Report to the People
50 Years of Ravenscraig Primary
I will make no mention today, you will be relieved to hear, of last week's main political story.
After the 8 page pull-outs in the papers, the 24 hour television coverage and pontificating pundits, I am sure you've had your fill of election comment.
Unsurprisingly, though, I quite enjoyed the General Election campaign. Not because (well not only because) I am a political anorak, but because when the media went into election overdrive, the Scottish Parliament was largely left to get on with its work.
While eggs, punches and accusations flew, MSPs - as I mentioned the other week - quietly got on with their business. Almost every week of the campaign saw the Scottish Parliament passing another piece of legislation.
And in our constituencies, asides from campaigning for our local candidates, MSPs' work went on as normal.
Indeed last Tuesday evening I visited Ravenscraig primary school to celebrate its 50th Anniversary and to see an excellent exhibition of how the school has changed over the years.
The old black and white photographs from the school's early days which decorated the walls seemed to be from a completely different era. Indeed, the school's log – with entries of female teachers leaving to get married and the school being closed due to measles outbreaks - underlined the extent to which things have changed.
All of this was in sharp contrast to the confident, bright young people who treated us to videos, CD-ROM presentations, and tours of the school garden.
It is fascinating seeing how education has changed over the last half Century and I congratulate the pupils, staff and doubtless the parents at Ravenscraig on the success of their celebrations.
While it was nice to look back with satisfaction, however, we now need to face the challenge of the next 50 years.
The scale of the task is daunting and the need to modernise urgent. It will cost £60 million to keep our schools wind and watertight for the next 15 years.
We must adapt to changes in population patterns and education to ensure that future generations will look back on our efforts with the same pride and satisfaction as we felt last Tuesday.
It is now time to focus on how we get this done.
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