Borders Schools are winners at Enterprise Awards
Tuesday, June 20 2006
Scottish Borders Council and Careers Scotland hosted the first Annual Enterprise in Education Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the Dryburgh Abbey Hotel, on 15 Thursday, June.
The ceremony was a tribute to the success of the Scottish Executive's 'Determined to Succeed' strategy (DtS), in which SBC has been involved since April 2004. This strategy has led to a huge range of successful enterprise teaching and learning approaches adopted in SBC schools.
Twelve schools from across the region attended the ceremony to showcase their enterprise projects, all of which received awards as recognition of their outstanding efforts.
Projects included Hawick High School's radio station Brick FM, Peebles High School's hospitality project with MacDonald's hotel at Cardrona and Cockburnspath Primary's woodland walk project, which helped earn the school a Green Flag under the Eco-schools initiative.
The awards were presented by Local Young Entrepreneurs of the Year Brian Dodds and Tommy Farrell of Baguette.N.Go, Rowley
Duncan of Historic Scotland and Kevin Keenan, Manager of Dryburgh Abbey Hotel.
Councillor Andrew Farquhar, SBC Executive Spokesman for Education and Lifelong Learning, said after the event, "DtS encourages
pupils to generate new ideas, communicate and participate in projects which really benefit them in the long run and it is
amazing to see the enthusiasm on their faces. The work that the teachers and pupils put into these projects is admirable and
the evidence of it is shown here tonight."
Lawrence Alexander, SBC's Enterprise Development Manager, added, "Since being involved in DtS, schools across the Borders have implemented many imaginative projects to encourage young people to have a 'can do' attitude and become more responsible and independent. Tonight has not only been about rewarding those projects, it has been an opportunity for schools to display the huge range of enterprise teaching methods they have implemented. By showcasing their projects, teachers and pupils have been inspired by each other and taken on board new ideas from other schools across the region."
Kevin Keenan, who presented the award for Most Enterprising School, is a firm believer in DtS, and has been involved in many
Enterprise projects with young people. He commented, "Delivering enterprise in schools is an excellent way to prepare youngsters
for the world of work after school. The various projects which have been seen tonight are very impressive and youngsters really
enjoy being involved."
For further information, please contact SBC's Enterprise Development Manager, Lawrence Alexander, on 01896 755110 or online
The Winners were:
Gold awards: Stow Primary School, Galashiels Academy, Westruther Primary School, Cockburnspath Primary School, Peebles High,
Fountainhall Primary School.
Silver awards: Kelso High School, Trinity Primary School, Newtown Primary School.
Bronze award: West Linton Primary School.
Most Enterprising Pupil (primary) - Amber Wingate (Westruther Primary School)
Most Enterprising Pupil (secondary) - joint winners Hayley Peace and Nichola Malcolm (both Kelso High School)
Most Enterprising Teacher - Alison Sutherland (Caddonfoot Primary School)
Most Enterprising Project - Brick FM (Hawick High School)
Most Enterprising School - Peebles High School
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