High school pupils from the Stirling area who completed the School-College Opportunities to Succeed (SCOTS) programme, were presented with certificates this week to recognise their achievement.
At the special event held at Forth Valley College’s Stirling Campus on Monday 25 March, more than 30 pupils were joined by their parents, College staff – including Ernie Romer FVC’s School Provision Coordinator and Fiona Brown FVC’s Vice Principal Learning and Teaching - school teachers and Kevin Kelman, Chief Education Officer at Stirling Council, who were all keen to celebrate the successful programme.
Award winners on the day were Erin Deans (15) from St Modan's High School, who won the Inspire Award, Arvin Sandhu (15) and Tyler Thompson (15) both from Balfron High School who both won Outstanding Personal Achievement Awards and Mitchell Brown (15) from Bannockburn High School who won the Student of the Year Award.
The ground-breaking partnership between Forth Valley College and Stirling Council, allowed mainly fourth year pupils to attend college one afternoon per week to experience eight different subjects including: Construction Crafts, Science, Healthcare, Early Education and Childcare, Business, Hospitality, Salon Services and Creative Industries and to work towards SQA employability units throughout the course.
Within the local schools, the young people involved worked with teachers to improve their skills for learning, skills for work and skills for life. They also developed employability skills such as - researching for jobs, creating a CV, preparing for interviews and also learning more about the “taster” subjects they were undertaking within Forth Valley College.
Erin, said: “I did not expect to win a prize at the graduation at all. I really liked my experience of hairdressing on the course and learning something new while here at college. I would recommend it to other pupils.”
Arvin, said: “I feel quite happy to have won my award. I did not expect it and I feel quite proud of myself. Music and sound production was the best bit for me and I would recommend the SCOTS programme as it gives you a taster of loads of different courses.”
Tyler, said: “I felt I had done quite well throughout the course and I feel good about winning my award. SCOTS really has inspired me to think about my future. I am still not sure what I want to do, but SCOTS gave me a taster of everything at the college and I liked the Sound Production section best. I would definitely recommend it to others.
Mitchell, said: “This is so unexpected, but I have to say I am proud of myself for winning the SCOTS Student of the Year award. My favourite part of the course was the Sound Production and the Creative Industries subjects and it has allowed me to focus on what I would like to do once leaving school. I would also recommend the SCOTS programme to other school pupils.”
Forth Valley College Principal Dr Ken Thomson, said: “Congratulations to this year’s prizewinners, they fully deserve their awards. Each year we see our SCOTS programme transform the lives of young people who might well have left the education system altogether. This is the fifth Stirling SCOTS graduation I have attended and once again I am struck by how well the programme has managed to inspire and encourage pupils into a positive destination.
“It was great to celebrate their graduation along with them and I can’t wait to see many of them return in the future on other courses that we offer here. 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.
“The SCOTS programme has certainly been a great success and an excellent example of the close working partnership between Forth Valley College and Stirling Council. We are already looking forward to welcoming our next cohort of learners who will be able to experience the benefits of the SCOTS programme at Forth Valley College.”
Kevin Kelman, Chief Education Officer for Stirling Council, said: “Creating a range of positive destinations for all our children is a key priority for Stirling Council, so it’s great to be able to work in partnership with FVC to help achieve this.
“We are so proud of the young people who completed this year’s course and today was an excellent way to recognise their achievements.”
