Pupil Support Staff Learning Programme
March 2023-Present
Funding from The Promise Partnership’s Keep The Promise Fund is providing us with the opportunity to deliver an exciting new project over the next two years.
We plan to develop and deliver a support and learning programme for pupil support staff using a co-production model – sounds easy, but we know it will take a lot of hard work!
The project will build on the experience, expertise and passion of Children in Scotland and Enquire staff, children and young people with lived experience, and pupil support staff across the country.
It will bring together several strands of work we’ve been involved in over recent years – meaningful participation, engagement and co-production, our contribution to the Independent Care Review, and providing pupil support staff with learning and development opportunities.
The programme itself will be created using a truly collaborative and co-design approach with Children in Scotland staff and two working groups, that will remain involved throughout the project. One group will include children and young people with care experience and the other will include pupil support staff. The groups will work separately and together designing the programme, potentially delivering it, and updating and adapting it in light of feedback or changes.

The project will have three distinct phases:
- Creation of project identity and systems (March - June 2023)
- Exploration: Discover, Define and Develop (July 2023 - October 2024)
- Delivery: including evaluation and review (November 2024 - June 2025).
The Children in Scotland team is made up of:
- Sophie Elliott, Policy, Projects and Participation Officer
- Simon Massey, Head of Development & Engagement
- Abbey Stone, Assistant Policy, Projects and Participation Officer
- Lizz Toomey, Senior Learning & Events Officer
You can email ThePromise@childreninscotland.org.uk if you have any queries about the project.

Report: What pupil support staff said
Read what pupil support staff told Children in Scotland over the course of the learning programme
Read the report
Blog: What pupil support staff said
Sophie Elliott on why Scotland must support the workforce to Keep The Promise
Read the blogOur Strategic Plan 2023-2028
Read our plan which sets out what we aspire to do in the next five years
Click here to access

Corra: The Promise Partnership
Funding and support to organisations and collaborations to #KeepThePromise
Click here for more
Our Manifesto for 2021-26
Our Manifesto outlines key suggested changes in policy and legislation - it contains 10 themes and 33 calls
Click here to access