For Schools
Which schools does DAY1 currently support?
DAY1 currently works exclusively in the Scottish Highland Region. Our mentoring programme is offered at our partnership secondary schools which include Inverness Royal Academy, Milburn Academy, Charleston Academy, Culloden Academy, Fortrose Academy, Nairn Academy and Dingwall Academy plus The Bridge Special Education Unit in Inverness. Our apprenticeship programme is offered to all secondary schools in the Scottish Highlands, while our personal development programme is offered to various primary schools in Inverness. Our partnership schools are selected based on their geographic location and the need for our services.
Summary of programmes
Mentorship Programme
Our core DAY1 Mentorship Programme is available across our partnership secondary schools and is open to S4 – S6 pupils who may be struggling in the school environment or who require support to reach their full potential in further education or employment. Each year, we take on around 30 pupils on our Mentorship Programme.
Through the one-year programme, pupils (or ‘Mentees’) will be matched with a trusted DAY1 Mentor, who will meet with them once a week to undertake a variety of constructive activities all designed to support young people in building their resilience, whilst planning for what comes next after they finish school. Mentees will be given the freedom to choose the activities that they do each week with their Mentor, based on their personal preferences and interests. Through their initial time together, Mentees will be encouraged to build trust with their Mentors. As their relationship grows, Mentees can confide in their Mentors for guidance and support on their next steps after school – from writing a CV and completing college / job applications, to setting up work experience and building a plan for the future.
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Our aim is to help young people form a positive attitude around further education and their career prospects, which we emphasise through our DAY1 motto that ‘work is good’. For young people, having a trusted adult role model and friend who they can speak to helps to establish a nurturing relationship that enables them to grow their confidence, self-esteem and resilience, whilst giving them the freedom to be themselves, make new friends and try new activities.
Unlike most other mentoring programmes which are often based within the school environment, our mentoring takes place away from school within the local community. Over the years, we have found that our unique ‘in community’ mentoring approach helps to attract and encourage young people to get the support that they need – even those who are often hardest to reach. As our programme runs for one full year, we can also offer consistency and reliability to the young people who need it most.
Foundation Apprenticeship
Our Foundation Apprenticeship (FA) Training Programme is a one-year course which aims to equip and engage young people with the technical and practical skills required for future employment, with a focus on the automotive industry.
The National 4 Skills for Work Course: Automotive Skills at SCQF level 4 is an SQA Accredited course that has been approved by Skills Development Scotland. It provides an introduction to the automotive industry, covering areas such as vehicle maintenance and repair, fitting, electrical work, paint operations and roadside assistance. The course aims to help young people develop the practical skills, knowledge and understanding needed in the automotive industry. Just as importantly, they will also learn fundamental meta-skills to equip them for employment, which can be transferable across a range of sectors and industries. These include understanding how to work as a team, timekeeping, project management, creating presentations, working to deadlines, achieving targets and more.
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The course takes place at Inverness Kart Raceway – DAY1’s hub and social enterprise business. Here, pupils will gain hands-on work experience in a real-world environment. The course is open to S4 – S6 pupils within our partnership secondary schools, with a focus on those who are at risk of dropping out of school. We have seen increasing demand for the programme over the last few years, and we currently take on 100 young people each year.
Although there are other agencies who offer FA Training, DAY1 is the only organisation in the Scottish Highlands who offer the Automotive framework. Our model is unique amongst independent providers of the FA, with the training and work-based skills experience both happening at the same time, in the same venue with the same trainers.
P7 Life Skills & Personal Development Programme
The Life Skills and Personal Development Programme is run as a group activity for P7 pupils transitioning to High School. Available across our partner primary schools, the programme is open to all but with special focus on P7 pupils who may be at risk of dropping out of school at an early age.
The programme is designed to help pupils discover new interests, enhance self-confidence and ultimately encourage re-engagement with school so that they both start and complete their secondary schooling.
It is a 6-week course where pupils will explore topics including mental health, bullying (including cyber-bullying) and getting set for the transition to high school. The programme also includes out of school activities at the DAY1 hub, as well as various resilience and wellbeing games designed to encourage teamwork and the development of practical skills.
The programme will bring key topics to life in a fun and engaging way, whilst giving pupils the skills and guidance needed to support them on their personal development journey.
Referral process
For DAY1 Mentoring: Pupils in S4 – S6 who are at risk of leaving school without an onward destination into further education or employment can be referred to the Mentorship Programme by their school guidance teacher. Pupils will then need to complete the application process themselves, which will involve a short, informal chat with a DAY1 team member to discuss why they would like to join the programme and what they would like to get out of it.
For our Foundation Apprenticeship Programme: Most of the applicants to our Foundation Apprenticeship Programme are also often referred by their guidance teachers, who are aware that the support and methods of delivery offered by the programme provide an effective and well proven mechanism to help young people re-engage in education and plan for employment. For those that join the FA training programme, the clearest characteristic is a willingness by our apprentices to be open to our guidance and support in a way that will help them achieve a qualifiication and positive employment destination.
For our P7 Life Skills Programme: If you would like to be a partnership school of the P7 programme then please contact the DAY1 team
Useful resources
If you’d like to find out more about any of the above programmes or speak to us about how we can support pupils at your school, please contact :
You can also view or download the following resources:
