Programmes

Barnardo’s Works Tayside uses a person-centred, trauma-informed, and tailored approach to supporting young people on their journey into employment.

Employability4All (E4A)

Employability support for young people aged 20-24 and young parents aged 16-24, living in Angus, seeking support to progress towards employment.  Support includes confidence building; exploring options/career planning; skills, training, work experience and qualifications; CV/interview skills; job search and application support.

Discovering Your Potential (DYP)

DYP supports care experienced young people for up to a year to build their resilience and confidence, progress towards and sustain further education, jobs, or apprenticeships. Each young person is allocated a key worker who will provide ongoing support and signpost for specialist intervention as required.

Explore & B’Leave (E&B) – Currently no places available (As of October 2025)

E&B focuses on supporting young people aged 15-18 to make the transition from school to post-school activity, working on areas such as confidence building, mental health and wellbeing plus  vocational activity, e.g. CV building, career mapping and college/employer visits.

SACO – Scottish Academy for Construction Opportunities

Funded by Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), SACO supports young people aged 16-29 to prepare for and access job opportunities within the construction sector.  Support includes funding to obtain a CSCS card and other accredited training, work experience placements to allow young people to gain real life experience in the construction sector and make employer connections, site visits, CV/job search/interview skills and support to progress into job and MA opportunities.  Once in post, in-work support is provided for 6 months, and our mentors can provide support and guidance in a variety of areas, including: Dealing with Work Situations, Budgeting, Health & Wellbeing, negotiating reasonable adjustments with your employer, etc.

Barnardo’s RISE – Resilience, Inclusion and Support for Education – will support Children and Young People (CYP) aged 11-16 years (and their families) living in Angus, during key transition points (Primary to Secondary School and Preparation for Adulthood, post-school) who are unable to attend school regularly due to family circumstances, health, trauma, poverty, anxiety, or difficulty with social situations at school. We will specifically target CYP with Additional Support Needs (ASN – Diagnosed/Undiagnosed) and Care Experienced Young People (CEYP)

Project Delivery

Our work will primarily be with CYP; however, experience has shown the benefits of Whole Family Support and the inclusion of parents/carers to promote strategies that support regular and sustained school attendance, whilst also providing early intervention to respond to the needs of families who are struggling/in crisis.

We will:

• Identify the underlying barriers to school attendance.
• Support CYP with the transition from Primary to Secondary School.
• Develop CYP’s self-confidence; esteem; resilience; emotional regulation and personal skills needed to ensure school is a positive experience.
• Help parents implement strategies to ensure the CYP are able to attend school.
• Connect CYP to Skills Development Scotland/Developing the Young Workforce interventions.
• Promote lasting change to school attendance which should in turn, promote attainment and positive outcomes from the learning experience.

Our approach is transformative, maximising existing resources by collaborating with Whole Family Wellbeing Fund (WFWF) partners such as Relationship Scotland (Family Mediation/Play Therapy) and other key partners including Penumbra (Mental Health Support), ensuring the wider complex needs of the family are met. CYP/families will receive the support they need through a flexible and responsive delivery model.

We will also work closely with colleagues across education to ensure we are adding value and avoiding duplication, to ensure support is targeted in the most effective way.

• Locations: Support offered in homes, schools and community venues.
• Times:  Flexible delivery to accommodate family commitments.
• Interventions: 1:1/group/family sessions, therapeutic activities, accompanying CYP/families to appointments, connecting CYP/families with their communities, establishing routines and boundaries and signposting to other support as required; including WFWF funded projects and projects such as Welfare Rights, Citizens Advice Bureau, Housing Support and Angus Carers Centre.
• Length of support: 12-16 weeks ensuring support also remains over critical summer period. Timescales can be extended if required to assist CYP to settle into new school term.

Download a referral form below in the documents section.