St Ninian’s High School Students Shine at YPI Final with Shared Parenting Scotland

Shared Parenting Scotland was delighted to attend the recent Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) final at St Ninian’s High School in Giffnock, Glasgow, where an outstanding team of young people had chosen to champion our work. YPI organises an annual competition in which a year group of school students compete to win £3000 for their chosen charity. and its cause.

Chief Executive Kevin Kane, and Helpline and Admin Officer, Megan Hutcheon, joined the audience as students Mareod, Francesca, Alisa, Sara, Dariyah and Molly delivered a powerful presentation about Shared Parenting Scotland, and the importance of supporting children and families through separation.

The team had already progressed through two highly competitive earlier rounds, narrowing the field from 70 original participants to the final 9 on the evening.

Their presentation stood out for the quality of their research, teamwork, confident public speaking and for the personal insight and compassion they brought to the topic. One student, spoke openly about her own experience of family separation, the importance of greater understanding and support, particularly within schools and communities, and how her family had benefitted from the support of our organisation.

Shared Parenting Scotland, Chief Executive, Kevin Kane said,

“What made this especially meaningful for us was hearing these young people speak so honestly about their own experiences and why they felt our work matters. Their courage and determination to create greater understanding around family separation and to speak to the benefits of protecting their relationship with both parents was genuinely inspiring. This was the ‘voice of the child’ speaking and we all need to be better at hearing what it’s saying.”

As a thank you for their hard work and commitment, the students were presented with “Friends of Shared Parenting Scotland” certificates on behalf of the charity.

The evening highlighted the incredible passion and social awareness of young people across the school community, with finalists supporting a wide range of important causes. Shared Parenting Scotland would like to congratulate all participants and extend special congratulations to the winning team supporting the Glasgow Women’s Centre.

We would also like to thank everyone involved in making the event possible, including the YPI organisers, teachers, parents and supporters. Most importantly, thank you to the young people whose voices, experiences and commitment to positive change made the evening so memorable.