A LEADING businessman has spoken of his desire to give a fresh start to pupils who leave school with few qualifications and little hope of a job or further training.
Jim McColl, the chairman of Clyde Blowers Capital, was speaking at the launch of a £1.5 million new vocational college which he has established for teenagers at risk of dropping out of school.
As reported on Monday, Newlands Junior College, in Glasgow, will provide a tailored vocational education to pupils aged 14 to 16 with a guarantee of an apprenticeship at the end of the two-year course.
The school represents one of the most significant moves away from mainstream state education yet in Scotland because of its unique blend of funding from the public and private sectors.
Already backed by money and offers of apprenticeships from private investors, including Arnold Clark, Scottish Power and the Weir Group, Newlands will also be funded with £500,000 from the Scottish Government over the next five years and the same amount from Glasgow City Council - as long as it demonstrates pupils benefit from being there.
Mr McColl said his own experience of disengagement at school in Glasgow and the belief the current education system was still not suitable for some 20 per cent of pupils had driven him to provide something different.
He said: "I went to a very small primary school where there was seven in the class and you got a lot of attention, but when I moved up to Rutherglen Academy it was a huge shock. It was impersonal and I didn't engage and I couldn't get out of there quick enough and left at 16.
"I was keen on engineering because I was interested in cars and I wanted to learn how to fix them, but it was only after I left school and took on an engineering apprenticeship that I began to engage with education because I felt it was engaging with me through a vocational approach."
Mr McColl said he believed there were still lots of people like him that were not engaging in the academic environment, but had the potential to do very well in life.
"There are not the same opportunities for jobs and training that there were when I was that age and there needs to be another string to the bow of education to help young people along," he added.
Based in a refurbished factory on the former site of Mr McColl's Clyde Union Pumps factory in Cathcart, Newlands is set to open on October 20 with 30 students, aged 14 to 16, from S3 and S4. Another 30 will start in 2015.
Each student will have an individualised timetable and will learn life skills such as motivation and leadership as well as taking part in outdoor learning and Duke of Edinburgh awards.
They will be taught academic and vocational subjects, including engineering, administration, construction and hospitality, with talks ongoing with officials at City of Glasgow College to deliver some courses.
Principal Iain White, formerly the headteacher at Govan High School, said: "We live in a changing world and it's only reasonable that the education system changes to meet the needs of the 21st century.
"One of the bedrocks of the new school curriculum is the whole notion of personalisation and choice to meet the needs and aspirations of the young person. Newlands Junior College is perfect to meet these two aims.
"It will provide exciting opportunities for young people in the south of Glasgow that a few years ago could only be dreamt about."
Mr McColl is one of Scotland's wealthiest businessman. By his late twenties, he had carved out a role turning struggling companies around and bought his first company, Clyde Blowers, for £3m.
He remains the founder, chairman and chief executive of the firm, which employs 5,000 people globally. Earlier this month, Clyde Blowers completed the purchase of the financially-stricken Ferguson Shipbuilder in Port Glasgow.
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