High school pupils from the Forth Valley area who completed the School-College Opportunities to Succeed (SCOTS) programme, were presented with certificates this week to recognise their achievement.
More than 60 pupils, ranging from S3 to S6, were joined by family and friends as well as teaching staff from their schools, at special Celebration events held at Forth Valley College’s Stirling and Falkirk Campuses on Monday 29 May Tuesday 30 May, respectively.
At the Stirling Celebration event Tracey Patrick, Team Leader (Secondary) from Stirling Council was the special invited guest and at the Falkirk event – which celebrated its tenth graduation celebration – David Mackay, Head of Education, Sport and Leisure and Julia Barclay, Education Team Manager took on the roles of VIPs.
FVC Principal Kenny MacInnes attended both events to congratulate the pupils on their achievements and to present the certificates. In a short speech he also emphasised the exceptional work of the SCOTS programme throughout the years and praised the hard work they had put in to achieve the award, after what was another challenging year, by continuing to attend and produce good work.
Many of these pupils have now applied for future courses, either full-time or within the School College Partnership portfolio, to continue their journey. As well as undertaking the SCOTS programme, pupils also had the opportunity to participate in additional learning.
The aim of the SCOTS programme is to build confidence, resilience and to allow pupils to experience a range of subjects they may not have considered as a future career. The ground-breaking partnership between Forth Valley College, Stirling Council and Falkirk Council, allows pupils to attend College one half day per week. The programme also allows the pupils to be considered College students while attending and able to use the facilities, and overall is understood to be an excellent transition into College life.
This year for the first time, the format of the programme has changed and rather than experience a taster block of eight different subjects throughout the full session – pupils are asked to choose three subjects from eight to take part in from August to December, and then to choose one of them from January to May to specialise in, and aim for a SVQF Level 4 in that subject.
In Stirling they can choose from Construction, Science, Childcare, Hospitality, Salon Services, Healthcare, Travel and Tourism and Creative Industries. While in Falkirk, which is slightly different, they can choose from Salon Services, Fitness, Engineering, Construction, Travel and Tourism, Childcare or Creative Industries.
Kenny MacInnes, Principal of Forth Valley College, said: “Since the SCOTS programme started ten years ago in Falkirk and nine years ago in Stirling, it has consistently helped over 95% of the young people who took part, move onto a positive destination and we hope we will continue to encourage similar results.
“We want College to be a positive experience and the SCOTS programme is where it starts. The SCOTS programme is arguably more important now than it has ever been.
“Indeed, one of its great strengths is its flexibility and we will continue to look at the programme on a year-on-year basis, to assess the needs of the pupils, and help encourage them to see College as part of their future learning journey.”
Helen Young, Head of Learning and Quality at Forth Valley College, said: “Each year I am amazed by how the SCOTS programme has managed to inspire and encourage pupils to make choices that will allow them to progress either in to further study or down a route that will lead them to employment. It is always a pleasure to celebrate the completion of their course and look forward to seeing many of them return in the future to Forth Valley College. We hope they found SCOTS to be worthwhile and of great benefit in helping them make up their minds as to which study route they might want to take in life.”
