Awards crown year of success SchooljoinsDukeof Edinburghscheme

A Perth school is rounding off a year of success with getting accreditation to run Duke of Edinburgh awards.

Balnacraig School received its licence to offer the awards on Tuesday.

This is the first time the specialist school has been able to offer such an award, which looks to develop skills and volunteering opportunities as well as the traditional outdoors expedition and camping trips.

Alison Morely, chief executive of the Fairmount Terrace school, said: “It was a great morning. We are a small, independent charitable school supporting young people who are not able to be in school or their own home.

“We have children from all over Scotland. They face a number of challenges and education is one of them so we need to look at creative ways to engage them.

“The Duke of Edinburgh award fits because it is a flexible model that we are already doing.

“Our young people can get the credits and achieve something that is globally recognised and that will help to put them on the same playing field as every other young person in Scotland. This is a positive step for us.”

The director of the Duke of Edinburgh Award in Scotland visited Balnacraig to hand over the official licence.

Alison said: “People often talk about the expedition part and how hard it is but nowadays they want to make the award fun and instil making good relationships.

“It gives good life skills. It is much more than just going camping. It is about developing skills and relationships and learning how to relate to other adults and it will hopefully teach them the importance of having good, positive relationships with people you don’t get on with.”

She went on: “This has been an amazing year for us.

“We got a gold Invest in People