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Have a look and see what we have available to families with #AlvaCares - period products, uniform, food plus lots more in the pipeline!

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At Alva Academy, we support our young people and their families in any way we can. #alvacares

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Free videos and downloadable worksheets to help adult learners improve their calculation and numeracy skills.

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Learn the basics - Functional Skills English - BBC Bitesize

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Functional Skills English Learn the basics learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers.

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Learn the basics - Functional Skills Maths - BBC Bitesize

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Functional Skills Maths Learn the basics learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers.

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The central source of all important information from Alva Academy

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Many people in Scotland have problems with reading, writing or using numbers. Improving literacy and numeracy skills can make a big difference to people's lives and the sort of jobs they can do - which is where the Big Plus comes in.

Flexible help and support

The Big Plus, Scotland's national adult literacy and numeracy campaign, was introduced in January 2004. It's run by Skills Development Scotland with advice provided by Education Scotland, to support Scottish Government policy. Free help to support people to improve their skills is mainly provided by local authorities.

People can access The Big Plus by calling our free phone help line, 0800 917 8000. Our advisers can offer advice and put people in touch with tutors in their local area. The support the tutors offer is completely free, and based on what the individual wants to achieve.

Tutors can be based in a number of places such as libraries, community centres, or colleges. There's also flexibility around attendance so that sessions can be arranged to suit the learner's work or personal life.

It gave me the confidence to deal with fractions and percentages.

Raising literacy standards

The Big Plus is helping adults build confidence with their numeracy and literacy skills. And because it's a tutor-based approach, people can build confidence and proficiency in a relaxed environment.

Want to know more?

Visit The Big Plus to find out how it can make a difference.

Visit our Employability Skills page has more information on the support we provide for individuals to improve their work-based and employability skills.

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The Big Plus is an awareness raising campaign on adult literacy and numeracy funded and managed by Skills Development Scotland.

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Free videos and downloadable worksheets to help adult learners improve their reading, writing, spelling and grammar.

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Functional Skills English (Levels 1 and 2) - BBC Bitesize

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Tips and tricks for reading, writing, speaking and listening. English learning resources for students of Functional Skills in England.

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Functional Skills Maths (Levels 1 and 2) - England - BBC Bitesize

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Using numbers, carrying out calculations and interpreting results. Learning resources for students of Functional Skills in England.

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Be at the heart of your child's learning

Find a school

Search our Scottish Schools directory of contact details, inspection reports, school level data and more.

Ways to get involved

As a parent, you can make an enormous difference, to your child's chances of success​ in school, at home and in their later life.

How can you help?

Read the latest newsletter from Comann nam Pàrant, the national organisation that supports parents who choose GME for their children.

Keep up to date

Our newsletters provide the latest information on education news and events, as well as details of resources and activities to help you support your child's learning.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.If you continue to use this website, we'll assume that you are happy to receive these cookies. Accept & Close Find out more

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Skip to main content Be at the heart of your child's learning Search our Scottish Schools directory of contact details, inspection reports, school level data and more. As a parent, you can make an enormous difference, to your child's chances of success​ in school, at home and in their later life.

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Skip to main content

Keep up to date

Our newsletters provide the latest information on education news and events, as well as details of resources and activities to help you support your child's learning.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.If you continue to use this website, we'll assume that you are happy to receive these cookies. Accept & Close Find out more

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Skip to main content Our newsletters provide the latest information on education news and events, as well as details of resources and activities to help you support your child's learning. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.If you continue to use this website, we'll assume that you are happy to receive these cookies.

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What is the Parent Council? | Parent Councils | Getting involved | Parent Zone

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Education Scotland is a Scottish Government executive agency responsible for supporting quality and improvement in Scottish education.

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This page provides ideas for supporting your child in different areas of STEM (science, technologies, engineering and mathematics):

What is STEM?

Why is it important?

Creativity in STEM

Science activities

Building STEM capital

STEM resources for families

What is STEM?

STEM stands for science (biology, chemistry and physics), technologies (including digital and computing science), engineering (all types) and mathematics. As well as developing skills and knowledge in each individual subject, STEM-related education and training aims to develop young people's ability to work across all subject areas through inter-disciplinary or project-based learning. This approach reflects the way in which STEM skills and knowledge are used in the world of work where a team with different types of expertise would work together to generate new knowledge, ideas and products.

Why is it important?

STEM underpins much of Scotland's economy. It is a key part of major sectors such as:

The skills learned through engagement with STEM are valued by many employers including non-STEM related industries and these are increasing in number. For example, it is estimated that there are 12,800 new jobs a year in Scotland's digital sector.

Partnerships between schools and employers provide many opportunities for young people to develop their employability skills. Look out for these opportunities in your local area.

STEM in a nutshell

This new Nutshell guide explains what STEM is and why STEM skills are important.

Creativity in STEM

How can creativity support STEM?

Creativity is defined as the capacity to generate ideas, look at things with a fresh eye, examine problems with an open mind, make connections, learn from mistakes and use the imagination to explore new possibilities. Key creativity skills fall under four areas:

Curiosity in children often leads to questions that are pretty tricky to answer. Some of these could be:

Why do I have a shadow?

How many different bugs are there?

How do planes fly?

STEM activities can encourage children and help them find out some answers to their questions.

Things parents can do at home:

Use a torch, pencil, paper and a toy to investigate shadows;

Go outside to investigate bugs in the ground. Visit your local library to do some research or find out about bugs at your local museum;

Make paper aeroplanes and test them to work out how planes fly.

Find out more about creativity with this handy guide.

Related links: YouTube - How can creativity support stem?

STEM and equalities

The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) makes it clear that all children and young people have the right to an education which should include access to "scientific and technical knowledge". The UNCRC also states that children's rights and respect should be without 'discrimination of any kind, irrespective of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.

In terms of STEM we realise that children receive and absorb stereotyped messages about what they can and cannot do as a from a very early age. This can be in respect to their gender, race, disability and the other protected characteristics stated above.

The world around them and the representations they see inform and perpetuate these stereotypes.

Education Scotland is working with a wide range of partners to address and tackle stereotypes in relation to STEM. Practitioners, teachers and parents have an extremely important role to play in helping children and young people recognise that a broad range of opportunities are open to them and to reduce the external influence of bias or stereotypes.​​

Building STEM capital

Many children enjoy STEM subjects at school. Not all children will continue to study STEM subjects or consider a career in STEM. Parents have a key role to play in helping to boost their child's self-confidence in STEM - sometimes known as STEM capital. Talking to your child about where they see STEM in everyday life and encouraging them to think about how that relates to a variety of jobs and careers can help build and promote their interest and knowledge of STEM. Parents do not need to know all the answers. Encouraging your child to ask questions will help them to grow in confidence in STEM. Watch this video to learn more about science and STEM capital.

There are a range of resources to inspire children to help them improve their STEM capital. Here are some things to think about:

How about doing some fun science experiments at home?

Does your local school have an after-school STEM club?

Why not take your kids to science and discovery centres to experience STEM in action. The centres have also produced activities and videos to enjoy at home:

Glasgow Science Centre have a new magazine called The Spark as well as an audio companion.

Dundee Science Centre have a number of activities to support learning at home.

Aberdeen Science Centre launched their summer of STEM in July 2020

Dynamic Earth have activities updated daily.

Talk a walk around your neighbourhood and think about where you see STEM?

Look around your home and write a list of where you see STEM.

Check out activities being held at your local museum. Many museums have created online resources (these are just a couple of examples):

Check if your local college has free activities during science or STEM week.

Check if your local library has a free coding club.

Is your child interested in space and astronomy? Did you know that Scotland has designated dark sky parks?

Visit a local zoo or wildlife park and if you cannot get to one you can look online:

Going for a walk in the park can inspire children to talk about wildlife or plants.

Pathways in STEM

There are multiple pathways into a career in STEM including Further and Higher Education. This means that a career in STEM is open to everyone! There are also a range of STEM pathways through Foundation Apprenticeships such as:

Accountancy

Civil Engineering

Creative and Digital Media

Engineering

Food and Drink Technologies

Scientific Technologies

Social Services and Healthcare

Software Development

Foundation Apprenticeships are open to pupils in the senior phase. Find out more about Developing the Young Workforce.

Related links: Apprenticeships in a nutshell

Careers in STEM

Scotland, like many other countries in the world, offers many exciting and rewarding careers in STEM. The skills gained through STEM can also open doors to careers in many other sectors. For instance, transferable skills such as the ability to solve problems, make accurate predictions and draw valid conclusions can be applied in many contexts. As a result, STEM skills are valued by employers across all sectors.

Information on the current and future skills demand in each region of Scotland can be found on Skills Development Scotland's Local and National Work. Find out more about Skills with this handy guide.

STEM resources for families

Every day can be a STEM day for families with the following selection of resources.

I am a scientist

The I am a scientist resource has lots of experiments for parents and children to try. Most of the things you'll need to carry out the experiments can be found around the house or in the garden. The experiments are split into sections, depending on the age and stage of your child. Why not try some of these experiments and become a science family!
PDF file: I am a scient​ist! (6.5 MB)PDF file: I am a scientist! (Gaelic) (8.19 MB)
I am a mathematician

Parents and carers can play a vital role in reinforcing the importance of mathematics to their children, promoting a positive attitude towards it and making it a fun activity to do together as a family. The I am a mathematician resource will help parents to support their children's learning with fun activities to do at home.
PDF file: I am a mathematician (8.6 MB)PDF file: I am a mathematician - Gaelic version (19.8 MB)
I am an engineer

I am an engineer is a learning resource for families to engage in STEM activities using the world around them. The workbook is split into sections depending on the age and stage of children and families and supports them to learn about engineering in a fun and challenging way. You can find out more about the work of some real life engineers and have fun trying some of the STEM activities and challenges as a family.
PDF file: I am an engineer (3.1 MB)PDF file: I am an engineer - Gaelic version (11 MB)

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Supporting science, technologies, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at home

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This page provides ideas for supporting your child in different areas of STEM (science, technologies, engineering and mathematics): What is STEM? Why is it important? Creativity in STEM Science activities Building STEM capital STEM resources for families STEM stands for science (biology, chemistry and physics), technologies (including digital and computing science), engineering (all types) and mathematics.

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Education Scotland is a Scottish Government executive agency responsible for supporting quality and improvement in Scottish education.

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At Alva Academy we understand the importance of revision for the successful completion of exams. It is an integral part of preparing for your SQA exams. To help you with you revision and exam prep we have created this resource with some useful information and resources for pupils and parents to

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Parenting today involves raising the first generation of children growing up with technology all around them - at school, at home and in their pockets. As you chart the path that feels right for your family, we're here to help.

Let's talk online safety

Supported by Internet Matters and Parent Zone, Google has developed a range of conversation starters designed to help families spark important digital safety discussions.

Select a topic below and find the right questions for you.

Search signals: Children, families and technology by the numbers

Key Google Trends and family insights from the past year.

Your family's tech journey

Whether you're teaching children to be safer online, setting up parental controls or searching for quality content - this space is for you.

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Share the products that you love with the people that you love. Create a family group with up to six members and get more from your products and subscriptions across Google.

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Google Families - Helping to make technology work for your family

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Parenting today involves raising the first generation of children growing up with technology all around them - at school, at home and in their pockets. As you chart the path that feels right for your family, we're here to help.

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Family Link from Google – Family safety and parental control tools

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Explore Family Link tools designed to help parents set screen time limits, filter content and better understand how their families spend time online.

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Here, you can find out more about this fantastic support available to your young person in Alva Academy if they go through a bereavement or life change.

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Here, you will find all you need to know about Seasons for Growth, a support available to all young people at Alva Academy