritious and healthy lunch each day, prepared with as many local ingredients as possible. This encourages children to make healthier food choices and to develop lifelong healthy eating habits. From January 2015, free school meals will be available to all P1, P2 and P3 pupils.

New School Buildings
The new Langholm Primary School opened its doors to pupils after the spring holiday, providing a modern learning environment for nursery and primary aged pupils, on a campus shared with Langholm Academy, providing an ‘all through’ school. Over the summer holiday, further work has been done and the school now has a synthetic football pitch, for school use during core hours and community use outside these, and a kitchen for producing school meals, with dining facilities shared by primary and secondary pupils.

Councillor Jeff Leaver, chairman of the Education Committee, said, “The start of a new academic year is always an exciting time for schools across our region. The new P1s are eagerly embarking on a great journey of discovery. Our probationer teachers are preparing to make a positive difference to the lives of young people. Our school meals are encouraging children to make better food choices. Our school buildings are at the centre of our communities, offering an appropriate environment in which to learn. On behalf of Dumfries and Galloway Council, I wish every pupil and education employee across our region a happy and successful year.”

A new weekly food waste recycling service for residents in the Wigtownshire area will launch at the end of the month. This heralds the introduction of a comprehensive new kerbside recycling service soon to launch across the region which will allow residents to recycle a range of materials, including paper, cardboard, glass, metals, plastic bottles and textiles.

Nearly 15,000 Wigtownshire residents will be provided with a kitchen caddy, a kerbside caddy and a supply of free biodegradable liners, as well as an information leaflet explaining the new service. The leaflet also informs residents on which day of the week they should put their kerbside caddy out for collection and how to request more caddy liners when they run out.

Some residents, such as those living in flatted properties or who use a shared communal collection point, may receive a shared outdoor wheeled bin for recycling their food waste.

The first food collections will begin on the week commencing Monday 25th August. The new food waste recycling service is easy to use, as well as being good for the environment. Common types of food waste which can be recycled include bones, fruit and vegetable cores and peelings as well as leftovers from meals. Even items of food waste such as egg shells and tea bags can be recycled. Unopened out of date food can also be unpackaged and recycled.

Cllr Colin Smyth, Chair of Economy, Environment and Infrastructure Committee said “The roll out of food waste collections to Wigtownshire is the beginning of the introduction of a comprehensive kerbside recycling service to residents across Dumfries and Galloway. This new service is required to help ensure that Dumfries and Galloway increases its recycling rate and meets the Scottish Government target of recycling 60% of all waste by 2020. It will take time for people to get used to what is a major change but I think most people understand that recycling is not only good for the environment, but they also know that similar schemes have been introduced in other parts of the country”.

For more information about the new kerbside recycling service – please visit the Council’s website at www.dumgal.gov.uk/kerbsiderecycling or phone 030 33 33 3000.

Individual councils decide, in close consultation with residents, on the best recycling services for their local area. Zero Waste Scotland stands ready and able to support all Scottish councils with their efforts to reduce waste and increase recycling, by providing technical support where appropriate.
Food waste that is collected as part of this new service will be treated at a special processing plant, called an anaerobic digester, where it is turned into valuable resources including an agricultural fertiliser product and can also be used to generate energy.