The Active Schools Aberdeenshire Leadership Pathway offers children from primary school through to S6 with the opportunity to develop leadership skills, build confidence and learn how to coach sports while being supported by their local Active Schools team member. The pathway has progression however it can be joined at any stage in a young person’s school life, ensuring all young people can benefit.
The first step on the Active Schools Aberdeenshire Leadership Pathway. Play Leaders is a primary school programme typically delivered during the school day that teaches children about being a role model in school, the characteristics of a good leader and how to plan/deliver fun games.
Example of the role of a Play Leader: Leading fun games at lunch time for the P1-P3s.
How to get involved: Delivered within the primary school curriculum on an annual basis, dependent on factors such as local need and school class composition.
Get Ready to Lead builds on the skills developed in Play Leaders and is the first step on the Academy Leadership pathway. The programmes develop leadership skills, builds confidence and teaches the basics of sports coaching. The culmination of the programme will be the delivery of a sports session or event planned by the pupils involved.
This course will run for 6 weeks and will cover areas such as event organisation, competition formats, festival organisation, teamwork and fair play.
Example of the role of a Get Ready to Lead participant: Support the running of a local Netball/Football/Sports festival.
How to get involved: Delivered as a six week extra curricular club and advertised within academies in advance of the block starting, contact local Active Schools team member for more information.
I Can Lead is a Sports Leadership programme designed by the Leadership Skills Foundation. Active Schools Aberdeenshire deliver the programme during the school holidays for S2-S4 pupils across Aberdeenshire. I Can Lead is a great starting point in Sports Leadership for pupils not yet involved or looking to build on previous experience as it teaches the basics of Leadership, Communication, Planning and delivering a sport/physical activity session. All participants of the I Can Lead programme must complete 5 hours of volunteering within their local Active Schools programme after the training to receive the certificate.
Example of the role of an I Can Lead participant: Assist at a primary school multi sports club.
How to get involved: Delivered during the school holidays and advertised within academies in advance of the course starting, contact local Active Schools team member for more information.
This national programme is a key element of SportScotland’s contribution to developing young people as leaders in sport. The Young Ambassadors programme aims to build the leadership skills of young people to encourage their peers to become more engaged in sport. It gives pupils the opportunity to make meaningful and important contributions, as leaders in sport which also reflects their interests and abilities.
Example of the role of a Young Ambassador: Lead a school sports committee, make sports more inclusive within their school, organise a school sports event or awards ceremony.
How to get involved: Two Young Ambassador in Sport roles are available per school each year, advertised within academies in advance of the programme starting, contact local Active Schools team member for more information.
This programme provides young people with the opportunity to undertake regular volunteering within sport and physical activity. With support from their local Active Schools Coordinator, Academy Leaders assist and lead local sports clubs, sessions and events.
Academy Leaders will complete a volunteer induction, receive in-house training and be provided with a PVG Disclosure Check free of charge (PVG only required for over 16s).
Academy Leaders will develop their confidence and skills through consistent delivery of an extra curricular club, gaining valuable skills and volunteering hours towards that can be used to achieve the Saltire Award.
Example of the role of an Academy Leader: Coach a weekly primary/secondary school sports club.
How to get involved: Registration open all year round, contact your local Active Schools team member to find out how to sign up.
All programmes within the Leadership Pathway provide certificates of completion which can be used as evidence of skills gained by being involved.
Sports Leadership develops skills such as confidence, self-esteem, communication, responsibility, accountability and creativity all of which are hugely beneficial in all aspects of life. These certificates can be used in employment/further education applications as evidence of the skills gained through volunteering and sports leadership.
“At UHI Moray, Sports and Fitness department, we are always encouraging students to gain as much experience as possible and an ideal way to do this is by volunteering. The Active Schools Aberdeenshire Leadership Pathway is something we highly recommend for young people to get involved with. As part of all our courses here at UHI Moray, we have built in work placement and volunteering opportunities, which relate to industry specialists. This valuable experience works in conjunction with the courses and qualifications you are working towards and we have a wide range of courses available: https://www.moray.uhi.ac.uk/study-with-us/subjects/sport-and-fitness/.
Being part of the Active Schools Leadership pathway will only enhance you CV and very much support your application onto one of our courses, alongside your qualifications of course”
We encourage all young people involved in the Leadership Pathway to sign up and log their volunteering hours through the Saltire Awards platform. This provides certificates for different levels of volunteering hours completed and is a great way to track and gain recognition for the many hours of volunteering our sports leaders undertake.
Please speak to your local Active Schools team member for support with signing off completed volunteer hours.