Glasgow's Lochend High School sets up barista classes for pupils

But this isn't your average local coffee shop - it's the Lochend Community High School (LCHS) Coffee Co., staffed by pupils learning real-world barista skills.

Staff at the East End school are able to drop by for carry out coffee in cups bearing the LCHS Coffee Co. logo made by youngsters wearing aprons with the school shield stitched on the front.

The endeavour is part of an ongoing commitment at Lochend to ensure every pupil goes on to a positive destination when they leave school.

After becoming the first secondary in Scotland to have a 100% positive leaver destination record earlier this year, staff are working to ensure the record holds.

And that means coming up with increasingly innovative ways to equip young people for university or the world of world.

Craig McFadzean, the schools employability officer, said: "This might just look like pupils are learning barista skills but actually there's underpinning policy behind everything we do.

"We want to ensure that young people develop their knowledge on work, career and employability opportunities in and out of school.

"Young people have a range of entitlements when they are at school to ensure they develop their skills for work, life and learning.

"For us, everything we do is underpinned by that.

"We are really dedicated to making sure those entitlements are being met and, with us getting the 100% positive leavers destinations earlier this year, that shows we're doing that pretty well.

"In previous years employability was seen as an added on extra but in Lochend we are trying to make sure these employability options are built in to the curriculum and that we are constantly working on new ideas for our young people."

The barista school sees pupils working with experts from the industry to give them insight into what a career in hospitality might be like.

Recently they've benefited from meeting a butler who has travelled the world and worked for celebrities - and have also had a Muller cow in the building, which they got to milk.

Craig is quick to point out the cow was plastic - but life-sized and a fully functioning model.

He added: "It opens their career aspirations but is also about learning skills for work and life, and getting them to expand their networks.

"It's good to bring people in from industry as networks and connections that help you go forward.

"These companies will not only train our young people but then become advocates for them."

Construction is also offered as an option, as is hair and beauty and social services children and young people.

The course give pupils the chance to earn an SQA qualification at level four and level five under the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.

Funding comes from the Pupil Equity Fund, a pot of cash schools can direct in any way that helps boost equality for pupils.

Craig added: "Each one of these courses is really special because if a young person completes one and is successful in it, they are guaranteed a positive post-school destination.

"The employers and the training providers we work with guarantee them a place on employability programmes after school.

"Within each one of those courses we are working with different employers and training providers who are bringing in their knowledge and expertise."

Courses are carefully chosen by Craig and his colleagues with input from pupils.

They look at previous years' pupil aspirations to work out what young people are interested in and also assess the labour market, working with Skills Development Scotland, to see where the jobs are going to be in the future.

One of the most successful partnerships is with Marks and Spencer, which takes pupils on for work experience at the Glasgow Fort branch.

Of 34 teenagers who have taken part, 24 have been given part time jobs in the store after impressing management with their work ethic and attitude, which Craig says is helped by extensive prep work in school beforehand.

Craig said: "We also are really keen to make sure we're not just bolting on this programme but embedding it in the curriculum, so we will have employers coming in to science who are promoting careers in science.

"Every first year has been through a programme with engineers and cyber security experts to try and make sure employers are really impacting on learning and teaching.

"We want to start as early as possible, rather than a pupil getting to sixth year and deciding they want to be an engineer but not knowing they needed a science.

"We're really trying to make sure learning and teaching isn't about qualifications but where the qualification can take you."

Lochend has an alternative education programme that has been successful in getting young people who have disengaged from lessons back in to learning.

The scheme is individually tailored to the young person and about what they are interested in.

Craig added: "Not a single one of those young people who went on to that programme have become a negative statistic.

"Rather than just not attending, we're building something that suits them and will ultimately help them succeed in the future."

The school also has a job mentoring scheme and a new programme with Strathclyde University that sees young people who want to go on to higher education mentored through fifth and sixth year and on to first year of uni.

Craig says the support from the school's head teacher, David McArthur, who took over Lochend in 2016, is really vital in helping he and the employability team make changes.

He said: "Some people say things and they don't mean it, but David really does put his money where his mouth is.

"We go to him with ideas and he and the depute head teacher really get on board with it.

"They are really brave. They change timetables.

"We have added in a lot more practical qualifications that are what young people want to do and there has been no hesitation about that."

When head teacher David arrived at the school five years ago the positive leaver destination figures were at 83% but have risen since Craig came in to post to 100%.

He added: "We're not resting on that, though.

"There is still work to be done.

"We want more young people to attain more qualifications and have real experience of things they are interested in, so we're trying to embed something quite special here to do that."