Bo’ness Academy is a mid-sized, non-denominational school in the central belt of Scotland. We have a school roll of around 850 pupils and serve Bo’ness and its surrounding villages.

Pupils study six subjects in S4, and five subjects and a Wider Achievement Opportunity in S5. In S6, they can take up a range of opportunities, depending on the individual’s requirements.
The majority of Advanced Higher subjects are offered on consortia arrangements. We also provide numerous extra-curricular activities and opportunities for our young people.
Raising SCQF awareness
Bo’ness Academy took part in SCQF training with Donnie Wood in 2022. Since then, we have worked on embedding Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) into our school culture and began our SCQF journey.
We officially joined the SCQF Ambassador programme in 2024 and achieved our silver SCQF Ambassador Award that same year.
We have 12 SCQF Ambassadors from year groups ranging from S2 to S6. Their role is to promote the SCQF and the variety of qualifications and experiences that we have on offer at Bo’ness Academy.
They will take responsibility for training future Ambassadors to progress the programme going forward.
The Ambassador training took place in September 2024. Our Ambassadors had the opportunity to learn all about the SCQF. They then distributed roles to raise awareness within the school community.
Our plan
The initial plan included:
- Raising pupil awareness by creating videos to share during class, creating an X page and regularly updating our blog
- Increasing parental awareness by having a stall at the careers fair and parents’ evenings, and sharing our blog on X
- Collating curriculum pathways from each department and sharing the experiences on offer by conducting staff and pupil interviews
- Raising staff awareness by conducting informative talks during meetings and contributing to the DYW newsletter
- Engaging staff in the SCQF through questionnaires and reflective exercises
- Embedding SCQF levels language throughout the school by including it in course choices.
Pathways
Bo’ness Academy has had a variety of qualifications available for several years, however, our primary aim was to promote the SCQF levels language within the school.

We also wanted to ensure pupils, parents/carers and staff had a clear understanding of learner pathways and the opportunities available.
Since introducing the programme, we have been enhancing the capacity of staff, students, and parents/carers to understand how the SCQF and a wider range of qualifications can be transformative.
This shift in mind-set has led to the introduction of additional qualifications at SCQF levels 5 and 6, such as the Volunteering and Leadership Awards, CREST Award and STEM Leaders Award, as well as Barista Skills, Level 5 NPA Photography and many more.
Additionally, many students are pursuing NCs, Foundation Apprenticeships, HNCs and Apprenticeships, in partnership with Forth Valley College.
At the core of our School Improvement Plan (in-line with How Good Is Our School 4th edition) is:
- A focus on improving progression pathways to meet the needs of all learners
- To optimise opportunities for attainment
- For all curricular areas to implement and review their SCQF progression pathways plan.
The benefits of changing our curriculum
Every year at Bo’ness Academy, our curriculum is changing and adapting to our pupil needs to ensure we are getting it right for every child.
This year, we have introduced levels 5 and 6 Leadership and Volunteering Awards to all S6s to ensure they have a positive and transformative leadership role during their final year at school.
Through this qualification, seniors have led clubs, fundraising initiatives, study support sessions and teaching sessions within the secondary school and local primary schools. This has significantly improved their confidence and communication skills.
We introduced our Level 4 and 5 Preparation for Employment and National 4 Rural Skills Awards this year which are greatly supporting some of our young people in gaining invaluable life skills.
Our pupils now have the opportunity to progress from a level 5 to a level 7 in art and design, and student feedback has been hugely positive.
Additional wider achievement opportunities include:
- CREST Award
- Young STEM Leader
- John Muir Award
- Duke of Edinburgh
- Youth Philanthropy Initiative
- Dynamic Youth Award
- Saltire Award.
Our staff are keen to provide as many fantastic opportunities to our young people as possible and always willing to adapt to suit changing requirements and needs.

Promoting the SCQF
We have developed a variety of innovative ways to promote the SCQF and its benefits to our school and the wider community, including:
- Ambassadors created several promotional videos detailing what the SCQF is and its benefits, as well as how to access the website and utilise it effectively. These videos were shown whole-school during SCQF Week and subsequent videos were shown during PSE lessons in Careers Week
- We have developed a blog that is shared to pupils and parents/carers through our X account, as well as in our termly DYW newsletter
- Creating a display board in the school hub space so that pupils are reminded of the SCQF during their break and lunchtime
- Ambassadors volunteered their time to talk to pupils, parents and carers and distribute SCQF resources at their stall during parents’ evenings and the careers fair
- Conducting interviews with staff and pupils, which have been shared on the blog, about the variety of qualifications on offer and their benefits
- Each faculty has compiled a list of their qualifications and learner pathways at each level and our course choice documentation has embedded levels language. These have been shared on our blogs and to parents/carers
- Ambassadors have been speaking to their peers about the qualifications in the run up to course choice.
- We have a page on our school website about the SCQF and our progress
- Our SCQF lead and DYW depute head have attended various SCQF training sessions to enhance our understanding and provide additional support to the school community.
Next steps
Going forward, we have made plans to collaborate with another high school in the local authority for Ambassadors to work together to create engaging promotional resources and Ambassador training materials.
We also plan to collaborate with the pupils sitting National 4 Rural Skills to plant the seeds that we received from the SCQF after achieving our Silver Award. We will plant them in our garden space alongside our SCQF plaque to showcase how deeply the SCQF is embedded within our school community.
Going for gold
To achieve our Gold SCQF Award, we will:
- Continue to promote the SCQF through more innovative approaches developed by our ambassadors
- Collaborate with Braes High School Ambassadors to create promotional and training resources to be utilised within the local authority
- Work with other schools outwith the authority who have achieved Gold and support other schools on their SCQF journey
- Build more external relationships and provide further opportunities for pupils to gain qualifications with external bodies
- Continue to develop interdisciplinary activities
- Enhance an ethos in which alternative curricular pathways are welcomed and encouraged.
SCQF Ambassadors
Our Ambassadors were selected by their teachers and members of senior management as recognition for their commitment to their education and the school community.
Senior Ambassadors gain a Level 6 leadership award for their efforts and all Ambassadors acquire Saltire Voluntary Hours for their commitment to the role.
One Ambassador said:
“I always felt there was something wrong with me until I was introduced to the NPA 5 photography, level 5 volunteering, level 6 leadership, NPA 6 Professional Theatre and NPA 6 Criminology Course at college. These qualifications were more suited to my learning style and allowed me to achieve. Until I took on this role I didn’t fully understand what ‘levels’ and ‘NPAs’ meant or why they were so important, but I’m so glad that I did because they are the best thing that happened to my educational journey.“
Former pupil Amy said:
I decided to take the Level 5 Barista Skills for Work qualification, which is at the same level as a National 5. The most important skill I learned was problem-solving because, no matter how much we planned for an event, something always came up and we had to learn to think on our feet. All the skills I learned are used daily in what I do now, which is working in customer service at a 4-star hotel. The Barista qualification solidified my ideas of what I wanted to do after school, which was to work at a high-service establishment. I don’t think I would have been considered for the position if I had not done my Barista training.