A North Lanarkshire secondary school has become the first in Scotland to show what a MITIE commitment it has to delivering a quality vocational educational curriculum for pupils when it signed up to the creation of a groundbreaking construction Skills Centre.

North Lanarkshire Council's Caldervale High School in Airdrie has joined forces with MITIE Group PLC – one of the UK's leading support services groups – to sign a Partnering Agreement that will allow work on the new Skills Centre to get underway.

The new Skills Centre will provide a fantastic facility for the school to teach up to 50 students a year, aged between 14 and 16 years. The students will gain an appreciation of a range of construction trades including: carpentry/joinery, painting and decorating and brick and block-laying. Motherwell College, working in collaboration with Caldervale High School, will provide the tuition for the new SQA Construction Crafts Intermediate 1 course.

Caldervale High's Skills Centre will be the eighth that MITIE has developed as part of their commitment to nurturing the construction skills of young people within local communities. MITIE's funding of the new Skills Centre is supported by its main supplier partners, Wolseley and Akzo-Nobel, who donated some of the construction material free of charge.

MITIE’s role at Caldervale is to convert existing space within the school into a dedicated construction skills centres and provide tools, equipment and personal protective equipment as required. MITIE's employees will also be encouraged to become actively involved by assisting with appropriate parts of the curriculum and acting as individual mentors to those successful students who go on to be employed as apprentices, under the Construction Industry Training Board scheme.

Caldervale High's Head Teacher, Colin Bulloch, said: "We are thrilled to be one of the partners in the first MITIE Skills Centre in Scotland, taking forward this excellent opportunity to enhance the educational opportunities for all our pupils, regardless of abilities or interests. Our pupils are really excited and motivated by the changes that our relationship with MITIE has brought about and I am confident that this will result in raised achievements in the future, which fits directly into our overall vision for education in North Lanarkshire, which is raising achievement for all.

"The link with MITIE will deliver real benefits for our pupils. With access to first-class facilities and professionals from the construction industry, we can provide real building opportunities for our students, which will give them the skills that they can use in the future. This is a great opportunity for Caldervale and I'm sure the Skills Centre will prove to be a great success."

The new MITIE Skills Centre is just the latest example of North Lanarkshire Council's innovative approach to vocational education and providing pupils with access to a diverse and inclusive curriculum. This approach means that pupils now have the option of undertaking certificated vocational courses alongside traditional academic courses, giving them a balanced and comprehensive education that prepares them for working life.

The Caldervale High School/MITIE partnership project marks the first time a business partner has funded the development of a vocational area within a North Lanarkshire school and the benefits of the project will extend well beyond the development of the area in which the courses will be taught. The partnership will also offer work experience opportunities, careers guidance and the possibility of progression into employment.

Michael O'Neill, North Lanarkshire Council's Director of Education, added: "Once again, North Lanarkshire is leading the way in education and setting a path for others to follow, which is just terrific. Education has to work for those who receive it – our pupils – and we have to ensure that we engage with them at all levels and don't just focus on those heading towards academia. And by bringing college lecturers into our schools rather than taking pupils out to colleges, we can deliver these courses within the comprehensive school framework.

"We are working to transform the school experience for our pupils, and there can be no doubt that we are achieving this on a daily basis – Caldervale High's Skills Centre and the partnership with MITIE will make sure that this continues. The Skills Centre focuses on our pupils and allows them to develop to their fullest potential, which is what it's all about."

Pupils from Caldervale High also welcomed the new Skills Centre:

Christopher Easton (13) – "I'm very excited about construction crafts because I want to be a joiner when I'm older."

Stephen Allardyce (13) – "I'm happy because I will really enjoy doing stuff like construction crafts."

Lewis Myler (13) – "I am pleased that I have been chosen to do construction crafts and will benefit from it."

Bill Robson, Managing Director of MITIE Property Services, based in Airdrie commented: "MITIE is committed to creating a series of eight Skills Centres nationally that provide a real opportunity for 14-16 year olds to learn building skills whilst at school. The construction sector in the UK faces major skills shortages and if we want to continue to have a vibrant, professional industry we have to act now to encourage new talent in from schools upwards."