DYW@ Lourdes Secondary

Developing the Young Workforce- Employability and Wider Achievement to build the 4 capacities

What are the four capacities?   

The Curriculum for Excellence is a new way of looking at the curriculum that builds on best existing practices in Scottish education. It is a continuing process to encourage more learning through experiences to best ensure that children and young people are prepared for the complex world they will be living in when they leave school.

Our aspiration is that they should all develop the four capacities to become:

• successful learners
• confident individuals
• responsible citizens
• effective contributors

 

How do the capacities fit with the Developing the Young Workforce agenda?

Employability and wider achievement are intrinsically linked to the Developing the Young Workforce agenda which is to better prepare children and young people aged 3–18 for the world of work. This programme builds on the foundations already in place through Curriculum for Excellence.

In Lourdes Secondary we achieve this through:

• Organised career management meetings with Skills Development Scotland.
• Offering college / UCAS / apprenticeship application sessions for young people to support their transition into the wider world.
• UCAS preparation seminars
• CPD for teachers on how to use the My World of Work website within class lessons to link to employability and the employment.
• Providing earlier labour market focused career events for pupils.
• Embedding meaningful employer involvement through our school Business Partnerships such as:

• SQA mock interviews
• Social media training
• CV writing workshops
• Businesses sharing apprenticeship opportunities with pupils

• Offering young people the opportunity to attend college on a part time basis as part of their school timetable in the Senior Phase.
• Development of Foundation Apprenticeships in school.
• Developing courses and initiatives to focus on reducing gender imbalance in certain subjects – specifically STEM.
• Offering work experience in the Senior Phase
• Embedding wider achievement into our school curriculum in order that pupils all gain experience of this. Examples of this include:

• YPI
• Virgin Money Project
• SQA Personal Achievement Award
• SQA Employability Award

• Giving our pupils the opportunity to participate in a wide range of extra-curricular clubs within school.

 

Skills Development Scotland

 

Skills Development Scotland are based in Lourdes Secondary. We support individuals to build their career management, work-basedand employability skills, throughout their career journey, from school, into further learning opportunities and employment.

We are able to use skills intelligence to help inform the decisions of people across Scotland, at all stages of their careers, so that they are well-placed to take up the opportunities arising within the economy.

We target delivery of this support to those who need it most, ensuring all individuals are enabled to achieve their full potential. We work with employers and employer groups on a national, sectoral, regional, local and individual basis; supporting them to recognise and articulate their current and future skills needs, and to engage with the skills system to help ensure it better meets those needs in the short, medium and longer term.

At the start of each business year Scottish Ministers issue a Letter of guidance to SDS setting out key targets, objectives and priorities for the year ahead.