PICTURES: New skills for St Duthus school Dynamic Youth award winners

Pupils from St Duthus Special School in Tain were presented with Dynamic Youth awards last week, after completing a series of work activities to learn new skills.

The awards were the culmination of a five month long programme which has seen the senior pupils work throughout the school term alongside Lochview Croft pupils from Lairg.

Together, they had been attending Lochview Rural Training Centre, weekly on a Friday, as youth development officer Cara Cameron explains.

Ms Cameron said: "As part of the learning experience, we spoke with the Tain Youth Development officer Rob Parkes who is employed by High Life Highland, and due to nature of the weekly visit we decided it would be really nice for the pupils to achieve a Dynamic Youth award.

"The youth awards are all individual and tailored to the goals set by the youths attending. Each youth then worked weekly to achieve the goals they had set. Some had never been on farm before, so a goal would be to become more confident feeding and looking after the animals. For others, it would be about learning about a specific kind of animal."

On completion of the awards scheme the pupils also achieved SCQF accreditation points for SQA.

Lord Lieutenant of Ross & Cromarty, Joanie Whiteford, attended a special ceremony on May 7 to present the children with their award certificates.

Lord Lieutenant Whiteford said: "I was delighted to be invited to present Dynamic Youth awards to pupils at St Duthus School for personal goals achieved whilst attending Loch View training centre. Very well done to you all."

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