Compass

Compass for Life is a dedicated support service for young people in McLaren High School, providing personal development and employability activities for participants as part of a flexible curriculum. In partnership with Stirling Council and McLaren High School, and by the use of innovative and flexible approaches, Compass provides individually tailored programmes and seamless transition routes for participating pupils from S1 through to S6 and beyond to training and work.

Compass support extends the work of the school by offering an alternative curriculum programme, tailored to providing participants with the opportunity to develop strengths from which they can achieve success. Individual slots within the mainstream curriculum are negotiated to enable preventative work and support programmes to take place which assist youngsters in gaining the skills, knowledge and confidence required to access employment and training, and to equip them to become valued and valuable citizens within society.

In the Spring of 2007 McLaren High School was inspected by HMIe, and as part of this inspection, the CYP Compass programme came under scrutiny too. The subsequent HMIe report listed the school's partnership working with CYP as one of their 'key strengths'. Then in the Autumn of 2007 we commissioned our own external evaluation of the Compass project that noted that ' The impact of the project on participants was very good'. The full report is downloadable here in PDF format.

Compass External Evaluation.pdf

Duke of Edinburgh Award All young people entering the Compass programme are encouraged to work towards completing their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Level Award. To achieve this award, all participants must complete activities in 4 different sections - Service, Skills, Physical Recreation, and Expeditions.

"The Award is a challenging programme of activities which will help you to learn new skills, help others and experience adventure and it will give you a great sense of achievement." The Duke of Edinburgh's Award at a Glance

In addition, many employers, colleges, and training organisations recognise the award as a very positive addition to any CV or application form.

Literacy and Numeracy Support Additional literacy and numeracy support is available to all those entering the Compass programme. All participants receive an initial review to asses their literacy/numeracy requirements and levels, and to discover whether or not any additional support is required, and to what level. If support is required, participants will take part in individual or group work sessions as part of their flexible curriculum.

Group Work Much of the general Compass work is done as part of a group session. This can include many things from Outward Bound, to literacy support, to discussion of relevant topics or issues. Group work sessions are a great opportunity for the young people and Compass staff to interact, to learn to work as part of a team, to problem solve, to encourage one-another, and to build relationships that lead to better group dynamics, greater self-confidence, and improved communication skills.

Individual Work On occasion, Compass participants may be given individual attention and support by staff. This can be as part of their additional literacy/numeracy support, or it may be to discuss issues of concern to either party, or to address problems of behaviour or attitude. In addition, individual work may take place when personal projects need to be worked on or completed as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Get Ready for Work In partnership with Stirling Council Youth Services and Careers Scotland, Callander Youth Project is able to offer a variety of Get Ready for Work programmes. These include taster courses in construction, care, or mechanics (which are run from Stirling in association with Forth Valley College), and an ad-hoc or part-time GRfW programme of core skills or life skills. GRfW is a programme specifically aimed at the 16-18 age group of school leavers, providing a transition programme of training that assists in the path to further training or employment.

Partnership Working The Compass programme would not be possible without the partnerships that exists between CYP and many other organisations, in particular McLaren High School, Stirling Council Youth Services, McLaren Community Leisure Centre, the National Park, the Forestry Commission, Callander Community Council, and many more. We are very grateful for the continued participation and involvement in Compass of all these organisations, and indeed look forward to expanding and developing these relationships in the years to come.