We’re delighted to have been awarded a grant of £10,000 from the Scottish government for our drug education pilot in the Grampian region.
Anyone who follows our news will know we’ve been very busy in Scotland, thanks to huge and high level support from Police Scotland, and ever-growing interest in – and enthusiasm for – our drug education programme. We’ve also seen support from the Scottish Government which has been so encouraging, with (then) Scottish Minister for Drug Policy Angela Constance (now Cabinet Secretary for Justice) speaking at our Police Scotland-funded drug education showcase event in Glasgow in February, and the Cabinet for Education and Skills of Scotland, Jenny Gilruth, speaking at our most recent event at Tulliallan Police College in May. We’re delighted that this support has now been backed up by funding, in the form of a grant for £10,000 from the government’s Serious Organised Crime fund.
The heart of our work in Scotland right now is in the Grampian region, in the North East of the country, where a pilot of our multi-component drug education programme has been planned for schools in the coming academic year, in close discussion with Police Scotland and local stakeholders and schools. This will be evaluated by the University of Aberdeen and includes three academies from each local authority – Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray – giving us a good look at what works in urban, rural and remote communities which is representative of Scotland. This will help us identify anything that needs developing, adapting or refining, and establish effective drug education practice in Scotland that we hope will be useful more widely across the country. But the challenge, as always, is funding, and this is where the Government has stepped in.
This grant will fund most of our full, multi-component programme to be delivered in one of these local authorities, enabling every student in each of the three pilot schools to see the play, take part in a workshop, and receive our drug education lessons, delivered by teachers we’ll have trained. Their parents will have the opportunity to come to a webinar, and to see the play at community performances. And students will be able to put themselves forward to be a DSMF Youth Ambassador.
As well as this exciting work, we’ve also been commissioned by Glasgow City Council to bring the Tie It Up Theatre Scottish production of ‘I Love You Mum’ to all their schools in its autumn tour this year, and alongside ongoing, growing bookings we have a keen interest from other regions, as far as the Highlands and Islands, in developing work in their schools.
We’re really excited to see this work develop, and really looking forward to getting going when Scottish schools are back in August. In the meantime, with Scottish schools already finished – or soon to do so – we wish you all a great summer break!
