We were delighted to be recognised as Scotland’s most enterprising school of 2022 by Young Enterprise Scotland. Obviously, however, an enterprising school does not emerge overnight - our award was the result of several years of work.
We focused on enterprising events, activities and experiences, within and outwith the classroom. In the school year just ended here in Scotland, enthusiastic staff, strong leadership and genuine belief in providing stimulating and enriching experiences for our pupils have been the main drivers in our success.
Nurturing a spirit of enterprise in schools
After all this, we can offer the following advice:
1. Develop and foster an enterprising culture throughout the school
- Create and share an aspirational vision that encapsulates creativity, innovation and ambition.
- If in Scotland, form a “developing the young workforce” (DYW) team (or if based elsewhere in the world, some sort of equivalent) that continually strives to broaden the reach of a school education.
- Show what can be achieved by sharing good practice, exemplars and success stories across all communication channels.
- Build excitement through healthy competition, and encourage staff to be confident and seize opportunities for new learning experiences.
2. Develop meaningful partnerships
- Make the most of professional and personal networks.
- Invest plenty of time for discussion about what the school wants to achieve.
- Clarify the vision and expectations of everyone involved and manage timelines and communication - these are the most important ingredients in fostering a successful partnership.
- Provide support, encouragement, time and resources to remove any barriers to achieving successful outcomes.
- Build staff confidence by offering praise and thanks, and by sharing success within the school and the wider community.
3. Nurture an enterprising attitude in pupils
- Insist on foregrounding pupil voice so that pupils are fully involved in each project.
- Allow pupils to shape the direction of projects, and value their contributions; - encourage ambition and bravery.
- Build resilience so that pupils feel able to overcome challenges and obstacles.
- Provide a platform to celebrate success within and beyond the school.
4. Support from the senior leadership team
- Remove barriers to time and cover, so that staff can be released when needed.
- Timetable enterprise and vocational experiences during the normal pupil day.
- Use Skills for Work courses to deliver work-related experiences and activities without the pressure of exams.
- Promote interdisciplinary links to encourage a wide range of staff to work together.
- Secure funding for transport, start-up grants and resources.
What we did at Strathaven Academy in 2021-22 was exciting and added so much to the experience of our pupils. More staff are now focused on career-related learning and skills development in their classrooms. Our pupils talk confidently about their learning and skills, and have improved the quality of their applications and personal statements for whatever they want to do after they leave school.
Meanwhile, our positive destinations post-school have increased as a result, and offers of apprenticeships and employment are coming in from our partners.
We are indebted to the commitment of our partners and staff. Our DYW team has already planned improvements for 2022-23 - and we look forward with confidence to expanding the work we do to help even more of our young people.
Liz Barr is depute headteacher at Strathaven Academy, in South Lanarkshire
More details of the school’s work can be found here
