Tag: education

community

Always the Summer Sun

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Summer 2026 has already left its mark on us with Scotland stumbling out of the world cup, but please don’t be too down about that unfortunate outcome, because it’s now  a case of NO SCYAP NO PARTY for the rest of the school summer holidays.

We began our summer activities with the SCYAP development day on Sunday 21st June which took place in the community centre that has no walls at the Well Wild Project  in the Rough Castle Woods. As SCYAP moves into its second tranche of three-year funding from the National Lottery Young Start Programme, this  then was an appropriate time to review  the Projects Development Plan and take stock of the areas of work we had supported over the previous three years. The approach to achieving this was facilitated  through bringing young people together in an empowering way to work in partnership with the staff, volunteers and members of the Tamfourhill Tenants and Residents Organisation. There were opportunities to work and learn together, along with some creative workshops looking at planning our summer community arts projects. The Well Wild Projects ethos afforded us the positivity of working together as a team and building trust amongst each other. The young people responded very positively to the role play activity we undertook which impactfully  highlighted the importance of working in an inclusive and empathetic way. We look to the future of SCYAP  with hopefully a sense of collective responsibility and ownership  of local youth action and future community development activities. A full report with proposed areas of  future activity is currently being collated and with the potential  availability of increased funding we can now move forward in a  more strategic and connected  way over the next three years. My personal thanks to all who participated and to my cofacilitators Sarah Diver Lang  and John Wells for their specific inputs  and support with the days programme.   

I was delighted last week to attend the P7 Leavers Assembly at Easter Carmuirs Primary  School and offer my support to the Class of 26. We had been working with  the class since last November on their Dynamic Youth Award Challenge: To experience nature and to help nature in their local community.  The class from Easter Carmuirs along with young people from Carmuirs Primary and the SCYAP Creative Climate Action Group were all distinct strands of our commitment to  deliver upon  young people’s priorities for local climate action and standing up for nature.  Young people have been involved with planting orchards and clearing up the local canal, experiencing nature in the local parks and at the Well Wild Project. The Carmuirs group have also  established a wild garden within the woods next to the Tamfourhill Community Hub. Creativity formed a significant part of the respective groups programmes and with all three groups being involved with the design and creation of  the Active Travel Totem Poles Trail. The Totem Poles are now installed along the active travel route on the Onion Canal through Tamfourhill so I am therefore overjoyed to be able to invite everyone along to  an Active travel Procession past all ten of the Totem poles, please meet  at 1pm on Wednesday 8th July, food and drink will be  provided, the starting and meeting point is at this link

https://maps.app.goo.gl/8C6hF2XAU7YbhRso8

Consistent with our Youth Action approach all of the young people successfully gained two- and three-star Dynamic Youth Awards through their involvement and contributions  to these Climate Action and nature based creative Programmes.    

I want to give a special mention to the work of the Carmuirs Community Safety Group who we worked with since the start of 2026. This was a collaboration between the school , SCYAP and the Well Wild Project and was focused upon responsibility, accountability and managing risks in the community. It was a challenging programme, very hard hitting and dealing with very sensitive issues. The six P7 boys excelled on this programme and watching their development over the 4 months was inspirational. I was delighted to present them all with their Dynamic Youth Awards and we look forward to their continued participation in their community. This project was an excellent example of the power of collaboration between the school and youth work sectors.

SCYAP Summer programme begins  on Tuesday 30th June with our trip to  Falkirk Fire station, we have an amazing array of creativity, outdoor learning and good fun activities. As always our programmes are underpinned by a commitment to get young people  more involved  with their local community and provide quality social and personal learning opportunities. The programme is  open to 10-18 years olds and is entirely free, some activities however are only available for 10–13-year-olds and to book on please use the QR code detailed below.

There will be three Summer Fun in in the Parks events delivered by SCYAP this year which are being part funded by Greenspace Scotland Parks 4 Life Community Fund, this first is on Thursday 2nd July from 1pm-4pm in Easter Carmuirs Park, the flyer below provides all the details, these events are open to all the community , however under 10-year-olds will require responsible adult supervision in order to take part in some of the activities.    

And finally, I am really pleased to announce that we successfully secured a two-year package of funding through the KFC Youth Foundation which will be utilised to deliver our key youth action activities and to support developments around the  Twilight Sports Programme. To gain this support is a very real endorsement for the work of SCYAP and our ability to deliver quality activities which are having significant positive impacts upon young people and the wider community.    

camelon, collaboration, community, development, funding, tamfourhill

Great News for SCYAP

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We are delighted to announce that the National Lottery Young Start Fund have committed another three Years funding for SCYAP 2026-29. This is a tremendous investment in local young people and the Youth Action and community development approach endorsed and supported by the Tamfourhill Tenants & Residents Organisation. This is a significant and strategic investment which will  allow SCYAP to sustain and develop new opportunities in partnership with local young people. We will therefore be reviewing our Development Plan for the next three years  and young people will play a central role in that  process. We have a Project development day scheduled for Sunday 21st June and I am hoping that there will be good buy in from the community and young people to that days programme. The days activities and workshops will take place at the Well Wild Project in the Rough Castel Woods , further details to follow so please watch this space and our social media posts.

More good funding news with the Hedley Foundation also investing project funds for SCYAP to develop a programme targeted at 10–12-year-olds. This programme will have a community safety focus and will be set within the context of young people transitioning from primary to High School. This builds upon some of the peer mentoring work we supported earlier in the year and there will be an important role for our young volunteers with this project and off course it will be embedded with national youth awards. The programme is scheduled to begin on Tuesday 16th June and I will highlight  how to get signed up and involved with this project in the near future. This programme will operate throughout he summer school holiday months and complement our wider annual holiday programme of activities.    

   The Hedley Foundation – A Grant Giving Charity 

Youth Action on the Canals

The Tamfourhill Totem Pole Trail

The Climate action events we facilitated with young people back in February and March 2025 had highlighted young people’s priorities  for local climate action. Key themes were confirmed, including:   Encouraging Active Travel , Campaigning for Climate Action locally and Helping Nature and Biodiversity. The Tamfourhill Totem Pole Trail embraced all of these aspects, and the project  proposal was a great fit with young  people’s priorities and aspirations for the local area.  We were therefore  overjoyed to receive funds to implement this Project through the ArtsRoots Fund distributed by Walk Wheel Cycle Trust Scotland.

https://www.walkwheelcycletrust.org.uk/about-us/our-work-in-scotland

The overarching aim of our Project  was to creatively engage local young people and support them too research and design ten distinct totem poles which would enhance the active travel route and also highlight and celebrate the natural environment around this stretch of canal in Tamfourhill. This route also forms  part of the John Muir Way, so encouraging active travel coupled to the nature and biodiversity of this route  made absolute sense.

The Project has  involved our Creative Climate Action Group along with Carmuirs and Easter Carmuirs Primary Schools and the level of engagement from the young people was excellent, with 50 young people being involved with the different stages of  the design and deciding upon the different themes  of the totem poles. The project caught their imaginations and through utilising different types of land art and researching interesting facts and details about the natural environment of the canal, young people were able to express themselves creatively and successfully and positively contribute to the Project. A key theme was reflecting on games played as children when out in nature where you used natural objects like sticks and leaves and incorporated them into different children’s games. These ideas are then celebrated on each of  the totem poles so that anyone walking or wheeling along the towpath can stop at each respective totem pole and engage in a children’s game or activity as detailed on the crafted poles. This was an excellent feature of this community art project; creatively incorporating  children’s nature-based play activities into  your active travel experience along  this canal towpath route.  

I would like to thank Sarah Diver Lang our community artist and design worker who led  on this project and not least for being tasked with the challenge of installing these  posts into the towpaths difficult terrain. I would also like to express my appreciation to Olivia Lassiere  the Environment Manager at Scottish Canals who greatly assisted with the  permissions and CAT scans that were required prior to  the installation process.

The intention  is to have a celebratory activity on the towpath next month which will involve an  active travel procession and some engagement activities on the themes of nature and  children’s play at each of the ten  totem poles. I will update the community with the arrangements for this event in due course.     

Here are some photos of the poles after their recent installation along with young people taking part with the design process, but please do go up onto the active travel route along the Canal in Tamfourhill and enjoy the experience of active travel, nature and grab yourself a pooh stick. 

The Design process is also detailed here: https://www.sarahdiverlang.com/noticeposts

Cruising the canal with the Seagull Trust:

The Canals have been a big feature and location for significant amounts of our Youth Action throughout  April into May. The Creative Climate Action Group enjoyed a great experience cruising along the Canal on the Seagull Trusts Canal boat. We passed the initial Totem poles that had been installed at that time and also went past the two new community orchards that we helped to plant. The cruise concluded with the Falkirk Wheel experience with the boat  lift  being a first for most of the group. The day was made more interesting through  the groups re-enactment of Titanic , singing along to the soundtrack and acting out the main roles. Thankfully no icebergs were encountered. We returned to the seagull trust with the Carmuirs Climate Action  Group a week later and this was a different but an equally rewarding  experience with this group more focussed upon their yodelling and loud echo going through the top lock gates and then  along the tunnel and onto the boat lift. 

Paddle pick up on Canoes:

SCYAP has also been supporting  the entire P7 class at Easter Carmuirs Primary School with their experiencing and helping nature youth award  programme. This has been  a varied and at times challenging award programme and included their contribution to  the totem poles trail and  also  encouraging nature and biodiversity in their local Easter Carmuirs Public Park. More recently the class were split into three subgroups who each carried out a paddle pick up along the Forth and  Clyde Canal through Camelon and also west towards Bonnybridge and where they  learnt skills in canoeing, teamwork , communication whilst  also collecting rubbish from the canal. Litter surveys were an important feature of the sessions, and this was carried out in conjunction with Keep Scotland Beautiful Upstream Battle challenge. The aim of this campaign is to change littering behaviour to prevent  litter at source along rivers and waterways throughout Scotland. If we can stop litter getting  into our waterways then we prevent it polluting our rivers but also stop it from  arriving in our seas and oceans where it contributes to extensive environmental damage and exasperates climate change. The surveys revealed that our local canal is improving , there is less rubbish and litter , although this has much to do with the recent efforts of these young people.  The main  problems are plastic bottles, drinks cans, glass bottles and an array of sweet and crisp wrappers and surprisingly  a wooden drawer.  My congratulations to these young people for all their efforts and commitment. 

Upstream Battle®

Twilight Sports: Summer 2026

And finally, summer must be coming as I am pleased to announce the return of the Twilight Sports programme which is  coming to a public park near you. The full programme is below and we start on Friday 12th June at 6pm in Easter Carmuirs Park , there will be rollerblading with the Falkirk Wheelers, football with Caiden Wilson , Nature and creative activities , visits from  the Fire and Rescue Service and regular surgeries from  the very popular Dr Bike Service. As always  its open to all 10–16-year-olds, food and drinks are provided and it’s all absolutely free. See you soon folks! 

Twilight Sports Porgramme 2026Download

community

All 16 -18-year-olds please get out and vote next Thursday 7th May in the Scottish Parliamentary Elections:

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Here is why :

As I write this blog we are eight  days out from Scotland’s Parliamentary Elections and off course many sixteen-year-olds will  be voting in their fist ever election. This is highly significant from the perspective  of Youth Action and Empowerment, and it will be no surprise to anyone that SCYAP fully supports and indeed celebrates that  Scotland extended the democratic franchise to all 16-year old’s domicile and resident  in our country. Why is it important that sixteen-year-olds can vote ? We know some of our population are against this age group participating, however it ensures that critically important factors impacting upon our young people’s lives are given the priority and full attention that they merit. Education is a massive issue, and it seems  unreasonable that those people who are the  most impacted in terms of their futures and their learning needs and aspirations should be excluded from having a meaningful opinion and effective say in policy  decisions about their education. Similarly, youth work  and community  provisions are of particular relevance to young people, and they should therefore have the ability  to organise themselves politically and have a collective voice ensuring that  their perspectives are listened to and given consideration by everyone involved with forming and delivering  our social and economic policies and making the  big political decisions. I am not suggesting that 16–18-year-olds are a monolithic and homogeneous block and its undoubtable that social class and inequality impact  massively  on their opportunities and life experiences, and I would further  suggest that it is those most disadvantaged both economically and socially who most need an effective and strong collective voice.  What seems to many to be a basic right , i.e. free public transport on buses for those under 22 years of age is currently being opposed on the spurious basis that it encourages young people  to cause anti-social behaviour. Free travel on buses enables students to get to university and college, young people to their workplace and the ability to move around and be mobile. Off course those from  lower  incomes will benefit the most from  this social service and this provision is therefore a good example of addressing inequality whilst also taking a positive climate action. Young people, especially those most disadvantaged by inequalities urgently require a  political voice with this particular matter, along with other policy areas that have a focus upon their lives and the opportunities that are available to them  or not. The youth work sector has a key role to play in addressing these inequalities by age, gender and social class and SCYAP’s recent involvement with the #RightSpaceFuture national youth work  manifesto was a non-Party  based campaign which we felt that we should highlight and also support  local young people’s engagement with this manifestos  key commitments. We also  lobbied some of  our local elected representatives and prospective candidates for these upcoming  Scottish parliament elections and requested commitments from them that  if they were in  government that they would move the manifestos  key commitments forward.  SCYAP also raised specific concerns about the Cash Back to Communities Funds  and how these  were being  awarded to larger corporate organisations and that insufficient of that money was trickling down to grasroots community youth work. Although we have had a response from a civil servant we don’t accept that explanation and this is another young person focused issue and another clear example of why 16 -18-year-olds should get  out and scare the horses and vote next  Thursday 7th May.

The Carmuirs Community Safety Group

SCYAP in collaboration with Carmuirs Primary School and the Well Wild Project and through funding accessed from Youth Scotland has been working with a group of P7  boys with  a focus upon community safety and personal accountability. This has been a really good experience with  the young people learning a wide array of social  skills and gaining the confidence to deal with sensitive issues in an honest, open and constructive  manner. The programme involved the group making a positive difference to their  own community, taking responsibility for making environmental improvements and being excellent role models for their peers. This was especially  evident with their paddle pick up where they cleared bags of rubbish from  the canal along with 4 footballs. The skills of resilience, taking responsibility for their own actions and managing risks were all essential to their successful sessions at the Well Wild Project. Last week’s survival  simulation the group were exceptional, putting into practice all of these skills they had been learning:   communications, teamwork, decision making and working  under pressure. The Group have taken part in a substance use and risk workshop  ,  learnt practical skills in cooking and undertook  group challenges  in the Tamfourhill woods. It was really great to  see them making use  of the local community centre and attending SCYAP  Easter programme activities in the community. The final week of the programme will be an evaluation and reflection session  which will  take place on the 30th of April and then they will have time to complete their Dynamic Youth Awards and an  opportunity to acknowledge  each other’s achievements and celebrate their successes.     

If you go down to the woods on 4th of May:

And finally:  We are having a young volunteers day on Monday 4th May from 12 noon to 4pm meeting at Tamfourhill Community Hub and we will be working on our new planters in the woods. This is part of our local climate action plan and encouraging biodiversity and producing sustainable food. This is suitable for 10–16-year-olds with a Barbecue and refreshments being provided. For further details please contact john@ttrohub.co.uk or 07391524528.

community

Empowering young people to have an effective voice

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#RightSpaceFuture

A key outcome for the Youth Action Project is that we encourage and support young people to grow as active citizens, express their voices and enable change. Underpinning this is working with young people to build their confidence and  facilitating opportunities where they can also develop a wide array of social skills. Our communities thrive when we have active and committed people who are confident to speak up and take responsibility and actions for the  development and improvement  of their local  areas. This in essence is about community empowerment and ownership and our Youth Action approach is very much focused upon supporting and enabling  local young people to be active citizens and community activists.  Our recent Youth Action Group meeting with the MSP for Falkirk West Michael Mathieson and the SNP  prospective candidate for our constituency and  local councillor Gary Bouse was an important opportunity for young people to speak up about their priorities for the future of their community and indeed Scotland. We aligned last Mondays meeting with the launch of the youth work sector in Scotland’s national manifesto 2026 #RightSpaceFuture  and which coincides with the campaigning process for the Scottish parliamentary elections scheduled for the 7th of May 2026.  This made the flow of  the discussion both local and national and young people were able to present their recent youth action work in Tamfourhill and Camelon  via the photo display which had been prepared by young people  at the Twilight sports session on the preceding Friday evening

As highlighted in last month’s Blog the Scottish  Youth Sector manifesto states three national commitments: https://www.youthlink.scot/wp-content/uploads/Youth-Work-Manifesto-2026.pdf

  1. A Right – A Legal Right to Youth Work for All Young People
    Every young person should have an entitlement in law to access youth work services, regardless of postcode, background, or income.
  1. A Space – Universal Access to Spaces for Youth Work
    Guarantee free, fair, and consistent access to public spaces – such as schools, leisure centres, and community venues – for youth work providers, and create new, dedicated youth spaces in every community.
  1. A Future – Sustained and Increased Investment in Youth Work
    Implement fair funding principles with ring-fenced, multi-year funding at both national and local level, rebuilding the workforce and ensuring long-term stability.

The key responses from our elected members  at the YAG meeting, included:

  • Our MSP Micheal Mathieson  emphasised the importance  of youth work ; upstream, early interventions and preventative and the role that youth work  plays  in diverting younger people from youth justice. This is an important  observation and echoes the manifestos reference to youth work not being a cost but an effective solution.
  • For youth work to be a legal right for all young people would require legislation being passed  through parliament and therefore  a legal definition of what was youth work would need to be agreed and established.  Although this could be problematic and cover everything from uniformed organisations to employment services it did seem absolutely feasible to SCYAP that a legal and defining status could be confirmed for the  profession of youth work.
  • Matters relating to SCYAP and access to the school estate for our Twilight  sports provision was taken up by Councillor Bouse and this was discussed within the wider context of the  manifestos national commitment for  universal access to  spaces within communities for youth work. There were specific particulars that we discussed about the use  of sports halls for inline skating, and issues relating to the asset transfer of community buildings to the community and the transference of the schools gymnasiums back to the council. These transfers were both highlighted as important considerations for future access for youth work and sports activities. It was agreed that we would enter further discussions with GB and Falkirk Council with this particular access matter.  
  • Funding was agreed to  underpin the three manifesto commitments and without strategic ring-fenced funding there is no ability to  have a Right to youth work and you wouldn’t be able to access community spaces. MM emphasised how the three commitments were intrinsically linked. SCYAP raised the Cash Back to Communities funding and sought an explanation as to why a tranche of this resource could not be allocated for  long-term strategic funding which could be accessed by smaller grassroots community-based youth work providers. This would necessitate  a change to the  income threshold criteria for making an application. MM will meet and discuss this with the Justice  Secretary and get back to SCYAP,  
  • The role of youth work in schools both locally and nationally was raised and SCYAP asked that  this  contribution to the Scottish Attainment Challenge should be recognised by government and reflected in additional funding being allocated and ring fenced for this area of important work. This aspect was also presented within the manifestos commitment to sustained and increased investment in youth work.

The meeting closed with an interesting presentation of SCYAP Youth action projects and the  photo display led by the attendant members of the Youth Action group. We are  now looking forward to receiving written responses from Michael and Gary detailing their commitment to advancing aspects of the Youth Work manifesto.  

Peer Mentoring Project

Leo Cierpikowski our young volunteer who is progressing his Gold Youth Achievement Award has been leading our Peer Mentoring Project. This has been a fantastic area of SCYAP work  and I would like to congratulate Leo on his planning , preparation and delivery of the first three project sessions. Leo is a brilliant role model, and he has been inspirational for the mentees who are taking a journey using creativity to reflect on their transitions from primary to High School .  This is not an  art class but a creative and mindful way to explore  sensitive issues and to encourage peer support through a significant phase of a young persons life. This Project has been resourced by Youth Scotland with training being delivered  in partnership with an organisation called  Place2Be  ,and  it’s really worth having a look at their website: https://www.place2be.org.uk/

Climate Action Event

SCYAP has been supporting climate action groups in both local schools and the community, and this has involved standing up for nature, a sustainable food growing project , planting trees and bulbs, creativity with the pom poms workshops and now the start of the Active Travel Totem poles project along the  top canal in Tamfourhill. This work has been made possible through collaborations and funding provided by Forth Environment Link and Walk Wheel Cycle Trust.

We are now bringing these themes together through the work of the Community Climate Action Plan Core Group by holding a young people’s Climate Action Event on Friday 6th March from 4pm -6.30pm in Tamfourhill Community Hub. This will be a fun way for 10–16-year-olds to take part in activities and workshops which are themed on climate action and tackling climate change. There will be: Growing and planting activities, the smoothie bike and sustainable energy bike, building bird nesting boxes, fruit kebabs and hot dogs, workshops about cleaner greener jobs and discussing experiences of climate change locally and other activities. I would like to thank our partners at FEL and TCV for supporting this event , its all free and you just turn up and take part.   

Next month I will be highlighting our Easter Programme 2026 and introducing a new Porject aimed at 10–12-year-olds in the community.

community

#RightSpaceFuture

bighosie

A guid new year to everyone and our first blog of 2026 considers some long-term priorities  for young people living throughout Scotland. This could be a pivotal year for Scotland and its public services and with our national elections coming up in May we need to ensure that young peoples futures are at the centre of government policy and that resources are committed to achieving their best potential as active and empowered citizens.   

Scotland’s Youth Work Sector have recently  published a manifesto entitled A Right, A Space, A Future which outlines three national commitments Scotland must make to ensure every young person can thrive through access to high-quality youth work. Together, they represent the foundation of a stronger, fairer youth work system: guaranteed by law, universally accessible, and sustained by investment. 

The Three National Commitments:

  1. A Right – A Legal Right to Youth Work for All Young People
    Every young person should have an entitlement in law to access youth work services, regardless of postcode, background, or income.
  1. A Space – Universal Access to Spaces for Youth Work
    Guarantee free, fair, and consistent access to public spaces – such as schools, leisure centres, and community venues – for youth work providers, and create new, dedicated youth spaces in every community.
  1. A Future – Sustained and Increased Investment in Youth Work
    Implement fair funding principles with ring-fenced, multi-year funding at both national and local level, rebuilding the workforce and ensuring long-term stability.

We are all to aware at SCYAP how precarious our funding base can be, especially  as we await the outcome of our submission for continuation funding from the National Lottery. We should also acknowledge that our Project only exits because local community activists through the TTRO have given a voluntary  commitment to supporting Youth Action in their local area and that this provision is essentially autonomous and self-financing. The notion therefore of youth work being a legal and statutory right for all young people would be a massive undertaking by government, however we also need to be honest about the type of Scotland we want  to live in. If we want our young people and communities to thrive , be empowered , excellently educated , tackling massive issues like sustainability and climate change then we require our elected representatives  to enable that through the right policy decisions and actions. A significant part of that would be the candidates for Mays Scottish General elections to respond positively to these three national commitments laid out in the  manifesto and giving assurances of how they will support and progress these massive youth work commitments.  

SCYAP is planning to  meet with our  MSPs and councillors in mid-February to progress these  matters and we will support young people to be part of that process, and I will report on the outcomes of these meetings in next months  blog.  

Let’s ponder these comments:

Juliet Harris, Director, Together, the children’s rights alliance : 

“Recognising youth work as a legal entitlement would be a vital step in delivering Scotland’s commitments under the UNCRC. It would ensure that every young person, wherever they live and whatever their background, has fair and equal access to the support they need to thrive.” 

David Kennedy, General Secretary, Scottish Police Federation, : 

“A single youth worker can do far more for a young person than any type of enforcement. That’s why ‘A Right, A Space, A Future matters, it’s about prevention, safety and hope. The Scottish Police Federation fully support this manifesto as we must have sustained investment in youth work.” 

The full manifesto can be read here:

Click to access Youth-Work-Manifesto-2026.pdf

Young Person led Climate Action in January 2026

Standing up for and helping nature have been the key themes for the new year with our climate action groups at Carmuirs and Easter Carmuirs Primary Schools being out and about  in the local parks and woodlands and  quite often in very challenging weather conditions. Planting pollinator bulbs in Easter Carmuirs Park and the Tamfourhill woods along with making bird feeders from recycled plastic bottles and some toad abodes in the Well Wild Woods have been the key activities for this month. We are always keen to encourage creativity and the arts in all aspects of the SCYAP, so we very much enjoyed the pom poms workshops that were carried out by Sarah our community artist. This involved every young person attaching labels to their pom poms stating a personal commitment to take climate action, and these included: Planting a tree in the garden, organising a litter pick, using less plastic and having their own drinks bottles to avoid single use plastics.       

New Opportunities with Youth Scotland

We are really  pleased to have received resources and support from Youth Scotland to implement a couple of short-term projects with young people. Firstly,  through a Grassroots Youth Work Award we have begun working with a group of P7 from Carmuirs primary School. This groupwork programme will be looking at risk taking and community safety issues and will also be an accredited programme with the young people gaining Dynamic Youth Awards. The programme kicked off  at the Well Wild Project last Thursday with a session focused upon personal accountability.

Peer Mentoring Project:

In addition,  we currently have a young volunteer  undertaking his Gold Youth Achievement Award and this involves him delivering a Peer Mentoring Project. I have been supporting Leo throughout January to plan this programme with the delivery stage starting in mid-February. There will be  a focus of looking at the transition  from P7 to High School and a small group of mentees will travel this journey creatively over a five-week programme. Youth Scotland have provided training and resources for this Programme to happen, and this is an excellent example of how national and local collaborations can improve the lives for young people within their own communities.

Twilight Sports Winter Programme

The Programme continues through January and February every Friday from 6pm-8pm in Tamfourhill Community Hub , with Dr Bike in attendance on Friday 30th January and 20th February. Its all free for 10-16 year olds.

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The past has been a great success, and the future remains unwritten

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So once again we are drawing to the end of another year, 2025 has been a very busy year and at times overwhelming through the levels and range of Youth Action that has been undertaken. There is no need to review the youth work as it has been detailed on our monthly blogs which has kept all interested parties updated and fully informed.  I would however want to highlight some important data and figures as detailed below which illustrate the outputs and hard successes of SCYAP in 2025: 

SCYAP Key data and outputs 2025Download

In reporting back this month to Foundation Scotland on the completion of our three-year  grant award . I commented that:  The funding provided through Foundation Scotland has contributed to young people gaining confidence, abilities and the skills to make lasting positive change in their community. A Youth Action approach was successfully delivered which has the dual benefits of improving young people’s connections with the local community whilst also advancing their own personal and social development. The funding leaves a legacy and the potential to build on existing success and further support young people’s contributions to the development and improvement of Camelon and Tamfourhill and to better prepare them for advancing through life as active citizens.

The notion of legacy and the potential for further Youth Action are both embedded within these end of grant conclusions, and the challenge for me and the TTRO is to now secure further funding and resources to take the SCYAP beyond this year and into the future. We are optimistic and it will not be for a lack of effort and commitment in what is a very competitive funding world. Being a small voluntary organisation can often feel like you are in an unstable and short-term reality, but it also enables greater levels of flexibility , creativity and localism that are simply not afforded to local councils, health boards or other public bodies

The young people who took part in the  Youth Participation Project were involved with their own end of Project evaluation this month. An opportunity for them to reflect upon their own experiences, what they had enjoyed and leant in the process and contribute to the feedback required to the funders. This Project was funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is managed by Falkirk Council, so it was a fixed  term short project, and it was therefore important that a legacy was left in terms of local Youth Action. In that respect we have ten Dynamic Youth Awards and two High 5 Awards pending and a couple of Saltire awards  and the Article 31: The Right to Play mural boards are now fully installed at the Games Court in Easter Carmuirs. Notable feedback indicated that the young people really enjoyed attending the Lock 16  open day in September where they led their own stall , Article 31 activities and consultation process and also engaged with the general public and the other partners. I personally would like to praise the group very highly for that day , they were exceptional and a great credit to their peers and the community. OUTSTANDING !!!   

In the short term in 2026 we will  continue to support the work of the two-schools based Climate Action Groups at Carmuirs and Easter Carmuirs Primary Schools. This will be augmented by the formation of a community focused Youth Climate Action Group with all three working towards young peoples  agreed priorities for climate action as detailed in the report published in  April 2025. Work began with the schools in November and along with the  YAG they  will gain pace through  January and February. This work has been made possible through the funding received from FEL and their next steps climate action fund.  

The second phase of the Twilight Sports programme  begins on Friday 16th January 6pm-8pm in Tamfourhill Community Hub , the full programme is detailed below. Although we haven’t been quite as busy as previous winter programmes we do have a high energy and loud group attending every week. Thank you to our sessional staff, coaches and our volunteers, its been especially rewarding to  see two young volunteers giving up their Friday nights to come along and make the Twilight sports a resounding success.

Finally, a thank you to the colleagues and partners  who have contributed  to our end of year evaluations , completing surveys and discussing projects, this is an important aspect to planning future work and indeed sustaining the Safer Communities Youth Action Project.

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The Right to Play, Youth Participation and Climate Week

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SCYAP was successful in securing a Community Empowerment Grant  from Falkirk Council which is funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. As a Youth Action Project we were keen to encourage further youth participation and to link that with wider community developments. The key aspects of a  Youth Participation approach , include; Taking part, young people having a say and being listened to , being involved with decision making, being  involved through your own choice, contributing to the community, enjoying activities and working with others and gaining national youth awards. Our new Youth Participation Project was targeted initially at young people who were not regularly involved with any of our previous or ongoing youth action activities and the programme began with an introduction and programme planning session at the end of August

A Dynamic Youth Award programme has begun and includes a wide variety of challenging activities which focus on teamwork, decision making, skills development and community involvement . Creativity and outdoor learning feature significantly throughout the programme and the Group had a brilliant day when they attended the recent Scottish Canals Open Day which was held at the  old Barrs factory in Tamfourhill.  This open day was an opportunity for Scottish canals and their partners at Historic Environment Scotland  to showcase the traditional  skills and the Centre  for Excellence that will operate from this building. The Open Day  also provided a unique opportunity for our  Youth Participation Group to contribute through their interactive games stall which promoted Article 31 of UNRC: The Right to Play  

UNCRC Article 31

I have a right to rest, relax and play

Adults should make sure children have the chance to play and relax in a safe, supportive and stimulating environment.

Governments should make sure children can be part of cultural and artistic activities.

When decisions are made about activities in the community, adults should include children in planning these.

Want to come out to play?

Our commitment to the  promotion of  Article 31 is being further explored through the second strand of our Youth Participation  project: A series of arts  drop-in sessions will take place at the games court on Mariner Avenue in Easter Carmuirs on the 15th, 16th and 17th October. If you are between 10-18 years old please pop along in the afternoon between 1pm-4pm, perhaps play some games, tell us about the rules and then design and build signposts and boards which illustrate these games. Part of this process will be involved with the design of new box seating for the Cage , and the process kicks  off next Wednesday 8th October at 5.30pm when you can come down for a game of rounders, get some free hot dogs and also tell us about the games and sports that are played at the Cage. This community arts aspect  of the Participation Project is aligned to proposals highlighted within the Camelon Community Action Plan in relation to improving communal spaces and increasing opportunities  for local young people.  

Scotland’s national climate week runs from 29th September until 5th October, and this is an opportunity to consider what climate action we can support and take which will contribute to tackling climate change and making our communities greener and sustainable.

Climate Week is an important awareness raising tool and to coincide with this I am very pleased to announce that we will be beginning the process of reinstating the community orchard that was recently decimated on the canal towpath next to Camelon Juniors football ground. We are extremely grateful to Scottish Canals who have found resources to replace the heritage fruit trees and the support of their Environment manager with the process of preparing the ground and the planting of the replacement orchard. We will be working on the towpath on Thursday 2nd October with the Carmuirs Youth Action Group who worked so hard and took so much pride with the planting of the original orchard back in February

Following on from the reinstatement of the Camelon Community Orchard we are excited  to partner with Under the Trees Outdoor Learning for an event called Wild Connections: Falkirk’s Greener Future that will bring a whole host of climate related activities to Easter Carmuirs Park on Monday 13th October from 1pm-4pm. SCYAP through funding accessed from Volunteering Matters Action Earth will provide volunteering opportunities to build and decorate bat and bug boxes. Forth Climate Forest will deliver a Neighbourhood trees workshop and Under the Trees have a climate scavenger quiz with prizes, crayon recycling on the campfire and acorn planting and a climate lab with climate experiments to explore. Although this is a young person led event the whole community are invited to participate, and the only restriction is that under 10’s must be accompanied by an adult of 16+ years old

And finally , SCYAP is overjoyed to acknowledge that we have 24 National Youth Award Certificates to present to young people , these in the main were gained through taking part on various activities during our Summer Programme 2025.  The overnight survival programme, community arts  project and its Stand up for Nature theme, the angling project and the wonderful active travel mural and arts installation at Camelon Railway Station. This included two Silver Youth Achievement Awards for our young youth action volunteers Leo and Victoria, my congratulations to you all, an outstanding achievement.

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A Fabulous Fun February ,Falkirk Wheelers wronged and  Camelon has its first Community Orchard

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Twilight Sports

The Twilight Sports Winter Programme was operational through November 2024 until the last session on Friday 21st February 2025 in Tamfourhill Community Hub . Once again, I would like to highlight that we were unable to operate the second half of the Winter indoor Programme from Easter Carmuirs Primary School and I am aware that many young  people have missed out as a consequence of that situation. The Falkirk Wheelers, as many local people will be aware, have been prevented from using the halls and gymnasiums on the Councils school estate, and despite their best efforts and the pressures of others to get this erroneous decision overturned they continue to be unable to make use of these  facilities. The SCYAP continues to support the Falkirk Wheelers, and we will get involved with any future public demonstrations that campaign to get this access reinstated. We are however very grateful to the Tamfourhill Community Hub committee for their ongoing support through  making their centre available for our use on a Friday night despite all the building improvements and new net zero  energy technologies that are being installed. The Twilight  Sports programme continued to be well attended with young people developing great skills and confidence on the wheels along with their footballing skills and this has been noted by  the respective sports coaches. The social and developmental aspects of engaging with healthy  activities in a safe and supportive environment is clearly valued by local young people and their families. My thanks therefore to the Wheelers and our new football coach Ewan at the Stenhousemuir Community Foundation. There has also been significant contributions from our young Twilight Sports volunteers and it’s great to see them all undertaking Youth Awards as  part of their volunteering  involvement.

SCYAP Angling Group

The angling Group eventually got  their opportunity to take part in  a coach led session at Magiscroft Coarse Fishery, this was after a third classroom-based session where they had learnt about different species and their anatomies, baits and ground baits and how to set up their rods and reels. This preparation and learning was evident at the fishery, however the freezing cold and snowy conditions made for very difficult angling conditions. The group were using  whips prior to practicing their casting with a rod and reel set up. The very cold-water conditions discourage the fish from feeding but despite these adverse circumstances every young person managed to catch at least one fish , including some  nice sized roach and a roach bream hybrid. Our thanks to Gus and John from the Scottish Federation of Coarse Angling , these guys are exceptional anglers and a fountain of knowledge on all matters angling. The Group will continue to meet for learning sessions, go on  further angling trips and  complete their Youth Awards. This Project very much illustrates that learning can be enjoyable , social and take place in so many diverse contexts.

Outdoor learning and nature therapy

We have formed a fruitful partnership with the Well Wild-A therapeutic approach to Forest School & Bushcraft  based in the Rough Castle Woods, and this has facilitated a wide array of learning opportunities and the development of core skills for the young people we work with. The activities are really focused on core interpersonal and social  attributes , including, communication, trust, resilience and teamwork and our partnership has opened up these opportunities to a wider array of local young people. Our close involvement with the local primary schools has enabled the Youth Action Project to better achieve its key outcomes of better connecting young people with their local community and to deliver accredited learning opportunities. In addition, this February we also had our own Youth Award  Group participating in bushcraft and survival activities which have facilitated  positive relationship building and improved confidence in wider learning for these young people. An outstanding feature of working with the Well Wild Project is the therapeutic and reflective qualities that are facilitated through young peoples engagement with the natural environment. Often it is those quiet almost spiritual moments that instil an understanding and appreciation of nature and a sense of individual wellbeing that young people will take with them throughout their lives.  And into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my sole: John Muir  I would really like to thank John Wells for his empathetic and flexible approach at his Well Wild Project it has enabled the SCYAP to support young people achieve their various  personal targets on their development journey to achieving various youth awards. 

Community Orchard Planted in Camelon:

SCYAP are supporting a small group of boys from P6 at Carmuirs Primary School to gain a Dynamic Youth Award with a challenge that involves them getting more involved with and improving their local community. Recently with the support of the Environmental Manager at Scottish Canals we were able to create a new community orchard on the towpath of the Forth and Clyde canal near to lock 16. The Group worked tirelessly as they  prepared the ground, digging the holes, planting the  fruit trees and putting in the compost. This is a magnificent legacy for these young people and the community will be able to pick their own fruit as they make use of the canal and the towpath.  This is a community development project facilitated though local Youth Action and is fully aligned to our Community Climate Action Plan. This then is an appropriate point to conclude this blog and  a useful means to highlight next month’s main blog topic of reviewing our three Climate Action Events. I will then next month be able to confirm  young people’s priorities for tackling climate change in Tamfourhill ,Bantaskin and Camelon.  

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The Return of the Twilight Sports Programme, and does anyone want to go fishing ?

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The nights are darker, and winter is here, so I am glad to illuminate the gloom by announcing that  the Twilight Sports Winter Programme returns on Friday 8th November from 6pm-8pm in Tamfourhill Community Hub. The main activities will be football and rollerblading and on the 8th we will also have Dr Bike in attendance who will service your bikes for winter and issue every cyclist with a light. The Programme is open to all 10 – 16-year-olds and food and drink will be provided, and this is all free of charge thanks to our funders at the Falkirk Community Schools Fund and the National Lottery Young Start Programme. There will be some special sporting activities on the programme, and these will be confirmed and announced nearer to the particular date, the regular programme is detailed on the attached flyer.

I am very disappointed that the Twilight Sports  Programme will not be visiting Easter Carmuirs Primary School this winter and this is due to Facilities Management  banning rollerblading from  all Falkirk Council  school halls and gymnasiums. We did not want  to deliver part of the Programme without our valued colleagues and partners the Falkirk Wheelers, so the decision had to be made to not make use of the school hall at Easter Carmuirs. I know this is to the disadvantage off young people from that neighbourhood, but we would consider some type of safe transport provision  for these young people ,if there was demonstrable intertest. I would like to explicitly put on record my opposition to this ban and I am particularly frustrated at how an engaging healthy sporting activity like this can be spuriously removed from the community and indeed the school curriculum. There is inconvenience to us locally and community safety concerns however there is also a much bigger picture here where young people are being prevented from participating in a very  healthy sporting activity that addresses health inequalities , reduces the attainment gap and facilitates positive social development. There has been objections raised, and an informal campaign being promoted by the Falkirk Wheelers and we fully support all of  their actions and would encourage parents , careers and concerned individuals and groups to approach elected members or highlight the matter in any local or national forums. A summary to the background to this situation can be found here:   https://falkirkwheelers.co.uk/mitie_ban.php I would also like to use this opportunity of thanking the Committee at Tamfourhill Community Hub who have been willing to accommodate the entire winter Twilight Sports programme from November through to February, it is very much appreciated.

On a much more positive note, I am delighted to report on the  formation of a new partnership between the SCYAP and the Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling, which will deliver a bespoke angling programme for local young people. I am aware that many young people enjoy fishing on the local canals, and we have also ran fishing trips as part of our summer programmes, so this new partnership will provide an excellent  accredited learning opportunity. The course will begin on Thursday 14th November at Tamfourhill Community Hub at 6pm and will involve some indoor sessions and then coached angling sessions at Magiscroft Coarse Fishery, the local canals and a trout fishery. All the participating young people will be able to gain a national award and the programme will includes: water safety, fish biology, fish welfare and safe handling of fish, fishing tackle and tackling up and of course the best methods and approaches to catching fish. There will also be volunteering opportunities provided and the potential to then go on to gain an angling coach qualification , this is a fully funded package and there will be no cost for the young people or volunteers. If you are interested  then please contact me directly at john@ttrohub.co.uk and more details about the SFCA can be found here: https://www.sfca.co.uk/

The Community Climate Action Plan has to date facilitated many opportunities and a wide array of  activities like community growing initiatives, encouraging biodiversity, active travel and the  Tamfourhill energy efficiency and net zero hub project, and this has involved various groups and schools throughout  Camelon and Tamfourhill. The time felt right for a relaunch of the CCAP and in line with the ethos of Youth  Action it seemed very appropriate to revisit the Plan  and involve young people with confirming the current priorities for tacking climate change at a community level. The SCYAP were recently successful in securing another FEL Seed Grant with the purpose of relaunching our CCAP and fully involving young people with that process. In partnership with FEL we will be holding a number of roadshow events in the community where young people and the existing CCAP Core Group members can revisit the original plan and enhance those actions or indeed set new local climate change actions. These events will provide a hands-on experience with different activities being available that involve active travel, community growing, examples of sustainability and creativity with the arts, and all involving some element of fun based consultation. I will keep the community updated with this project and how young people and others can get directly involved. The key will be to take  part in meaningful activities  but to also further develop our plan to include a very strong youth led  programme of actions.

  

Another environmental improvement opportunity has been made possible through   the Volunteering Matters  Action Earth Project. This will be about establishing several community orchards around the local area, and I hope that a variety of groups will come on board with this activity.  I again will highlight this Project on our social media platforms and in the meantime if anybody has a particular interest with establishing community orchards then please do get in touch with me directly: john@ttrohub.co.uk

Next months blog will be focused upon the Camelon Community Action Plan and in particular  the youth consultation process and the developing work of the Nailer Road Safer Streets Group.

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Supporting Young People’s Readiness to Learn and Getting on Yer Bike

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 I  want to use the main section of this month’s Youth Action Blog to celebrate our recent #Summerprogramme2024 and to align aspects of the successes of that Programme with the findings of the  recent Youthlink publication:  The Role of Youth Work in Supporting Young people’s readiness to learn. This report is also particularly relevant to the recent work that SCYAP carried out in partnership with local schools ,as the Youthlink report notes: The factors impacting upon school attendance and engagement are complex whilst it also acknowledges that school cannot effectively tackle these issues alone. Evidence is presented that highlights the invaluable contribution of a Youth Work approach and how that methodology  can positively contribute to successfully addressing the Scottish Governments Attainment Challenge.

A SCYAP key outcome is that Young People should increase their social skills, confidence to learn and their levels of attainment. This was achieved on two levels  through our Summer Programme, firstly by the variety and quantity of national accreditations that young people undertook over the summer.  Our Evaluation report notes that 18 accredited programmes were completed, including 14 Dynamic Youth Awards, 2 High 5 Awards and with 2 older young people significantly progressing their Bronze Youth Achievement Awards. The second level is not as quantifiable but would include the development of  a wide array of soft skills or what are sometimes referred to as core skills, including; resilience, confidence, decision making, forming positive peer relationships, improving their capacity and confidence  to learn  and a willingness to take on new challenges. The participating young people did this in spades over the summer, the comments and reflections of our  partners at the  Well Wild  Project absolutely highlight these very attributes and the feedback from all the staff and partners involved with the programme delivery scored this facet a very high average of 9.4 on their feedback survey responses. This is similarly reflected in young people’s own evaluation and feedback forms with 72% indicating they had learnt new skills and scoring on average 7.4 on a scale of 10 in  relation to how their confidence to learn had improved through their involvement with the programme. This process is very apparent within the Youthlink report :  Youth work offers young people a wider range of pathways for learning and achievement that can be offered in the classroom, providing more personalisation, choice and agency in learning  This fits very nicely with the experiences of our Group who undertook the Bushcraft and Survival programme,  further the Youthlink report notes  that the success of  a youth work approach is because young people enjoy experiential learning and different contexts for learning, including practical learning and learning outdoors in the community. Young people value the opportunity that youth work gives them to shape their own learning and develop a greater sense of personal agency. This was very much echoed in the work that was undertaken in the Community Arts Project and the Bushcraft and survival programme , John Wells of the Well Wild Project noted in his evaluation feedback that:

The entire  experience was Young person 

friendly and ensured that their learning outcomes/ targets

were met in full. Their learning targets  had all been 

chosen by the young people  themselves, and they had identified what 

they would like to gain out of this Bushcraft programme and overnight wild camping

experience.

And further John explains:

They learned how to build trust, good relationships, and the importance of working as a team & also have gained the ability to work on their own independently how to take instructions and how to learn from their mistakes

And in relation to learning in different contexts and outside in the community, Sarah Diver Laing our Community artist noted that:

It was nice to see the young

people directly engage with the

outdoors and I felt there was the

right balance during this

programme of imagination,

creativity, play and engagement

in places and the community.

These young people then have not only gained a recognised certificate of achievement  they have evolved in confidence and in their ability and willingness to learn , and this is also a positive outcome for the young people’s capacity to learn within the school curriculum and beyond and will impact positively upon the wider community.

Another significant highlight of the #Summerprogramme2024 was the Junior Sports Leadership Award, and it was really great to see some young people who have been regular participants at the Twilight Sports  over the last few months take that involvement onto another  level. I have every confidence in this Groups ability to now lead on delivering sports and games sessions with their peers and  with  younger children, An array of skills in planning , leadership and communication were developed and underpinning all of these attributes was a notable growth in confidence and self-belief. The Group members are now being linked in with the Active Schools coordinators and hopefully  they will get further involved with sports leadership activities within their respective schools. An important aspect to this is community capacity building and it would be the SCYAP longer term aim to support these young people to become sports leaders and coaches at our Twilight sports programme and other community-based sports and youth provisions.

My concluding remarks about our Summer of activities relates to our significant key outcome: that Young People will have better connections with the wider community. This featured heavily in our evaluations and feedback responses and undoubtedly this has been a significant success. We focus our activities on local assets like the Tamfourhill Community Hub , the local parks in Easter Carmuirs and Nailer Road and our outdoor learning is generally focussed on the canals and  local woodland. We support young people to be visible in their own community and to link in with local community assets and other projects and organisations. Underpinning all of this is our commitment to make community Learning and development a fun experience and one that is built around the views, circumstances, needs and aspirations of the young people themselves.

SCYAP #Summerprogramme Evaluation report is available in full here:

summer programme 2024 Evaluation reportDownload

Youthlink report: Role of Youth Work in supporting young people’s readiness to learn :

Click to access The-Role-of-Youth-Work-in-Supporting-Young-Peoples-Readiness-to-Learn-.pdf

On Yer Bike!

We are fortunate to have the support of volunteers without whom we could not deliver this range and quality of programmes and activities for young people and indeed link that Youth Action in a meaningful way with the wider community. In that respect I would like to take this opportunity to both thank and highlight the contributions over the last year and beyond of Rachel Timblin. Rachels contributions are dynamic and varied and go way beyond the activities delivered by SCYAP, in particular her work with community growing , the Scottish Wildlife Trust and with support services for people impacted by Hepatitis B. Rachel is also a stalwart of the Twilight Sports Programme and quite simply the programme could not run without her involvement and support. It therefore was fabulous and fitting that Rachel was recently awarded with a bicycle from FEL as part of their  Free Bikes For Forth Valley Volunteers Scheme, more information about this initiative can be found here: https://felscotland.org/news-and-events/free-bikes-for-forth-valley-volunteers/

Here is Rachel being presented with  her new bike by FEL staff at a recent Twilight Sports session in Easter Carmuirs Park:

Thanks Rachel

#Summerprogramme2024 can be viewed here:

Summer prgramme 2024 SCYAPDownload