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Education, Children and Young People Committee 18 March 2026 [Draft]

18 Mar 2026 · S6 · Education, Children and Young People Committee

Item of business

Community Sporting Initiatives for Children and Young People

Mark Williams Watch on SPTV

It obviously very different for us because we are not part of the SFA or have a football club connection. Obviously Denis Law has a huge connection there but we are not associated with the clubs, for example. We work closely with Aberdeen and Cove Rangers but not in the work kind of way. However we are part of quite similar networks.There are a couple of United Kingdom-wide networks and StreetGames is probably one of the biggest. We are one of the only Scottish members. Its work is similar to ours. That is quite useful because we can compare the work that we are doing to what is happening down south. A good example is that their programmes that work with disadvantaged children currently have an average of around 20 per cent female participation, and ours is 40 per cent. So, we know that we are doing something different up in the north-east that is completely separate to what is happening down south and it is working very well.We are very much youth delivered. We have our youth forum, which directs what we do. Every single programme that we do is created by ourselves and the young people. We do not take something off the shelf from another organisation, for example, and try to implement it because it probably will not work in our city. We have learned that through our employability programmes. We might think that a six-week programme sounds great, but it will work for only one or two people, not for 10, and there will be dropout. If we can create our own programme using young people, we will have a different impact. Our numbers have been so good because we involve young people throughout and it is tailored exactly the way they want it.Denis Law’s academy currently has a 100 per cent record of young people who have dropped out of school either staying longer at school, moving into college or further or higher education or moving into apprenticeships or work. That is unheard of in other organisations like ours that are part of the network down south, but that is because the programmes are done on behalf of the young people. Everyone’s journey is different. One set programme does not work for every child in the same way as the school curriculum does not work for every child. We have to tailor it because every positive destination, whatever it might be, is different for young people.It is hard because funding is tight. We cannot just throw money at more staff to do more people. We have to be savvy and make it stretch. It is key that it is done that way. What is the point in hiring more hands and more staff just to water down what we are doing?Numbers are important, however. Earlier, I mentioned the 30,000 young people that we engaged with last year. My answer to my team after that was, “So what?” What does 30,000 actually mean? What is the difference in those 30,000 people? That is the thing that we should be tailoring programmes to. We have some great funders who give us a nice cheque and then they disappear and come back a year later and ask what we spent it on and how many people we engaged with. I do not like that. I want connection with a funder. I want them to know the difference that they are making.We are talking about future plans and how the Denis Law Legacy Trust is going to be. We are going to be much more story-based. Little things can have a ripple effect and that is how we shape ourselves and how we fit in that way.

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Education, Children and Young People Committee 18 March 2026 [Draft]

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