According to Education Scotland, Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) is one of the policy drivers for Scottish Education.  It is a seven-year programme that aims to prepare children and young people aged 3-18 for the world beyond school.  One of the ambitions of DYW is that educational establishments and employers work together to equip young people with skills and knowledge.

In Summer 2019, Carronhill School set up a business partnership with What’s For Tea Tonight farm shop.  Through this partnership we hope to give the young people hand-on experiences of farming in the field, developing skills in tending crops and caring for animals.  Carronhill is the first ASN school in Aberdeenshire to have a business partnership and all involved are looking forward to a productive partnership.

In Summer 2021 we started to develop formalised community links with providers who will be supporting our learners in the world post-school. We think of developing the young workforce as develop the skills of our learners to give the best they can to the community they are in. This does not have to be in a formal workplace but can be at an adult centre, residential setting or in college.

Our community links have recently included Montrose Playhouse cinema and Specsavers in Stonehaven. We also have a positive working relationship with Stonehaven Library . The staff have accepted the outreach from the school to develop their own skills in Makaton, symbols and preparing their premises for clients with additional support needs. Visits from our school and to our school has allowed these premises to make small changes to allow for the wider community to explore their services.

As part of our redesign of the curriculu,, we are identifying opportunities in the local community that our learners will be exposed to and require. Working with the local Stagecoach depot we are giving our learners experiences in travelling on the local buses using their National Entitlement Card . We have developed a skills progression on using the bus in the local community. We also explore our communit through local walks and use of the school minibus- supported by Friends of Carronhill.