Croft Street Hub (CSH) - Midlothian Council: How you knew it worked
This section details the progress and impact of the project, including reviewing evidence against measures of success and consideration of next steps. It also reviews the broader impact of the project, in addition to its original aims, and any unintended consequences.
The Croft Street Hub provide end of term and annual reports that demonstrate impact against different measures of progress, such as attendance, attainment and achievement, and wellbeing scores. Currently the attendance of young people is monitored and tracked in SEEMiS over the academic session by each of the referring schools. The impact of the project is quantitively measured against the young people’s pre and post attendance at the Hub.
The Hub also report to Skills Development Scotland on positive destinations, which are continually monitored to check if they are sustained over time. The Hub staff periodically follow up contact with young people who have left the programme and ensure they are not removed from their roll to provide further support, if necessary, to prevent them falling into a negative destination.
Feedback is gathered from young people, families, and partners to triangulate evidence of impact. Several case studies have been developed as a result of positive outcomes and feedback from stakeholders.
The work of the Croft Street Hub is supporting improvements in the overall health and wellbeing of the young people involved. Through increasing awareness of effective social and emotional competencies, young people are acquiring the skills they need to make positive academic progress and achieve their potential.
Youth voice is also encouraged, supporting Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Young people are increasingly involved in shaping the programme and developing content to support other young people and informing how different spaces could be used within the building. Young people are also encouraged to participate in the champions board for care experienced learners.
The 2024 cohort of young people in S4 missed large amounts of learning within school when they were in S1 due to COVID-19. This developed into a pattern of persistent non-attendance for some of them. However, since being referred to the Croft Street Hub, they have positively maintained their attendance and engagement.
The Croft Street Hub use the ‘Helix management information system’ which provides data on attendance and outcomes. This reflects actions recorded in the young people’s Individual Learning Plans to demonstrate progress. Other data sources used include wellbeing wheels, SQA tracker data and care experienced data. This is complemented by learner and family feedback.
The Croft Street Hub hopes to further develop the music element of the programme and involve young people in the development, to ensure the content reflects their musical interests. The Hub is aiming to introduce short films and video editing into the curriculum to improve young people’s connection into the post-school media world.
