CASE STUDY
Carluke Universal Connections sits proudly within South Lanarkshire Council's 'Youth, Family & Community Learning (YFCL) Services' which is part of Education Resources and Inclusion Service. Currently there are nine Universal Connections establishments across South Lanarkshire from Rutherglen to Douglas and all based in central/rural locations to ensure accessibility is maximised for young people, adults, and families. In addition to the universal connection's establishments, YFCL have a variety of other bespoke departments that support Awards, ESOL (English as a Second or Other Language), ALN (Adult Literacy & Numeracy) leaners and SEBN (Social Emotional and Behavioural Needs) pupils.
Carluke Universal Connections is unique to other Universal Connection establishments as it shares a building with the 3rd
sector organisation ‘Street Level’. Carluke UC (Universal Connections) has a long-standing service level agreement with Street Level working in partnership to maximise support, resources and income streams for local people from Carluke. In recent years Carluke Universal Connections has developed a fantastic partnership with Carluke High School. One of our main objectives in 2022/23 was to work with key organisations in the community to ensure we improved outcomes for the most vulnerable learners from the Carluke area and this potential partnership with the High school was a key objective to addressing that vision. Due to Covid 19 and the restrictions that followed there was a minimal learning offer in place from 2020-21.
In March 2022, a new team of YFCL staff were assembled to support the community of Carluke and we began our journey by arranging a meeting with the Carluke High School head teacher, deputy head and SEBN principal teacher to introduce ourselves, promote YFCL and share some examples of how we could help each other and aid COVID recovery. We asked the school to look at their school improvement plan and consulted with the wider school staff team to identify gaps in their provision that Universal Connections could support going forward. This resulted in being invited along to the school joint assessment team meetings (JAT) and wider locality JAT meetings. Using the feedback from the school staff and networks we developed an initial learning offer that addressed the priority areas but also complimented our ambitions for the centre. We felt that our learning offer had to have bespoke themes to support increased participation such as sport, outdoor learning, leadership, and awards. It was also crucial to us that the school YFCL offer was a launch pad to further opportunities and had clear pathways to our evening and weekend provision to complement additional support and progression. The next stage of development aimed to join up Carluke educational establishments, wider community organisations and appropriate bespoke YFCL provision to create a learning community partnership model.
The model below shows the strategic planning and supports in place to reduce the number of vulnerable young people dropping out of education/CLD and additionally providing a pathway or route back into equitable provision.
We stressed to the school that the young people referred would shape specific content within the programme and would be key partners in this process. A crucial part of the planning involved meeting the referred young person and their parent/guardian prior to start date to find out their hopes, fears, individual needs, and aspirations.
“The staff are particularly proud of our young leaders. The group consists of 10 young people who attended the school programmes in 2022 and have now progressed on to a mentoring and leadership role in the centre to help support the new school groups, primary learning offer and the evening/weekend provision. A key part of their role is planning events and fundraising to help other youth groups engage in free fun activity during holiday programmes. The young people are working towards their gold youth achievement award we hope to have them completed for our 2023 Awards night. ”
David Brown, SLC
“Our partnership with Carluke Universal Connections is fundamental for the school as a learning provision to support pupils in exploring a range of opportunities that enhances the learning experience both within and out with school. The partnership is a key in promoting inclusion in every aspect of our school day. Together we offer a safe space, where trusting relationships are formed and sustained throughout the year which allows us to promote greater opportunities for success with our pupils. This partnership is a true example of collaborative partnership working at its best, it is sector leading and sets the benchmark for other learning communities to follow”
Mr Calum McLennan: Carluke High School Principal Teacher of SEBN: March 2024.
Closing the Attainment Gap in Carluke
The outcome of this partnership with the school resulted in school staff and YFCL staff at all levels working towards a shared vision and aims. There was clear ownership of specific areas of work and additionally areas where we were both jointly responsible. We also worked together well to identify, negotiate, plan, deliver and evaluate joint work. We agreed clear roles and responsibilities in achieving planned partnership outcomes. We put in place robust monitoring systems and clear targets to support joint evaluation, planning for improvement and collective reporting to stakeholders. Partnership agreements were developed, made clear and this improved the clarity of joint working. As a partnership we planned and managed transition and exist strategies for our learners to ensure positive pathways or additional supports were in place. A key part of the provision involved staff using the model below to assist the journey, experiences and pathway/exit of the young people involved.
The staff team and partners are committed and passionate about working with vulnerable learners to shape learning, support personal development, enhance the learning offer, improve life chances, and promote empowerment.
It was important to add value to the learning offer by offering young people an appropriate award that is attractive, achievable and provides learners with opportunities to challenge themselves, embrace responsiblity and validate their achievements. Using the support from our YFCL awards team we had a range of awards to choose from such as the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Youth Achievement, Dynamic Youth, Asdan Awards and Sport Leaders. We also used a community partnership to include courses with Fire Reach, Food REIHS and Snow Camp.
We celebrated our success together in the shape of the 2022 YFCL Carluke Universal Annual Celebration Event. One of the key outcomes from the success of this partnership involved the school investing in two school based YFCL employees (Pathfinder) to strengthen the partnership further and join up the school and community provision.
The awards night was a fantastic success and provided a platform for the young people to receive their awards and be recognised positively in front of parents/guardians, education managers, local Councillors, school staff and their peers. This celebration event captured the magic of being a successful learner and created an appetite from the young people to want more. The event also built trust in the community and across the partnership and showed why CLD (Community Learning and Development) provision is important and crucial to supporting formal education and vulnerable learners.
For more information on this case study, contact David Brown: david.brown2@southlanarkshire.gov.uk
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