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Apple targets Scottish Borders for teaching revolution

BBC Pupils at the Inspire Academy in TweedbankBBC
The Inspire Academy welcomed its first pupils on Friday

One of Scotland's smallest education authorities has been hand-picked by IT giants Apple to spearhead its classroom plans.

Scottish Borders Council (SBC) snapped up the offer to lead the way on this side of the Atlantic with digital approaches to learning.

Almost every school pupil in the region has now been issued with an iPad.

And the first students attended the Inspire Academy in Tweedbank to learn from Apple's IT experts on Friday.

Lesley Munro, director of education at SBC, said: "It was a brave decision three years ago to roll-out iPads to our secondary pupils, and nobody could have foreseen where it would take us with this offer from Apple.

"Apple have embraced what we were doing here with professional learning and their support has allowed us to continue taking things forward to open our Inspire Academy.

"Every time I speak to our team behind the Inspire programme they excite me about where this can go, and with Apple's help, the sky's the limit.

"The digital world is changing and developing at a pace that we've never seen before, and I genuinely believe the Scottish Borders can become the world leader in digital learning."

Councillor Leagh Douglas with a young learner at the Academy
Councillor Leagh Douglas is impressed by the facility

Pupils from Earlston and Selkirk high schools enjoyed a live hook-up with Apple's headquarters in California on Friday before starting classes on app development.

The tie-up has already led to seven Borders teachers graduating as Apple learning specialists, and three schools - Selkirk High, Kelso High and Broomlands Primary - have become Apple Distinguished Schools.

Leagh Douglas, SBC's portfolio holder for education, said: "We have a world-leading company taking us by the hand on this exciting journey.

"People from Apple are willing to come across to the Borders as well as go online and educate our young people.

"Every pupil and teacher in the Borders now has access to this digital technology and digital expertise, and it has no boundaries."

iPads
Hundreds of school pupils will visit the Inspire Academy every month

Apple recently produced a promotional video featuring the progress of digital learning in the Scottish Borders to highlight its own advances in the classroom.

Former music teacher Catherine Thomson has led the Inspire Learning programme over the past three years.

She believes the recent tie-up with Apple and the opening of the Inspire Academy are the icing on the cake of three years of hard work.

She said: "We ultimately want to improve outcomes for young people and making sure they have the digital skills they will need, with Apple's help, is a large part of that.

"The Inspire Academy is the next step for the programme, where other education authorities and businesses can come in and learn from what we are doing."