Dave Thompson, SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch has welcomed the news that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced an extra £327,000 for enterprising schools to help realise the Scotland CAN DO ambition and encourage entrepreneurial sparks from Scotland’s young people.
Lochaber High School has been chosen to be one of seven schools across Scotland to be an “exemplar”; a school for other schools to model themselves upon and accelerate a peer-to-peer model for support and help. The project will include bringing together five different providers who will deliver products to support the inclusion of enterprise in schools. Each provider will deliver an element and Young Enterprise Scotland will operate as the full time project manager.
Commenting on the announcement, Mr Thompson said: “I am delighted to see that Lochaber High School has been chosen as one of the exemplar schools to receive direct support. Having visited Lochaber High School many times since I was first elected in 2007, the standards at the school have consistently been high and I am sure that the teachers and pupils will make good use of the support.
“I am doubly delighted that the First Minister has announced this funding initiative. Our young folk today are full of new ideas and this initiative will certainly encourage them to strive to achieve their aims and ambitions and encourage them to be the best they can be.
“I very much look forward to hearing how well our young folk in Lochaber are doing with the help of the initiative.
Ms Sturgeon made the announcement in a speech at an event to business leaders and industry chiefs in Glasgow on Friday evening and said that Scotland’s schools, colleges and universities have a crucial role in shaping the next generation of Scotland’s intelligent, innovative and inventive entrepreneurs.
Speaking ahead of the Entrepreneurial Spark event last Friday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, said: “The Scottish Government recognises the key role of entrepreneurial activity in delivering sustainable economic growth and we are committed to raising aspiration towards enterprise and facilitating the growth of entrepreneurial businesses. Scotland CAN DO is our national statement of intent towards becoming a world-leading entrepreneurial nation.
“I am delighted to announce £327,000 for the Enterprising Schools Project; a joint project led between Education Scotland and the project partners, delivering vital initiatives aimed at developing an entrepreneurial mind-set in our young people.
“What we want to do, is to ensure that future generations of Scots have every encouragement, support and advice that they need. That’s not something government can do on its own, it’s a shared endeavour. All of us, in the public sector, the third sector and the private sector must continue to do what we can to promote entrepreneurship and ensure our nation realises its potential.
Geoff Leask, Chief Executive of Young Enterprise Scotland, said: “The Enterprising Schools Project will develop a collaborative approach to ensuring that our young people in Scotland can benefit from an enhanced entrepreneurial mind-set and improved enterprise skills. By working together with the support of the Scottish Government, we will contribute towards raising the attainment of young people.
Pamela Marshall, an alumni of Young Enterprise Scotland and now a business owner, said:
“Working with Young Enterprise Scotland at school age certainly gave me the confidence, new abilities and the best resources available to focus my sights on running my own business one day. That vision is now a reality."
Note:
The SG has invested in several initiatives aimed at young people to ensure that they are networked, inspired and supported in reaching their full potential as entrepreneurs.
Enterprising Schools
Two immediate outcomes will be realised through the Enterprising Schools initiative.
The first, and core, is the creation of a robust framework through which schools can be awarded a ‘star-rating’ of entrepreneurial activity. This will be co-developed amongst external partners and educational professionals and ensure that mind-set, continuing learning and values-based business are central themes. It is intended that this will be a peer-to-peer process in order to ensure further buy-in. This framework will be supported by a web resource making its content available to all schools across Scotland and will act as a focal point extolling to importance of entrepreneurial learning.
The second will be direct support to 7 exemplar schools to work with a range of entrepreneurial-learning delivery partners. They are:
• Arkleston Primary - Renfrewshire
• Simpson Primary - West Lothian
• Notre Dame High - Glasgow
• Kirkintilloch High - East Dunbartonshire
• Gleniffer High - Renfrewshire
• Lochaber High - Highland
• Kirkwall Grammar - Orkney
The purpose of this is to create exemplars for other schools to model themselves upon and accelerate a peer-to-peer support model.
The project includes bringing together five different providers delivering products to support the inclusion of enterprise in schools. Each provider will deliver an element with Young Enterprise Scotland operating as the full time project manager.
The overall outcome will be to amplify the impact of the numerous providers of entrepreneurial learning. It draws these individual actors into a collective-impact approach and will provide an effective ‘grouping’ into which the core values and messages of Scotland CAN DO can be communicated.
Scotland CAN DO framework was launched in November 2013 which was the result of over a year of co-development with partners across the public, private and third sectors. Within, it set out the shared priority themes for action towards Scotland become a world-leading entrepreneurial and innovative nation.
Further details on Young Enterprise Scotland can be found here: http://www.yes.org.uk/
Further details on the Scotland Can Do framework can be found here: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0043/00438045.pdf
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