Winning Scotland CEO, Zahra Hedges, was recently invited to speak at the Global Planet Youth Conference in Iceland, which offered her a chance to reflect honestly and openly upon the journey in Scotland so far.

Read her reflections in full here

🚀Do you want to be part of a bold, evidence-based movement to improve the lives of young people across Scotland? 
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Planet Youth is looking for people who can help us take the Icelandic Primary Prevention Model to the next level — and we’re doing things differently. 
Rather than recruiting for fixed roles, we’re issuing an open call. If you believe you have skills, experience or energy to contribute to any aspect of this work, we want to hear from you. ​

🌍 What’s Planet Youth? 
Planet Youth is an international, evidence-based prevention model that supports young people to thrive by reducing risk factors and increasing protective factors in their environment. In Scotland, we’re piloting and scaling this approach — working with local areas, policy makers, communities and parents — to build a culture of prevention, grounded in data and partnership. ​

🧠 What Kind of Skills Might Be Helpful? 
There’s a lot to do — and we know great people don’t always fit into boxes. Some of the skills we’d love to hear from include: 

• Events & Facilitation – supporting national and local learning events, peer networks and community engagement 

• Evaluation & Impact – contributing to our national and local evaluations, or developing frameworks and tools to track progress 

• Data & Insights – translating complex data into visuals and stories that spark change 

• Policy, Communications & Advocacy – building our public narrative and influencing system change 

• Project Management & Operations – keeping us compliant, organised and moving forward 

• Community Engagement – helping to strengthen local coalitions, connect with parents and young people, and support local learning 

• Fundraising & Business Development – helping us secure the resources needed to grow 

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You don’t need to tick all the boxes — or even most of them. If you believe you can add value, we want to hear from you. ​

📝 How to Get Involved 
We’re asking interested individuals to complete a short Expression of Interest form, telling us: 

• Who you are 

• What you can bring 

• What kind of work you’re open to (freelance, part-time, short-term, employed, etc.) 

• When and how you’d be available 

• Anything else you think we should know 
• We are a hybrid organisation and there an expectation we would be working together in person in Glasgow or Edinburgh regularly (equivalent to once or twice a week if it was full -time)
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We’ll review submissions on a rolling basis and be in touch as needs arise — or sooner if there’s a natural fit, with the first tranche of conversations happening after 13th April. 

Please note that at this stage, any opportunities will only be available until the end of March 2026.

Complete the form here​

💡 Why Work With Us? 

• Be part of an ambitious, pioneering movement that’s making a real difference for young people. 
  

• Work alongside a small, committed, and values-led team. 
  

• Shape prevention policy and practice in Scotland and beyond. 
  

• Enjoy flexibility, collaboration, and the chance to do things differently. 
  

 
We’re looking for people who share our values: agile, pioneering, collaborative, upstream-focused, innovative, and committed to young people. If that sounds like you — raise your hand. We’re ready to listen. ​

Winning Scotland is excited to announce a tender opportunity for an evaluation partner to help us assess an innovative AI Tutoring Pilot in Scottish schools.

This pioneering project will explore how AI tutoring tools can improve outcomes for young people, particularly:

• Pupils with additional support needs
• Pupils from areas of disadvantage
•  Pupils unable to attend school due to mental or physical barriers

We’re looking for an experienced evaluation partner to rigorously assess the impact of this initiative on both learners and teachers and help shape the future of AI in education across Scotland.

Key dates:

• Expression of interest by 18 April 2025
• Full tender submission by 16 May 2025

Download the full Invitation to Tender and the Winning Scotland Framework Summary below.

Lornshill Academy in Clackmannanshire, worked with Winning Scotland, implemented a growth mindset approach to address low student motivation and engagement—a challenge faced by many Scottish schools. This initiative aimed to enhance student confidence, resilience, and attainment while equipping educators with effective strategies to foster a positive learning culture.

Below is a video highlights of their journey over the past year.

​If you'd like to learn more about the impact of Mindset in Education click here

Imagine a Scotland where every child thrives - feeling healthy, happy, safe, and poised to reach their full potential. The "Pledge to Prevention" campaign by Planet Youth Scotland invites you to be a catalyst for this vision.

Please join us in making a realistic promise as a professional, parent, or community member that can create a ripple effect for a brighter future for our young people.

​Find out more and make your pledge here.

The Sunday Post talks to Winning Scotland CEO, Zahra Hedges, and Planet Youth Chief Knowledge Officer, Margret Guðmundsdóttir about how Planet Youth can improve the lives of young people in Scotland by harnessing the power of their communities.

Click the image below to read in full.

Third Sector podcast invited Zahra Hedges to join in the discussion on how Winning Scotland confronts the challenge of showing it's effectiveness and impact in a meaningful, compelling, and evaluative manner that aligns with our values.

Listen to the podcast 

Winning Scotland's CEO, Zahra Hedges was invited to discuss the impact of Covid-19 upon pupils in Scottish schools. and colleges. The pandemic has had ongoing effects not only upon academia, but the social skills and resilience of young people throughout the country.

​Footage courtesy of STV

Winning Scotland's More Than Mindset course continues to lead the way in Scottish schools to help embed a culture that:

• Embraces challenge
• Promotes health and wellbeing in teaching staff and pupils
• Future proofs young people's skills
• Improves pupil behaviour, confidence and social skills
  
  

An example of this year's course impact is demonstrated in the video clip below.

The full video and detailed information about the impact of More Than Mindset can be found here

We’re pleased to share our Annual Highlights for the past year with you!

Winning Scotland has continued to forge new partnerships to innovate new ideas, build upon existing collaborations,  research insights, and develop initiatives to help improve the lives of children and young people across Scotland.
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Read the full highlights and watch the video version here

In an exclusive interview with IoD (Institute of Directors), Winning Scotland CEO, Zahra Hedges discusses the organisations core values, mission, and outcomes for the people that we serve across Scotland.

Read the full article here 

We are proud to provide our online Parent/Carer Resource for Parent Club Scotland to support children and teenagers in Scotland in improving their confidence and resilience. There are lots of practical tips and advice that can be embedded in everyday life to build happier and healthier children and teenagers.
 
Children – https://bit.ly/PCChild
Teenagers - https://bit.ly/PCTeens

We are seeking a collaborative partner to refresh our website!
Download the Invitation to Tender below for more details.
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In the past decade, Winning Scotland has helped over 2,500 teachers and early years practitioners in a quarter of Scotland's schools develop a 'growth mindset' culture. Many of these educators have shared their experiences, and their quotes are included in this report to highlight their voices amid recent reviews in Scottish Education.
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Our focus is to explore how growth mindset strategies can improve wellbeing and attainment. This report demonstrates how fostering a growth mindset in classrooms and schools builds resilience, self-efficacy, and self-belief, enhancing wellbeing for both teachers and students.

Read the full report here.
 

As part of Winning Scotland's commitment to supporting and upholding Children's Rights in our country, Together in Scotland put a spotlight on our work and focus on wellbeing, health, and prevention. 

As we continue delivery of Planet Youth in Scotland, the blog piece reflects on the highlights of the first National Learning Event that took place in Glasgow in March 2024. Read more here

Winning Scotland was privileged to have a conversation with one of education's most influential thought leaders. Santiago's inspirational work on liberating learning and its power to change lives is taking education by storm, seeking to understand how powerful learning can spread widely and bring back the joy to learning and teaching.

Below we have highlighted the key messages from Santiago for you to listen to!

If you would like to have a chat with us about Santiago's work or how we can inspire your learning and teaching journey, get in touch.

We're very pleased to announce the expansion of the Planet Youth in Scotland team with two new members!

Tom is our Strategic Development Manager, and Morgan is our National Delivery Manager.

With progress across the country forging ahead, both Tom and Morgan have joined with experience, ideas, and plenty of enthusiasm for improving the lives of young people in Scotland.

Miltonbank Primary School is one of eight primary schools in north Glasgow who have taken part in Winning Scotland’s ‘On Our Marks’ programme.

At the end of the most recent six-week-long programme of working with
Miltonbank, Winning Scotland had an opportunity to speak to two
teachers who took part, to find out how On Our Marks worked for them,
what they had learned, and what they felt could be improved.

Read more about the programme and download the case study here.
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National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Public Health Intervention Responsive Team (PHIRST) funded an external evaluation of our Mindset Teams programme, which was undertaken by researchers from Cardiff University and University of Bristol on behalf of the PHIRST Insight team.
 
We’re so encouraged that the report has found that our programme has made such a positive and insightful impact upon teacher and pupil mindsets, and how they can be changed. There will be further qualitative and quantitative evidence to share soon, but in the meantime you can download the short report and infographic below:

Winning Scotland CEO, Zahra Hedges joined the Charity Impact Podcast to discuss what makes our charity unique and how we plan to create systemic change for young people across Scotland.
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Listen to the full podcast here 

​The Planet Youth team have been visiting the Scottish Parliament to share progress on Planet Youth in Scotland.

Joe FitzPatrick MSP kindly hosted the event with Winning Scotland for MSPs to learn about pilot projects in 13 high schools across five local authorities.  

Winning Scotland and Renfrewshire Council have worked in partnership to engage with 75% of schools in Renfrewshire – delivering mindset in education training to over 300 practitioners.
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Renfrewshire Council were looking for effective approaches to raise attainment in numeracy and reduce the poverty related attainment gap.