Schools in the Clydesdale area have used funding to give pupils and parents a say.
Funding has been allocated to schools from the Pupil Equity Fund for participatory budgeting, which gives the full school community, including pupils and parents, a say on where money should be directed within the school.
The pupil equity fund is given directly to schools and targets closing the poverty-related attainment gap. Every council area in Scotland benefits from the fund.
Participatory budgeting allows a wider range of people including pupils, parents and teachers to be involved in the process of deciding how school money is spent.
The exercise allows children and young people to be actively involved in the purchase of learning resources.
Lynsey Hamilton, the chair of the council’s Education Resources Committee, said: “I am delighted so many schools are using this funding to target areas that are important to them whilst enabling pupil voice to flourish through participatory budgeting.
“It is important for our schools to create opportunities for their communities to have more of a say in what is important to them, as parents, pupils and school staff alike as they strive to improve the learning experiences for all learners.”
Eileen Logan (Clydesdale West) praised the process and welcomed the involvement from pupils in her local schools.
She said: “I’d like to say very well done. One of the things that pleased me very much, obviously you know your own areas, but I regularly attend Carluke High School.
"One of the things we discussed and I hoped for, and that’s what happened, was that they had to reach out to everybody in the school, all the parents, all the pupils and the hard work that went into it was really tremendous.
"They gave us reports back on various different things, and one of the pupils did say that he thoroughly enjoyed it and he had his say so I think that is great.”
Participatory budgeting in South Lanarkshire schools was confirmed to continue into the session of 2022 to 2023 and head teachers were asked to allocate a minimum of five per cent of their 2022 to 2023 pupil equity fund allocation to participatory budgeting.
Out of the four learning communities in Clydesdale, two allocated more than the five per cent and two allocated the recommended amount.
Biggar Learning community, which consists of 12 schools allocated £9813 to participatory budgeting with an average of 8 per cent spent on the exercise. Biggar High School allocated £2,572.50 to participatory budgeting.
Carluke learning community, which includes nine schools used £53,742.19 to the exercise with an average of 9 per cent to participatory budgeting. Carluke High School used £25,970 for participatory budgeting.
Lanark learning community, where there are 12 schools, allocated a total of £18,786 with an average of 5 per cent spent on participatory budgeting. Lanark Grammar allocated £5,700 to participatory budgeting
In the Lesmahagow learning community, there are six schools, a total of £16,392 was allocated to the exercise. Lesmahagow High School allocated £4,287.50 to participatory budgeting.
Schools within the area have collectively allocated £102,222.60 of their £1,435,164 pupil equity funding allocation for participatory budgeting. A total of 74 percent of schools have allocated the minimum of five per cent with 26 per cent of schools allocating more than this.
Last session, to ensure funding was used effectively, a session took place for school staff to explain the process of participatory budgeting.
Each school created a participatory budgeting group made up of pupils, parents and staff to ensure all were involved and participated from the beginning.
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