Supporting Quality Education in Scotland
During #Act4SDGs Week we're highlighting some of the ways Foundation Scotland is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Scotland. In this case study we take a quick look at our contribution to SDG Goal 4 - Quality Education.
The ambition of Goal 4 is to 'ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all'. Through our diverse range of funding programmes across Scotland, we support this goal in a number of ways, including:
- Capital grants
- Revenue grants
- Bursaries
- Repayable grants/loans
- Funds with specific educational objectives
To review how some of the grants we've awarded contribute to Goal 4, we looked at three themes; improving facilities, increasing inclusivity and quality of education. Below are just a few examples of projects and activities our donors have supported that align with these themes over recent years.
Improving facilities
- Strontian Community School received £30,000 from the Coram Fund to contribute to the design and build of the brand new school building.
- Thrumster Primary School received a combined total of £49,000 from the Tannach and District Charitable Wind Farm Trust and the RWE Camster Wind Farm Community Fund to create a new Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA)
- Aldouran Wetland Garden was awarded £6,800 from the Kilgallioch Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund to pay for a new outdoor classroom for visiting pupils and educational groups.
- Bridge of Earn Institute received £17,000 towards roof, heating and repairs for the village hall thanks to the Lochelbank Wind Farm Fund. The hall is vital to local nursery groups, playgroups and community groups.
Strontian Community School
Increasing inclusivity
- The Kilgallioch Wind Farm Community Fund awarded the Galloway Action Team (GAT) £8,000 to support partnership employability projects designed to improve employment prospects for disengaged young people in Dumfries and Galloway.
- Works+ is a project based on the Scottish Borders focussed on creating opportunities and empowering communities for education, training and employment. Through four different funds, they were awarded a total of £23,000.
- The Avonbridge Nursery used a £300 grant from the EDF Burnhead Moss Wind Farm Community Fund to provide Enjoy A Ball sessions for nursery children when it went full-time.
- We manage over a dozen local Education & Training Funds across Scotland. Supported by the renewable energy sector, these funds offer individuals bursaries to take up training and education opportunities they might otherwise struggle to access or sustain. By the end of 2019, these education and training funds had awarded more than 500 grants. Read more here.
Levenmouth Academy
Quality education
Since 2016, more than £125,000 has been invested in Levenmouth Academy thanks to funds generated by ORE Catapult's Levenmouth Demonstration Turbine (LDT) and distributed via the Levenmouth Development Turbine Fund. The core aims of the fund are to increase opportunities for pupils within a catchment area that experiences high deprivation to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), raising their appetite for future STEM destinations. Since the fund launched, the Academy has reported increased uptake in STEM activities at S4 level and an overall increase in positive post-school STEM destinations.
Here are a few examples of how this funding has been used:
- Part-funding of a new Principal Teacher with responsibility for STEM. Their work includes enhancing opportunities for STEM learning and coordinating extra-curricular STEM activities, clubs, trips and events for Academy pupils. In addition, they are also involved in developing post-school career opportunities for school leavers.
- The IET Formula 24 Challenge. This is an opportunity for senior pupils to build and race either a Greenpower Kit Car or a car of their own design, using supplied motor and batteries only.
- A new science hub is being created, including a new plasma cutter integrated with Computer-Aided Design technology.
- Providing an annual ORE Catapult STEM Bursary Aspire Award. In its third year, the Award is currently supporting two former pupils to pursue STEM degrees alongside additional industry mentoring.
The examples above are just a small range of projects and activities that have received funding support through Foundation Scotland, thanks to our donors. All, in many different ways, contribute to the ambition of Goal 4 Quality Education.
In Spring 2021, we aligned all of our funds and supported projects to the SDGs the Foundation has selected as our core goals. Over time, we'll produce more case studies to highlight the commitment we have to the SDGs. To read more, visit Our commitment to the SDGs page.