THE Leader of North Ayrshire Council says he was ‘inspired’ after his first visit to North Ayrshire’s Professional Learning Academy.

Councillor Joe Cullinane spent Wednesday afternoon at the council’s new £400,000 facility that is developing and enhancing the skill-set of our teachers and practitioners.

Based at Auchenharvie Academy, some of the authority’s most highly-skilled practitioners are developing programmes which enhance the learning and teaching in our establishments.

When Councillor Cullinane visited, teachers from Beith Primary and Glebe Primary were in the classroom for their twilight session with the focus on the delivery of numeracy.

He said: “This facility, which is funded through the Attainment Challenge, is trying to change the way we teach our young people in North Ayrshire.

“We’ve clearly got an attainment gap between those living in the more affluent areas and those in the more deprived areas and the Learning Academy is going to try and close the gap.”