Lochend Pupil Rewarded for Creativity

A school girl from Lochend Community High School scooped first prize in a design competition at The Glasgow Science Centre last night.

Fifth year pupil, Emma Hutchison, was presented with an MP4 player after entering the competition to design a logo for Scottish Business in the Community’s ‘Closing the Gap’ initiative. Closing the Gap is an innovative programme bringing businesses and schools together to raise the employability of young people in the most disadvantaged parts of Glasgow.

Emma was one of 38 pupils to take part in a Closing the Gap mentoring scheme at her school. The scheme provides S5 and S6 students with the skills to mentor 1^st year pupils, building confidence and better relationships throughout the school.

Last night’s prize-giving took place at an evening reception hosted by Scottish Business in the Community (SBC) to celebrate the positive impact companies in Glasgow have made to Closing the Gap over the past four academic years.

Samantha Barber, Chief Executive of SBC, commended the contribution of businesses to this highly successful scheme.

“Supported by SBC, the business community has been able to make a real difference to the ‘no positive destination’ figures for participating schools in Glasgow.”

“Through a variety of employer-led activities such as work placements, employability related advice and mentoring support, Closing the Gap has provided over 10,000 opportunities for school pupils to improve employability skills, improve academic achievement and learn about the options they have as school leavers in Glasgow since it began in 2003.”