Sixty primary school pupils from Aberdeen, who have been taking part in a four-month programme to learn about dance and its wider benefits, will have the chance to see how it all comes together on stage when they attend Scottish Ballet’s performance of Cinderella at HM Theatre this week, thanks to funding support from PCL Group.

The theatre visit is the culmination of two unique residencies delivered by Scottish Ballet at Walker Road and Kaimhill primary schools in association with local trusts.

The residencies saw the company’s Education Officer Miriam Early and musician Adam Stearns work with two groups of 7-11 year old pupils at each school to give them the opportunity to experience dance and music at first hand, to improve their understanding and appreciation of dance as an art form and to learn how it ties in with other aspects of their lives.

The pupils and their teachers were also provided with resources and cross-curricular class and activity plans to help them develop literacy, art and design skills and which highlighted health and wellbeing. They worked through a series of tasks individually and in groups, working collectively to contribute ideas which culminated in a performance which they organised for other pupils.

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It’s still a man’s world in oil and gas sector

Oil and gas firms are missing out on the benefits of diversity, with participation of women in the work force lagging behind other major industries, a report says.

The study – The Future of Jobs – was published to inform political and business leaders at this week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. It highlights a total absence of women in chief executive roles among global oil companies and says only 11% of senior executives are female.

The report also highlights a 32% “gender pay gap” in the industry despite efforts to create more opportunities for women.

Gender imbalances in oil and gas and other industries were in the spotlight at a session on the future of work in Davos, where Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg told participants “men still run the world – and I’m not sure it’s going that well”.

She added: “It means we’re not using the full talent of the population.”

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Residents in a sheltered housing complex enjoyed an early Christmas dinner thanks to an IT company.

PCL Group treated all 60 people who live at Mark Bush Court in Aberdeen to the festive supper. And the firm drafted in a chef from Inn at the Park on Aberdeen’s Deemount Terrace and PCL Group staff turned their skills to waiting tables. Turkey with all the trimmings was the order of the day. And some of Santa’s little helpers even turned up to hand out small gifts to all the residents.

Jeanette Forbes, chief executive of PCL Group, said: “We support a number of charities and charitable events throughout the year. “At this time of year in particular though it is good to get involved in the community. “The whole staff team got behind the idea and turned up in force to serve the lunches and some brought their children dressed as elves to hand out gifts.”

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Link to article here

One of the key themes of the City Region Deal is digital infrastructure and this week we hear from industry leader Jeanette Forbes, CEO of PCL Group on why digital innovation is vital to industry.

As a board member of the Scottish Government’s Technology Advisory Group (TAG) and as TAG’s representative on the Digital Scotland – Business Excellence Partnership board, Jeanette Forbes, CEO of the PCL Group, has been instrumental in promoting the need for greater digital connectivity and its resultant economic benefits to the Aberdeen City Region for several years.

The Scottish Government’s goal is for Scotland to become a world class digital nation by 2020, through collaboration between public sector agencies from national and local government with business and industry.

As a businesswoman who has run her own IT company in Aberdeen for almost 16 years Jeanette is acutely aware of how crucial it is that the Aberdeen City Region Deal has the ambition and resource to put in place a transformational digital programme of activity.

“Digital technology revolution is the next big thing in the oil and gas sector around the world with the potential to make a huge impact on how the industry operates and to change the current workforce,” she said. “Some estimates suggest up to 47% of all jobs will be automated within the next two decades and at a time when the industry is looking at costs, in particular the uplift costs of extraction from our mature field, this is going to be a major consideration.

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Jeanette Forbes, CEO of the PCL Group, has been named Inspirational Woman of the Year in the inaugural Business Women Scotland Awards. The awards, presented at a gala dinner in Glasgow, were supported by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit of female-led companies from across Scotland.

The Inspirational Woman Award was a special honour presented by Business Woman Scotland magazine, organisers of the event, to someone they felt inspired other women in business.

“Jeanette started her own IT services company in a male-dominated energy world and has survived tough times to make her company a success,” said magazine editor Lynne Kennedy. “She is a lesson to us all to never give up on your dream. She is a big supporter of encouraging females into the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects and also likes to give back to the community as a business mentor. Any female who heard her story cannot fail to be inspired.”
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