LGBT award for council section

Celebrating the award are (l-r) Cumbernauld Academy pupil Alyssa Young, LGBT Youth Scotlands Cara Spence, NLC education support officer Elinor Steel, LGBT Youth Scotlands Graeme Lea-Ross and Cumbernauld Academy Jordan Burns

The award is in recognition of the support offered to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pupils and staff.

Isabelle Boyd, assistant chief executive Education, Youth and Communities, said: “We have been working towards this award for the last 18 months. The award recognises the work that has been undertaken across EYC to date to support the LGBT community.

“A staff survey showed that homophobic, biphobic or transphobic bullying was an issue and so we organised training and awareness raising events to increase personal knowledge and commitment to supporting colleagues across the service.”

The LGBT Youth Scotland awarding panel reported: “We are particularly impressed by your leadership in ensuring consistency of messages across the organisation and that “your consistent and constant activities and events to keep LGBT on the agenda.”

In addition, two secondary schools have achieved their LGBT Youth Scotland Bronze award: Bellshill Academy and Clyde Valley High School, while Brannock High School received a Silver award.

These schools join Cumbernauld Academy who achieved the Silver award last session.

Meanwhile, Education secretary John Swinney has announced that all state schools in Scotland will be supported to teach LGBT equality and inclusion.