Media release: Pioneering charity supports unprecedented number of care-experienced pupils to achieve Duke of Edinburgh Award

OVER 100 young people, including one young woman who is visually impaired and another who has cerebral palsy – all supported by MCR Pathways’ Young Scottish Talent Programme - were presented with Duke of Edinburgh Awards at a ceremony in Glasgow this week (November 18 2019).

111 MCR young people received Duke of Edinburgh Awards, up from just 14 in 2015.

Over half of the award recipients are care-experienced and without MCR Pathways’s support, many would not have had the opportunity to access the award, and the resulting boost to their employability it provides.

MCR’s young people also played a major role in the 2019 Duke of Edinburgh Award Ceremony including:

• Liam Brewer (sixth year pupil), who ran the evening’s social media and designed all the video, written and image content for the Duke of Edinburgh Glasgow’s Twitter and Instagram pages;
• MCR pupils, Jack and Emily (both sixth year pupils), were MCs for the evening; and
• MCR Duke of Edinburgh deliverer and school co-ordinator, Sharon Young, was also honoured with a Special Recognition of Achievement Award.

In total, 111 MCR Pathways young people achieved Duke of Edinburgh Awards over the last year – with 100 achieving Bronze, eight Silver and three Gold.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award is one of the world’s foremost youth achievement awards. It teaches young people essential life skills, including resilience, determination and commitment and is recognised by colleges, universities and employers across the UK.

Case studies

Fifth year Rosshall Academy pupil, Summer*, is completely visually impaired and received a Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award. This was accomplished through MCR creating a tailored route that could be traversed by following sound cues, allowing her the same opportunity to practice her navigation skills as the other participants.

Kady*, a fifth year pupil at Holyrood Secondary School, who has cerebral palsy, also achieved a Bronze Award following by undertaking two-day camping expedition, as well as dog walking and charity fundraising.

MCR Pathways is a multi-award-winning mentoring programme, which helps Scotland’s most disadvantaged and care-experienced young people achieve the same educational outcomes, career opportunities and life chances as all other young people.

Established in Glasgow in 2007, MCR has the backing of the Scottish Government and the local authorities where it operates.

Currently, MCR Pathways helps supports 2,000 young people throughout Scotland each week and has more than 1,000 mentors throughout Scotland.

At the core of the programme are 50-minute weekly in-school mentoring sessions between a young person and their mentor, who listen and provide encouragement. Those interested in becoming a volunteer mentor with the charity can find out more on their website.

The charity’s 2018 annual impact report revealed 86 per cent of MCR mentored care-experienced young people were progressing to an MCR positive destination compared to 54 per cent of care-experienced young people, nationally.

* Both Summer and Kady are available for interview/ photography

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Contact: Jill Creighton
Phone: 07775862552
Email: jill@headlinepr.co.uk
Website: http://www.mcrpathways.orgn