Innovative School Projects – Ten Years On  

 “The innovative school projects (ISPs) started in 2015 shortly after the Scottish Government launched Developing the young workforce: Scotland’s youth employment strategy in December 2014 to implement the recommendations of the Wood Commission. 

Key elements of the strategy included – increase vocational qualifications in the senior school phase, develop employability skills, increase and improve work experience opportunities and increase positive destinations for our young people. 

ISPs were an Ayrshire innovation developed and driven by the DYW Ayrshire team established and led by the Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce. 

The concept of the ISPs was to support and fund medium to long term school projects focused on the development of vocational skills and the obtaining of vocation qualifications N4, N5,N6, PDA’s. This included support from partners such as Ayrshire College, the Prince’s Trust and other organisations. 

The first ISP was the Lovilicious project at Greenwood Academy. Now in its 10th year it provides a range of beauty skills and qualifications. Over 300 young people have taken part in the Lovilicious programme since its inception. Lovilicious has featured in the BBC2 Series Ill Gotten Gains. 

There are over 125 active projects, 

;baristas, rural and horticultural skills, beauty, bike repair and maintenance, furniture upcycling, beekeeping, childcare, construction skills, community cinema and aero based skills.  

Each features the development of vocational skills but also emphasises the importance of branding, marketing and publicity in the form of project launches. This also helps stimulate young people’s creativity with such project names as Wee Roasters, Deja Brew and Mocha Rocha. 

In addition students develop life skills including what are known as the 6Cs – confidence, communications, commitment, customer services, customer care and courtesy.  

There is a major focus on sustainability so where possible projects are run as mini enterprises for example barista producing and selling a range of high-quality hot drinks to school staff, beekeeping producing honey, and associated bees wax based products. This allows them to reinvest the profits and fund ongoing supplies.  

However not all ISPs such as construction can produce funds to buy consumables such as sand, cement etc so support is sought from local businesses. Every little helps.  

The programme has had three significant phases 

  • Innovative School Projects ISPs – Each mainstream secondary school in Ayrshire has active ISPs 
  • Innovative Community Projects – Post school projects including Trindlemoss Day Opportunities, Townend Community Centre and SL33/66 DYW Hubs have been established 
  • ASN ISPs – Each ASN school in Ayrshire has active ISPs 

 

Key Milestones and Challenges 

  • First ISP launch 2015 Lovilicious at Greenwood Academy 
  • 100th ISP launch 2022 Crafty Constructions at Auchenharvie Academy 
  • Covid pandemic – most projects have been restarted 
  • 10th anniversary of Lovilicious September 2024 
  • ISP Showcase 18th November 2024 

Outcomes 

  • Positive destinations increase 
  • Vocational qualifications increase 
  • Sustainable mini enterprises  
  • Positive effective on academic qualifications – applied maths, literacy, numeracy” 

 

Walter Smith MBE, DYW Ayrshire Business Ambassador 

 

On behalf of DYW Ayrshire, our team would like to thank Walter for all of his dedication over the past 10 years to ensuring these projects are a success.