Case Studies

Organisational transformation – Murton Trust

In 2009 Murton Trust for Education and the Environment’s journey changed when they secured 10 years support from Inspiring Scotland.
At the time of investment the organisation had two staff running a 200 acre site. It was home to a 180 acre nature reserve and a 20 acre site that the staff and trustees had the hope of turning into a Social Enterprise Visitor Farm and Tearoom.

There were a small number of young people from one local school and a handful of long term young people that had already left school with no positive destination.

All young people were gaining Rural Skills training and life skills that could not be offered in a classroom environment. The educational programmes being offered were clearly the tip of the iceberg and the potential development in this area was huge.
From 2009 to present the Trust is almost unrecognisable mainly due to the level of investment and longevity of support that Inspiring Scotland offered the Trust.

The Trust has successfully developed the site and is now delivering an excellent educational service to young people in Angus and Dundee.
Murton Trust is now an SQA accredited vocational training centre for young people aged 14:19 who are unable to cope with mainstream academic education; are at risk of leaving school with little or no qualifications and that demonstrate some barrier to learning. The Trust targets those that are at risk of social and employment exclusion as a consequence of little or no school achievement.

The Trust also work in partnership with government organisations to provide a unique, innovative and essential service through work experience placements for the young people in Angus who have left school with no positive destination.

Murton works in partnership with Angus and Dundee Councils, with young people coming to the site from most of the Angus secondary schools including Rossie School Secure Centre and from the Dundee Off-Site Centre.

The Trust offers vocational SQA qualifications to all participating students from Access 3 level to the new National 5 level qualifications and use their nature reserve, farm and tea room as resources to allow hands on learning.

Qualifications which can be achieved include estate skills, fencing, animal handling, animal husbandry, employability skills and personal development awards.

At present at least 100 different students attend Murton each academic year. The students that attend Murton are at a real risk of leaving school with little or no qualifications and as a consequence are at risk of social and employment exclusion and remaining in a cycle of poverty.

By providing their unique service to the local schools, the Trust can ensure that young people are encouraged to be involved in learning valuable life skills and at the same time becoming involved in the community.

Murton Trust is contributing to Closing the Attainment gap through their innovative vocational curriculum and most young people who find school difficult are thriving and achieving SQA qualifications in this alternative learning environment.

Download the full Murton Trust case study