Dunoon Grammar has been named a European Entrepreneurial School of the Year at a ceremony in Helsinki - the first Scottish school ever to win such an award and the first UK school since 2015.
The European Entrepreneurial School Awards recognise outstanding schools that are championing entrepreneurship in education across Europe, including the extent to which they involve the local community and business sector on entrepreneurial activity.
David Mitchell, headteacher at the school in Argyll and Bute, said: “Enterprise education is the catalyst to our school actively living our vision, to be at the heart of our community. Our young people are regularly immersed in a diverse range of rich, experiential enterprise activities within real and relevant contexts.
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“Young Enterprise Scotland have been a constant support on our journey as we aim to develop skills relevant to learning, life and work in our young people. It is a fantastic honour for our young people - and indeed wider school community - to receive this European recognition.”
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S4 pupil Olivia Robertson said: “This is unbelievable news, we are all so excited. There was a real buzz in the school as the news filtered through from Helsinki that we had won. ”
She added: “Teachers are there to support and encourage us and to make us think, rather than telling us exactly what to do. We are allowed to be creative - generating ideas then developing them into proof-of-concept prototypes.”
Projects at Dunoon Grammar have included making mobile apps, including one designed to help drivers defrost their car without leaving their house.
Argyll and Bute Council’s policy lead for education, Yvonne McNeilly, said: “Words really cannot describe how absolutely delighted I am. For Dunoon Grammar to be selected to represent the UK at a European level is a massive honour in itself, but to be declared as the most enterprising school - wow!
“The staff and pupils have been working extremely hard on a wide variety of initiatives over the last few years and I’ve been truly amazed by the sheer scale and quality of what they have done. Their accomplishments have gone from strength to strength but this accolade is off the scale in terms of achievements.”
