A SECONDARY school’s bid to be more inclusive towards members of the LGBTQ+ community has been recognised with a national accolade.

Knox Academy received the LGBTQ+ Silver Charter Award from LGBT Youth Scotland to mark its commitment to the cause.

Nicola Stobie, who teaches geography at the secondary school, was delighted with the award.

The school has been working to be more LGBTQ+ friendly for more than four years.

Miss Stobie said: “It is tradition now at the school that we celebrate LGBT History month over one week in February by looking back at LGBTQ+ Historic people or key dates and events such as the Stonewall Riots.

“Every year we also celebrate Pride Month with a week dedicated to raising awareness about LGBT+ issues.

“Some of the things that we have done include assemblies, registration activities such as guess the flag, video clips and a general education around pronoun meanings and LGBTQ+ terminology.

“The LGBTQ+ Allies group meet every two weeks and this is not only a safe space for LGBTQ+ pupils and staff but it allows us to come up with different ideas on how to make the school more inclusive.

“The charter involves a huge amount of work with regards to collecting evidence for the portfolio but without the staff and pupils in the school it would not be possible.”

Sue Cook, headteacher at the secondary school, described the success as “absolutely amazing”.

She added: “There was lots of feedback about what the school has done so well and what we still need to focus on in our journey ahead to enable us to go from strength to strength.

“A huge thank you to Nikki Stobie, the LGBTQ+ team, LGBT Allies and the wider school community for helping us to achieve this award.”