We Care @ D&A

Ensuring you have the best possible experience at college is really important to us. We Care @ D&A works with partner organisations in Angus and Dundee to ensure appropriate support is available to you.

Our partner organisations include Angus Council Through Care and After Care Team, Angus Carers Centre, Carolina House Trust Care Experienced Young People’s Project, Dundee Carers Centre and Dundee City Council’s Through Care and After Care Team.

We Care @ D&A will also allow you to access a community of carers and care experienced students and staff for advice and support, as well as regularly providing opportunities to give us feedback on what else we can do in partnership with you. This is all part and parcel of us being a Care Experienced and Carer Positive organisation and you can find out more before you start college by contacting wecare@dundeeandangus.ac.uk

Looked after Children, Care experienced students and Care Leavers

Dundee and Angus College are proud corporate parents and want to fully support you to get the best experience at college.

The Student Services team has six designated staff who will be happy to help you with any aspect of coming to college. If you are still at school please contact either Hazel Coutts or Celeste Robinson.

Hazel and Celeste work closely with schools, residential settings and social workers so they can attend any school or Looked After Children’s meeting so you can find out what is available for you and plan for college.

If you have left school and are not sure of the course or campus you are interested in attending, then please contact Sarah Thom in the first instance. If you know the campus you want to attend, then please contact the relevant Student Services Team Leader at that campus who will arrange to meet with you.

On your course application and online registration form we ask if you are care experienced. Ticking the box to tell us you are allows the Student Services Team to contact you and offer support and answer any queries you have.

Some of the areas we can help you with are:

• Course options to suit you such as full-time, part-time, leisure
• Support with completing an online course application
• Support with applying for your college funding
• Prioritising your funding application so you get an answer quickly
• Help to organise childcare
• Help to settle in to your course and get to know your campus
• Advice on progression routes to other courses, university and work
• Designated staff for ongoing guidance and support throughout your time at college
• Ongoing support with any support needs you may have
• Providing you with information on wider activities and groups in the college
• Guidance on job searches, CV writing and interview skills
• Seeking your feedback about college so we can listen to what is important for you

Carers

It is really important that you can tell us about your caring responsibilities and how we can assist you at college.

If you would like to discuss this further, you can tell us on your online application and registration form and we will contact you to assess what support you may like on your course. Or you can make an appointment to meet with one of our team before you make the decision to come to college; you can do this through any of our campus Advices Centres. We can also arrange to see you at our Learning Centres, if that is easier for you.

If you are a young carer and still at school, Hazel or Celeste can easily arrange to see you in school to save you trying to fit in coming to college for an appointment.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is to promote the welfare of children and adults at risk and protect them from harm.

All college staff working with students under the age of 18 are members of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme. This means that staff have been checked in respect of any previous criminal convictions and are not barred from working with young people.

The health, safety and wellbeing of all our students is very important to the college. We are aware that for our students who are under 16 or between 16-18 years or may be an adult at risk that we have extra responsibilities. These responsibilities are to ensure that you have not only an enjoyable experience at college but that you are able to talk to staff if you have concerns or worries in relation to your own safety and wellbeing. We have staff across all our campuses that can assist you. We will also work closely with other external agencies to help resolve these concerns for you.

Please contact Sarah Thom to discuss any safeguarding concerns.