07/05/2014 Reporting Scotland

building society. That's all from the BBC News at Six, so it's

Tonight, the stubborn division in Scotland's schools. A report finds

the achievement gap between rich and poor pupils persists. We explore

what can be done to raise educational ambition. It is about

being given aspirations and that you can do this and your children can do

this and making parents believe it. Also on Reporting Scotland: The fire

that lit up a tiny Aberdeenshire village last night - today an

elderly woman who lives in this cottage has still not

elderly woman who lives in this With the European elections in a

fortnight - a special report on how the EU affects the lives of Scottish

fishermen. The Glasgow School of Art is dominating this year's Turner

Prize short list. And why the ukulele seems to

Prize short list. And why the than at any other time in its

history. Good evening. It's a pre-school

poverty gap, and it gets wider as children get older. New research

suggests five-year-olds from poorer families in Scotland are a year

behind other children in basic skills. It describes this attainment

gap between richer and poorer children as "persistent and

significant". Our Education correspondent, Jamie McIvor, is here

with the details. Well, for a century or more,

campaigners have tried to end the link between poverty and poor

educational achievement. And the latest research from the Rowntree

Foundation is a reminder of the scale of that challenge.

Five-year-olds from poorer families can be a year behind better-off

children when it comes to problem-solving and vocabulary,

While by the early years of secondary school, only 28% of

children from poorer families were performing well in numeracy - half

the figure for youngsters from advantaged backgrounds. The problem

itself is well documented, but what could help the solution? Let's try

nine cubed. The school serves what is colder one of Scotland's most

deprived areas with life expectancy in this area of Glasgow being grim.

We have to look at every child as an individual and everybody is

somebody's child and they want the best for them. I do not like to

think that this is an area where we have a certain set of challenges

because every school has its own challenges. They are all different

but they all have to get the best for the child. The school has a good

reputation so what is the headteacher think might help people

from less well off backgrounds across Scotland achieve their

potential? It is about being given aspirations and saying that you can

do this and your children can do this. The latest research services

ask -- serves as a reminder of the problem. One solution could be

better data to help teachers make informed decisions. We need much

stronger guidance for schools about how they can use the mechanisms they

have because teachers in Scotland have quite a lot of freedom but need

guidance to help children living in property. They need evidence about

what types of interventions work for what types of community and need the

data to put those things together. But nobody's pretending solving the

problem is just about how schools are run. It touches on other areas

of social and economic policy too. So what do the politicians say? The

Scottish Government says it's making progress, but argues independence is

needed to do more. Labour, of course, say independence isn't

needed. And today they published a paper highlighting how issues like

childcare and vocational education could also help. This is a complex

problem. Nobody pretends there are easy solutions.

A privately run care home in Glasgow has been strongly criticised over

the quality of the care it provides. The Care Inspectorate says it

inspected the Sherbrooke Lodge Care Home last August and found more than

20 areas of serious concern which needed to be changed. But after an

unannounced inspection in February, it says only two had been met, and

the residents' health and wellbeing was being compromised. Lambhill

Court Ltd, which runs the home, says a new manager has been appointed and

the company is cooperating fully. Fears are growing for an elderly

woman after fire destroyed her cottage in an Aberdeenshire village.

Such was the devastation caused by the blaze that it's still too

dangerous for crews to enter the building. Fiona Stalker reports. The

fire ravaged this seafront cottage and the elderly woman who lived here

was one of the few locals left in this tiny village. The other

properties to holiday homes. This is the scene that met before fire crews

that attended last night. It took fire crews around two and a half

hours to bring the fierce blaze under control. Fire crews also used

all the water supplies which were available to them. The house was

very well liked and in danger of collapse and a fire crews worked

extremely hard and challenging conditions to bring the fire under

control. The crews worked very well using water from hydrants nearby and

from the sea. The elderly woman and her dog has not been seen since the

fire. She had lived here for decades. A joint police and Fire

Service investigation is underway. Fishing is probably the one industry

in Scotland where the European Union has the biggest day-to-day impact.

EU regulations determine much of the work of our fishing boats, even down

to the size of nets they use. Well, the European Elections are two weeks

tomorrow when six Scottish MEPs are voted in to the European Parliament.

Steven Duff has been to Peterhead to speak to skippers and fish

merchants. Peterhead fish market, Europe's busiest. For 40 years, the

Scottish fishing industry has worked under European rules and regulations

known as the Common Fisheries Policy. It caused hardship, brought

us to our knees, and if it carries on we won't have anything left.

There is probably no other industry in Scotland where there is a bigger

impact. They are even told what size of nets to use. They could not have

done a better job if you had asked them to destroy the Scottish fishing

industry. Since the 1970s two-thirds of the fishing fleet has

disappeared, and since the 1990s, the number fishermen has been cut in

half. Peter Bruce has fished all his working days. I know Europe is

important for other industries, but nationally I would like to see us

out of Europe altogether. What do people like Peter want from the six

MEPs that Scotland will send to Parliament? Start negotiating far

harder for the industry. I see the industry getting smaller and smaller

all the time, and they must start speaking up for the industry. The

fishermen here are the most conservation minded here, and that

is not being recognised. But there are those who feel that

is not being recognised. But there protected endangered fish stocks.

The state of stocks we see now has improved considerably over the last

ten years. These fish know no boundaries, they do not have

passports, so you have to work with fishing partners all around Europe,

and they trade with them, and much of it goes to the European partners.

If they trade with them, they have to accept some of the other rules as

well. The European Parliament now has extra powers in deciding

legislation. Something has extra powers in deciding

fishermen want the MEPs to use to the

fishermen want the MEPs to use to before seven. We

fishermen want the MEPs to use to system of paying for public

buildings but is it any better than the old method? In sport: As

buildings but is it any better than career. One of the biggest risks to

buildings but is it any better than cycles on the roads are trucks and

heavy goods vehicles. Lorry drivers in Edinburgh are swapping their

trucks for bikes as part training to show them what the roads

are like for cyclists. It's been prompted by figures which show

are like for cyclists. It's been a significant proportion of injuries

to cyclists happen during incidents involving heavy goods vehicles. The

City Council hopes the cycling lessons will encourage

City Council hopes the cycling make the roads safer.

City Council hopes the cycling Macaulay reports. This is the view

from a typical tipper Macaulay reports. This is the view

higher up the lorry, the further out the blindspot doors. You've

higher up the lorry, the further out watch. You could end up taking them

out. One or two fingers above your eyebrows is fine. To give lorry

drivers an idea of the dangers faced by cyclists, employees from Edinboro

City Counsel transport department have swapped several wheels for just

two. It gives an insult insight into what it is like to cycles. --

Edinburgh City Council. This man was killed two years ago while on his

bike and his family have ideas what would be a better approach. We have

two work together to make it better for all of us. Lothian Buses have

been trying this out and see the notice a real improvement. The

training today has let drivers see what things are like from the point

of view of the cyclist and it is hoped that lessons like these will

be mandatory for lorry drivers from the City Council. A look at other

stories from the across the country...

Two women have been taken to hospital after they were hit by a

car in the Aberdeenshire town of Huntly. One of the women was

airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. The accident happened

near the town's railway station, just before midday.

The implementation of safety restrictions for seating on offshore

helicopters is to be delayed by three months. The Civil Aviation

Authority says the move follows consultation with helicopter

operators and the oil and gas industry. From September, passengers

will only be allowed to fly if they are seated next to a push-out

window, allowing them to escape in an emergency. Police and water

bailiffs are stepping up patrols in Loch Ness to clamp down on salmon

poaching. One fisherman was reported for an offence after a patrol at the

weekend. Nearly 2,000 pupils in Edinburgh

have taken part in a junior triathlon, in what's been described

as the largest ever schools sporting event to take place in the capital.

The sport includes swimming, cycling and running, and today's event was

staged to tie in with the Commonwealth Games, which opens with

the triathlon. A rare first edition of Jane

Austen's novel Emma was sold for ?39,000 at auction in Edinburgh

today - nearly twice the estimated price. The book, in three volumes,

was one of just 2,000 copies of the work printed in 1816. The

auctioneers Lyon Turnbull described it as a "remarkable copy"

of the novel. The first wave of public buildings which have been

funded by a new system of finance have been completed. Major projects

are no longer paid for by the widely-criticised Private Finance

Initiatives, or PFI. But is the new system any better? Our health

correspondent Eleanor Bradford's been investigating. Here we have the

dental department and here we have physiotherapy. Rachel is very

pleased with her new clinic. Her room is beside lots of other clinics

in and airy building. It has improved things drastically and we

can speak to people face-to-face and if we receive a federal and we are

questioning something we can nip through and see them. This is the

new health facility to be built under the new way of financing

public buildings. The new sick children's hospital in Edinburgh and

many other buildings and schools are being built in this fashion. While

this method has resulted in many new hospitals the National Health

Service has been tied into a long and expensive contracts. Lanarkshire

Health Board spends several million pounds per year. This time the

National Health Service is a shareholder. We will receive written

are our -- we will receive a return on our investment and in the town

will have an impact on the decisions that are made. That is this money

for investors that could've gone straight the private sector? Three

of the four nominees for this year's Turner Prize were educated at

Glasgow School of Art. And 30% of nominees in the last nine years have

come from there. So what is the magic dust that is sprinkled on

these students? Students put together the end of

term exhibition. Three of the former returner nominees, Duncan Campbell,

Ciara Phillips and Tris Vonna-Michell, studied at Glasgow

School of Art. This teacher taught two of them. The programme is two

years long and that is unusual and allows students to become

experimental. It is also a multidisciplinary programme, which

means they work across a variety of mediums, film, sculpture, painting

and so on. The installation behind me is by Martin Boyce, he won in

2011. Four students here have won since 1996. A third of all people

nominated for the price has come here. So what is it that is so

special here? The Turner prize is a price for a British artist but it

has global interest and these are artists that show all over the

world. So for example, Duncan Campbell's film was commissioned in

Venice. Ciara Phillips' show was shown in London. Tris

Vonna-Michell's work has been shown in Berlin. It is great for the city

and school and as for in Berlin. It is great for the city

am going to come out of here and in a year's time people are going to

say, how come you haven't won the Turner prize yet? It is a

high-intensity course but it draws people from across the world

high-intensity course but it draws gives them a lot of support. That is

academically and on practical levels. The winner of the Turner

prize will be announced on the 1st of December, but if you cannot wait

until then, students here opened the exhibition on Friday.

Now with more success from a surprisingly small source, it is

David with the sport. I keep talking about me?

The Highland town of Dingwall, population 6,000, will have a team

in Scottish football's top division for another year. Ross County's win

over Hibernian means they have enough points to finish this season

above the relegation play-off spot, but Hibs are still in trouble.

12 yards between penalty taker and goalkeeper. The distance between

Premiership safety and jeopardy. A matter of inches,

Premiership safety and jeopardy. A Britton's penalty kick leads Ben

Williams. Little doubt that County deserve the penalty. Look at

Robison's challenge. Little doubt that Ross County supporters deserve

their celebration. If you think about it and look at the population,

6000 people, and the achievements we have had in the last six years,

Scottish Cup final, two seasons in the Premiership, two league titles,

it is fantastic. Hibs fans look forward to, if that is

phrase, their final match of the phrase, their final match of the

season against Kilmarnock. It is a huge match and we are looking

forward to it. We huge match and we are looking

to do, when the game. Remember Derek Adams mentioned Roy of the Rovers?

Give us a comic book hero who made a habit of scoring dramatic winners in

important matches. This is what happened as Aberdeen beat Dundee

important matches. This is what United three - one. It guarantees

Aberdeen a top three finish in the European qualifiers. Motherwell will

also be celebrating. Dundee United's defeat means the Steel, men

are also sure of a top three finish. A busy night tonight, too -

Motherwell will be a point behind Aberdeen in the fight for second

place if they beat Inverness. Partick Thistle, meanwhile, can free

themselves from relegation worries if they win at Hearts. After their

recent defeat by Hearts, even a win for Kilmarnock at home to St Mirren

isn't enough to keep them out of danger. Their fate will only be

clear after their final game against Hibs. I am really looking forward to

it. It is two massive games coming up and after the results at the

weekend, we need a positive reaction and to bounce back quickly.

Follow the action from all tonight's matches, including the Championship

and lower-league play-offs, in Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland 810

medium wave, and online. The boxer Ricky Burns' promoter says

the fighter must win in Glasgow next month if he's to stand any chance of

becoming a world champion again. Burns lost his WBO lightweight title

in March, but the Coatbridge fighter says that after changing coaches,

he's hungrier than ever for success. Jonathan Sutherland reports.

Despite no longer being a world champion, Ricky Burns remains hugely

popular with Scottish boxing fans. After defeat by Crawford he split

with trainer Billy Nelson and is now with Tony Simms. I had to make a

change and freshen things up a bit. I'm so much happier with myself and

for this fight, I feel I have a point to prove to myself as well. I

look forward to getting out there and putting on a show. From

Montenegro, his opponent has a WBC ranking of ninth and Burns will have

to beat this undefeated southpaw for any chance of winning the WBC

lightweight belt. Ricky Burns must win this. The WC is the body we want

to go after, and it is the belt we want to win now. But ultimately,

Ricky has a point to prove. He needs to get his and the fans' confidence

back. It is a huge night of boxing on the 27th of June. Ricky broke his

jaw in the Contra vet shall point victory over Raymundo Beltran last

year. He prepares for another assault on the world title.

year. He prepares for another broke his jaw in the controversial

point victory over Raymundo Beltran last year.

Other sport: Andy Murray's about to take to the court for his second

round match against Nicolas Almagro at the Madrid Masters.

He could meet Rafa Nadal in the semis. He says Murray's slide down

the rankings is nothing to worry about. He is not an issue -- it is

not an issue for a player like Andy, who already won the Olympics,

Wimbledon, grandson stock Mac -- grand slams...

Andy's brother Jamie is out of the men's doubles, he and John Peers

losing to Poland's Fyrstenberg and Matkowski. After the match, he paid

tribute to Elena Baltacha, who this week lost her battle with cancer.

She was a great person first of all, regardless of what she did on the

tennis court. Everyone that knew her will remember her being a firm lady

-- will remember her fondly and I'm sure her memory will live on.

St Johnstone striker Stevie May has won the Scottish Football Writers'

Association Young Player of the Year award. May's scored 27 goals this

season. Four more track and field athletes

have been added to Team Scotland for this summer's Commonwealth Games,

including 42-year-old marathon runner Hayley Haining.

For all the breaking news, at your leisure, may I suggest the BBC Sport

Scotland website? That is all the sport for tonight.

If you're a certain age, the word "ukelele" might conjure up the image

of the comedian George Formby strumming away while leaning on his

lampost or cleaning windows. Strictly speaking, he was playing a

banjolele, but in recent years the ukelele has enjoyed a renaissance

and seems to be more popular than at any other time in its history.

Willie Johnston reports. It came out of Hawaii in the 19th

century. For much of the 20th century, an instrument of fun for

musical comics. But in the 21st-century, the ukelele suddenly

is an icon of call. Galloway -based singer songwriter Zoe Bestel

launches her debut album, one of many young artists inspired in part

by the ukelele's new-found popularity. Right now it is coming

into its own and it is becoming quite a cool instrument. It is

brilliant, exactly what I want. Everyone, it seems, wants to join

in. Stuart Butterworth has taught ukelele for three years. 100 players

a week attend his groups like this one in Dumfries. It is such a

lovely, quirky instrument of the time, of the moment. People do say

about the ukelele that you cannot play the ukelele without somebody

smiling. It is its affordability and relative ease of mass to be that

makes it popular for hockey players and professionals alike. -- ease of

mastery. It has been superb. I started recently as a beginner. I

have been to a couple of concerts and I loved the sound so I thought I

would give it a try. Definitely the ukelele is my thing now. It is so

light as well, you can take it everywhere. And it is quite cute!

I feel 105, having had to educate Christopher on George Formby.

The unsettled theme continues with weather this week. St John, showers

and rain. Here is the satellite and radar picture. A swathe of rain

across the Southern Upland is pushing into Glasgow and drifting

down the M8. Tonight, eventually, it will be dry for most. We just need

to get rid of the rain first. 7p, APM, the rain clears away towards

the North Sea leaving many area strike. For most of us during the

second half of the night, it is largely dry and cloudy and

temperatures are no lower than six or seven or eight Celsius, rural

spots possibly a touch cooler. Tomorrow, some bright spots around.

A case of bright spells and showers into the afternoon. The exception is

down towards the South. Here there will be a band of rain pushing in.

Not as heavy as this afternoon. Further East, generally dry. Some

bright skies. Similar to many parts of the central belt. Further North

showers moving and further West showers not too far away and in the

farther North, showers in existence, too. Wind fairly light once again

which means they are slow-moving if you do catch one. The rest of the

afternoon into the evening, staying fairly cloudy and damp and the

reason for all of this, low pressure. A big flabby area of low

pressure, as we call it. So Friday once again is unsettled. There will

be showers, some heady, and with the risk of hail and under certainly

across the North. The weekend is staying unsettled. Rain on Saturday,

showers on Sunday. Now a reminder of tonight's main

news: New research suggests five-year-olds from poorer families

in Scotland are a year behind other children in basic skills by the

they start school. It describes this attainment gap

between richer and poorer children as "persistent and significant".

I am back with the headlines at 8pm, and the late bulletin just after the

ten o'clock news. Goodbye.