Press Release

SMITH CONGRATULATES DALMENY ON ITS VALUES

9/5/06

Margaret Smith, Liberal Democrat MSP for Edinburgh West, and George Reid MSP, Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, have paid a joint visit to Dalmeny Primary School. The purpose of their trip was to see for themselves the way in which Dalmeny has moved away from a set of school rules and adopted a set of school values instead.

These four values are wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity. The decision to adopt them was inspired by the Scottish Parliament’s mace, which has the same four words inscribed on it.

Ms Smith said:

“Having shown two Dalmeny Primary classes around the Parliament in recent times, I was pleased that the Presiding Officer was free on this occasion to accompany me to the school.

“I was delighted to meet so many of the children and to visit several classes of different age groups. Both the Presiding Officer and myself were struck by the way in which the children were so well-informed about the meaning of the school values and the way in which staff encourage them to live by these values.

“A Scotland that demonstrates wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity is a Scotland that we could all be proud of. From what I saw at Dalmeny Primary, there is good reason to hope for such a future for Scotland.

“Dalmeny Primary’s decision to move from a set of rules to a set of values is a brave and original one. It seems to work well, and I am confident that other schools will want to adopt a similar approach in the future.”