Kibble has Forest View Primary School and senior phase provisions, Goudie Academy and Mirin Academy as well as The Skills Academy, an education and training centre for young workforce development. All were evaluated by Education Scotland with the final inspection report praising us as ‘very good’ across all quality indicators.
Our supportive education programme follows Curriculum for Excellence and delivers an engaging learning experience, inspiring pupils to learn, fulfil potential and achieve.
The positive report by Education Scotland highlighted the fact our pupils felt happy and settled. Young people were highly motivated to engage with school activities and able to make choices during their learning. Overall, the broad and balanced curriculum centres around the needs, interests and aspirations of young people.
Our staff team take a practical and more innovative approach to learning, personal lesson plans are developed alongside bespoke programmes. By listening to young people and acting on their needs, opinions and future goals, meaningful relationships are built. This genuine commitment from staff has meant children and young people are surrounded by supportive adults who they trust. The unconditional encouragement has led young people to increase self-confidence, self-esteem and attainment with most of our students moving into education, training or employment. For young people to overcome barriers to learning and progress is a significant milestone, one they can be extremely proud of.
The report confirms Kibble’s staff team go above and beyond for young people from organising fun, practical and creative learning experiences to ensuring pupils have the resources to excel in numeracy and maths. Pupils have the opportunity to move forward with projects they themselves believe in, such as Goudie Academy pupils focusing on the environment and climate change and achieving the Eco Schools Green Flag award.
This past year has had many memorable moments including an end of year summer festival, an Oscars-inspired awards ceremony, sailing voyages, a pantomime performance and more. The future is exciting as we plan to build on the positive feedback and continue to empower young people through education, care and support.
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Kibble’s education and training centre, The Skills Academy held a careers event for young people to meet with key employers and discuss potential future careers.
The careers event was an opportunity for young people to discover different organisations and learn about the subjects, skills and qualities employers look for. As young people thought about their future, the prospect of working within a thriving business and earning provided motivation.
All companies explained there are a wide range of job roles and careers available that many outside their specific sector may not be aware of. For example, Morrisons Construction require those qualified in a specific trade, graduates, and administrative team members. Dogs Trust shared they have over 365 job roles available across several locations and multiple departments with job vacancies ranging from Receptionist to Dog School Coach.
The team at The Skills Academy provide a highly supportive learning environment with a varied curriculum, practical lessons and work placements as well as fun, engaging experiences including financial planning workshops and careers events. By meeting with employers, young people were able to learn about local organisations and their recruitment processes, inspiring young people to think carefully about the career opportunities available to them.
The Skills Academy is dedicated to educating students with employability and life skills, supporting young people to thrive in their own home and lead happy and healthy lifestyles.
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We have been named Scotland’s Best Charity Employer at S1Jobs.com’s national awards ceremony.
As one of the UK’s most established charities, Kibble supports children and young people aged 5-26 who have experienced trauma or adversity in their lives through residential children’s houses, fostering, wellbeing services, community support, primary and secondary education and more.
We were finalists across several categories including Best Charity Employer, Best Early Careers Employer, Best Learning and Development Initiative and Best HR Team. It was with great pride we received Best Charity Employer and were honoured to be amongst great fellow organisations including Quarriers and Man On! Inverclyde.
Chief Executive Officer of Kibble, Jim Gillespie said: “This is welcome recognition for the charity’s efforts to continuously develop internal career paths.
“We really want to make working at Kibble a career, not just a job. There’s a subtle difference between the two but the services we deliver require that distinction.
“You need compassion, commitment, patience and understanding to help children and young people reach their potential, and over the years we’ve been on a continuous journey to help our staff develop, retain and enhance those skills. It is our specialist staff team who bring Kibble’s services to life with our dedicated workforce of over 700 employees caring for more than 170 young people throughout the year.
“With that in mind, it was brilliant for the charity to receive this recognition from S1 Jobs, especially in the face of such worthy competition. I want to thank all our staff for the incredible effort they put in day in, day out. This award is very well deserved.”
Kibble understands staff are the most important resource and in return for their dedication, provide the workforce with employee benefits that focus on health, wellbeing, learning and development. Each member of staff has access to a free gym membership, physiotherapy, a health cashback scheme and exclusive retail and event discounts as well as childcare savings. The HR and Learning and Development team support training, further study and research opportunities. Overall, Kibble strives to support the organisation in delivering the highest standard of care to young people, helping shape the world children grow up in.
Come along to St Mirren’s SMISA Stadium on Tuesday 25th April between 11am-2pm or 5pm-8pm.
Find out how you can begin a rewarding career at Kibble and the range of roles available, all with learning and development opportunities.
Meet some of the friendly staff team and hear what it is like to work at Kibble, our values and mission as well as the generous staff benefits including childcare savings, gym memberships, exclusive retail and event discounts and more. Drop-in to our jobs fair throughout the day or during the evening session. We will answer the question, why work for Kibble? It is a careers fair you’ll be glad you attended.
Join us in helping give young people a chance at life.
Careers in Child & Youth Care | Senior Practitioner, Service Manager, Operations Manager are some of the career opportunities available.
Careers in Education | Roles include teachers, instructors and more. We have primary and secondary schools as well as our Skills Academy.
Careers in Corporate Services | Providing essential support to the entire organisation from administrative roles to HR, ICT, Communications, Catering, Domestics and more.
Careers in Mental Health Services | Opportunity to join our in-house team of over 20 psychologists and therapists to support young people, families and communities.
Career Start
As well as recruiting qualified staff members for our various departments, we also recruit people wanting to start a rewarding career in Child and Youth Care, even those who have no previous experience or qualifications. Through our Career Start programme, individuals with a drive to make a difference can earn while training to qualify as a Child and Youth Care Worker, upon completion of the 12-month course, an interview for Kibble is guaranteed. Our jobs fair will have further details on Career Start.
If you have questions about starting a rewarding career with Kibble, email: communications@kibble.org.
Posted: April 10, 2023
Young people of Kibble took part in a 5-day workshop with financial education charity, MyBnk. It helped further boost their understanding of how to manage their personal finances and complete SCQF qualifications in Personal Money Management and Independent Living Skills.
MyBnk launched The Money House to deliver fun, interactive and engaging lessons to 16-25-year-olds who may need support with financial literacy. Managing money is an essential life skill, which can help young people sustain independent living in future.
“We are thrilled young people enjoyed themselves while learning at The Money House. There is so much to say about the week. Young people had such humour, patience and compassion and had an interest in talking about everything. It was brilliant to see their willingness to give all the activities a shot, even if they were unsure at first.
“It is clear to see young peoples’ motivation to build incredible, positive futures for themselves.”
Elizabeth Wilson, Lead Trainer at MyBnk’s The Money House Scotland
The sessions were extremely valuable as it expanded young peoples’ knowledge and understanding of banking, budgeting, spotting scams, planning for the future and more.
“The Money House workshop was a full week of activities, sharing of useful information and helped me brush up on my own personal money habits.
“Young people were a total credit to themselves, fully participating in the experience.”
Alicia Eadie, Teacher at Kibble
Photo provided by MyBnk from a separate session, not taken at Kibble.
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A young person of Kibble has shown entrepreneurial spirit and creativity by crafting Kibble’s own edition of Monopoly. The original design becomes version #301 of the iconic boardgame.
Kibble’s Chief Operating Officer, Sinclair has described the Safe Centre edition as ‘brilliant’ and challenged anyone who believes they can win against him to speak up.
Child and Youth Care Worker, Lola agreed the young creator should be proud.
Art Teacher, Dawn is amazed at the thought the young person put into each part of the board to completely personalise it to Kibble.
Time was taken to complete the hand-crafted Monopoly model from start to finish, with close attention being paid to the primary concept. The spots on Kibble’s board include Barra, Islay and Jura along with a visit to a YDance workshop, the swimming pool and gym hall as well as Paisley Gilmour Street Train Station, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverly.
The game pieces were made in Woodwork and research had to be taken into how to make the dice as drilling the holes too deep could affect the weight and rolling of the dice. Moving forward, the next steps are to create the game cards – watch this space!
The innovative blueprint was a great feat that took patience, planning and creativity and is a masterpiece to be proud of. We can’t wait to see it complete with the full handmade game pieces.
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The ‘KOscars’ celebrated the outstanding achievements of pupils within Goudie Academy’s Expressive Arts Department.
Everyone was welcomed to Kibble’s very own Oscars-inspired event to applaud the artistic talents of young people. As well as an awards presentation, there were great performances in-store for the audience. Those in attendance seen for themselves the gifts and talent young people possess from singing to acting, photography and more.
We ushered through into the grand room under a golden balloon arch with Fergus piping us in.
The main entertainment was a band made up of pupils, teachers and guest teachers, they successfully filled the event with live music. They had everyone singing along, and even some dancing, to ABBA’s Dancing Queen and Lewis Capaldi’s Forget You, plus more hits.
A young person introduced our host, Principal Teacher, Sarah, who immediately expressed her immense pride on the work completed by all nominees. She couldn’t wait to showcase the accomplishments from the past year.
The awards presentation involved pupils’ receiving high accolades from their teachers.
Music Teacher, Chris, shared how remarkable one performer was. The pupil had shown such dedication to playing instruments and singing and was participating in after-school clubs including song-writing class and music performance class to further develop their love of music.
One pupil was credited for showing artistic talent that covered a full range of skills – music, photography and art to name a few. The pupil’s creative and innovative skills have led him to completing work experience with an architecture firm.
Principal Teacher, Sarah, gave testament to one of her former pupils, thanking the memorable young person for motivating Sarah and confirming Sarah’s own love of teaching.
The previous pupil graduated from Goudie Academy and has since hosted their own online art lessons. Sarah marvelled at the confidence and dedication that this required.
Another young person received their award and when sitting back down, immediately received a hug from their friend who had come to support them.
We reflected on Kibble’s traditional Christmas panto with the ‘Princess’ receiving an award for their confidence in playing the character beautifully.
Also, we received an insight into who the driving force was behind the panto – a young person who was born to play the key role meant the show had to go on.
During the event, the drama group performed a short trailer for their upcoming play. The acting was incredibly natural and had everyone believing the story was true, we all listened intently to find out what happened next. The actors received a tremendous round of applause with everyone demanding to know when they could watch the full story unfold.
A night at The ‘KOscars’ was a night to rememeber.
Posted: March 28, 2023
It’s important to celebrate happy milestones and 25 years’ service is a great achievement, which Kate, Jeanettie, Trish and Sue have all recently celebrated at Kibble. Thank you to them for sharing their inspirational stories. Read about their career building experience – they may inspire you to join Kibble and start a rewarding career too.
Meet Kate
Kate exemplifies the monumental impact a role in corporate services can have in an organisation that focuses on creating connections, forming friendships and cultivating a sense of belonging. Kate cheerily greets everyone at Kibble and brings a presence everyone enjoys being around.
When reaching 25 years’ service, beloved Domestic Assistant, Kate was celebrated by all with young people gifting her handwritten notes and thoughtful gifts.
“I heard about Kibble through a friend and was delighted to successfully be offered a role that could offer me a work-life balance as I raised my own children.
“Since I started, Kibble has become much bigger and it has been great to see us being able to help more and more young people.
“I take each day as it comes. To me, Kibble is one of the best places to work.”
Meet Jeanettie
Our Head of Finance, Jeanettie originally joined the organisation as a Finance Assistant. Kibble’s support paired with Jeanettie’s tenacity to develop and contribute to the organisation’s ambition to grow and help more young people led her to gain further Accounting qualifications and become a chartered certified accountant (Associations of Chartered Certified), all funded by Kibble.
Jeanettie shared, “When I first started at Kibble there were 200 employees and seven residential houses, now we have over 700 members of staff and support more than 150 young people.”
Throughout her career, Jeanettie has wholeheartedly joined in with the world around her, stepping out from the desk-based role in an effort to be a friendly, familiar face to all across Kibble. From joining an adventurous trip to Mull with young people, experiencing fishing, kayaking and playing rounders on an white sandy beach in Iona to performing on stage for a Kibble talent show and always showing up to events and pantomimes organised by young people. On Christmas morning Jeanettie is known to gift sweets, biscuits and chocolates to houses across Kibble.
“Everyone, every day and every year is different at Kibble. However, the priority remains the same – to build genuine connections and empower young people.
“I am an avid, long-standing ice hockey fan and over the years I have bonded with young people who share the same hobby. Throughout the season, I regularly catch-up with young people who were once part of Kibble and have since moved on but continue to follow the local ice hockey team.”
Jeanettie has played a key role in the growth of Kibble and been involved in huge project developments.
“Working at Kibble we are able to observe tangible benefits, seeing young people grow up and accomplish greatness – the progress can be them developing in confidence to say hello when meeting new people, or to achieving a job they enjoy.
“Kibble’s growth and expansion has been driven forward by our commitment to young people. It is our responsibility within the finance team to spend wisely for young people to get what they need and more. Everything we do is for young people.”
Meet Trish
Learning and Development Advisor, Trish began her Kibble career as a social work student from Cardonald college. For over 13 years, Trish provided care, love and support to young people before excelling in a role mentoring and training others with the ambition to make a difference to the lives of young people. As well as the corporate services role, Trish chooses to spend additional time with young people.
“I feel I haven’t worked a day in my life because I have done what I love – spending time with young people, building relationships and caring for them.
“I have given my all to being the best influence possible, sharing my Equestrian lifestyle with those interested and taking young people to Pony Club. I also join in with any experiences young people want to try and I am known for my acting skills within school shows.”
Trish was helping young people with their drama production when a guest drama instructor from the local college encouraged her to audition for the drama group ran by The Apollo Players Glasgow Musical and Theatrical Production Company. Trish successfully landed a role performing in the Kings Theatre where young people and staff all proudly watched her perform, gifting her flowers.
“Kibble is part of my identity and I would describe Kibble as family to me.
“To work at Kibble is massively rewarding with plenty of good times and laughs to be had”.
Meet Sue
Meet Sue, Kibble’s longest serving staff member with almost 37 tears’ service. First in her family to go to university, Sue began as a student on placement from a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work and was inspired to build a career with residential child care.
“I found at Kibble there was time to develop relationships with young people and make changes. I also enjoyed being part of a close-knit staff team and the camaraderie between us all.”
Sue has experienced Kibble evolving to continually meet the complex needs of children and young people.
“When I first started at Kibble, the focus was primarily education and led by a Headmaster. Over time, Kibble has adapted, recruited based on qualifications and placed great emphasis on training. Kibble is becoming increasingly trauma-informed with over 20 in-house psychologists forming the valuable Specialist Intervention Services (SIS) team.”
The fondest memories of Kibble for Sue include spending time with young people and colleagues she has had the privilege to meet over the years.
“I will always remember the first young person I cared for. There has been brilliant times to reflect upon – going on trips, exploring the West Coast and telling ghost stories while camping.
When an influential manager I had, decided to retire, he surprised me by thanking me in his speech. He expressed how grateful he was of my patience and input.”
Sue’s role is now within Learning and Development, helping with Kibble’s training programme and supporting those with life experience to become qualified Child and Youth Care Workers. It is a valuable task, which brings Sue joy.
“To see people who have the personality and drive to start a career in youth care and take on the HNC qualification is extremely rewarding. They may initially be nervous about the academic commitment but to encourage and support them to reach the milestone of qualifying is an incredible feat to be part of.”
Sue is one of the forces striving to make the world a better place for children to grow up in.
Begin a Rewarding Career
Join Kate, Jeanettie, Trish and Sue and help give young people a chance at life.
International Women’s Day 2023 is encouraging everyone to #EmbraceEquity. ‘Equity’ has connotations of ‘even’, ‘fair’ and ‘equal’. However, more so, ‘Equity’ recognises each individual has their own set of circumstances, and allocates the tailored resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. The term fully promotes inclusivity.
As Kibble values belonging and has the ambition for all to be included in forming lasting connections, we understand the importance of equity. It is our hope for all to feel safe, supported and empowered to fulfil potential.
Three women who lead by example in creating an inclusive environment at Kibble have shared their words of wisdom in the hope of motivating everyone to continually move forwards and look ahead optimistically.
Be brave, be bold and push yourself out of your comfort zone at every opportunity.
Jackie Blair, Head of Education
Natalie Connell, Acting Head of Operations, expressed her understanding of challenges and offered words of strength, “Life can be difficult and no one is perfect. Remember, it is ok to make mistakes. Life is about taking tiny steps and progressing slowly towards your goals. You may be struggling today, however, your struggles do not define you as a person.
“Hold onto hope, take one step at a time and embrace the support around you. Things will get better and easier.”
Melissa Isaac, Service Manager, provided inspirational encouragement, “Always have faith in yourself and push yourself out of your comfort zone to learn and achieve more. Whenever you fail, dust yourself off and try again.”
Karen Kerr, HR Manager, shared, “Go for what you want in life, don’t be afraid to dream big and be passionate about what you love. Life is what you make of it and whatever path you decide is right for you in life will be the right one – and remember to have fun along the way. You only live once!”
We encourage you to always remember these words of wisdom.
Melissa Isaac, Service Manager; Natalie Connell, Acting Head of Operations and Jackie Blair, Head of Education
Posted: March 6, 2023
From Italian fine dining to hearty home cooked favourites, each month our school holds a Supper Club to delight the taste buds of young people across Kibble.
The Kibble café has been set up to welcome avid diners after school, with the menu being chosen each month by young people. As well as choosing the menu, young people are also encouraged to dust off their aprons and roll up their sleeves to help prepare and cook the meal alongside Carol. To date, Supper Club guests have enjoyed Chicken Milanese, hearty carrot and coriander soup and home-made brownies with cream and fresh raspberries. It’s an opportunity for young people to get creative and cook their favourite meals, which could be anything from good old mince n’ tatties, curries or pizza.
Of course, the Supper Club is much more than the food – it’s a chance to get together after school with friends, listen to music and chat around the table.
