Overview
Young people living in our most deprived communities often do significantly worse at school than those from our least deprived communities. This is known as the 'attainment gap'.
That’s why, in 2018, we launched the ‘Attainment Challenge: National Strategic Partnership’, alongside the Scottish Government, Local Authorities, Transport Scotland, the Improvement Service and the National Entitlement Card Programme Office.
This ground-breaking project built on the successful outcomes of Renfrewshire’s Youth Services Model – that used the smart-enabled Young Scot NEC in innovative ways to improve the health and wellbeing of young people facing inequalities and barriers to attainment.
Over the past few years, we’ve supported Dundee, Falkirk, Highland, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire councils to use the Young Scot NEC to provide practical, local entitlements to young people. The entitlements included local information, travel tickets, out of school food provision, access to leisure and extra-curricular activities, and help to reduce the cost of the school day. These are all known to improve health and wellbeing – drivers to improving attainment, reducing inequality, and challenging poverty. As they are delivered via the Young Scot NEC, young people access these entitlements free of stigma.
Between 2020 - 2022, we are supporting the Scottish Government’s Scottish Attainment Challenge and Tackling Food Insecurity teams. We’ll be partnering with Local Authorities and community organisations to adapt #YSAttain delivery models for local young people. This will help to reduce barriers to attainment and tackle food insecurity.
Are you interested in using the Young Scot NEC and services to support young people in your area? Below, you will find more information about things to consider, the impact #YSAttain can have for young people, and case studies and resources. Please get in touch with us for a chat. You can also join our #YSAttain Learning Community on KHub where you will find resources and updates.