The Catherine McEwan Foundation Scholarship
All in for education
The Catherine McEwan Foundation Scholarship is an exciting opportunity for young people living with Crohn’s or Colitis and who are in or approaching the senior phase of high school. The scholarship provides fully-funded access to the highest quality revision and educational support from Saturday School, helping them to maximise their learning and success in SQA courses.
The scholarship is offered through a unique and innovative collaboration between The Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, Saturday School Ltd - Scotland’s premier tutoring school - and of course, The Catherine McEwan Foundation.
Being diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) can have a huge impact on young people and in particular, their education. They can often miss out on learning and development opportunities at school due to low attendance or inability to fully concentrate for the entirety of the school day.
The Catherine McEwan Foundation Scholarship is providing a solution for those young people who are affected at such a crucial stage in their life.
"I was apprehensive about Saturday School as I had never done anything like it before, however it was a very relaxed environment with small classes which meant I really could get one-to-one help on things I struggled with. All the tutors were lovely and the students were friendly to me. I missed a lot of school due to being unwell, but I truly think going to Saturday School made a massive difference in understanding the work I was being taught and ultimately will help my grades."
Amelia, CMF Scholar, 2020
“Having missed a lot of school through illness, Amelia was struggling with Maths and Chemistry. After just one session at Saturday School, she jumped from 23% to 70% in her test scores!
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Having been predicted for a D grade – based on her Maths prelim – she has now been placed in the top set class for Higher Maths next year, this is all thanks to the scholarship.”
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Lucy, Amelia's mum
“I have been truly inspired by how these incredible young people have embraced this scholarship opportunity, making outstanding progress in their learning and development, restoring and consolidating their learning with amazing success.”
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Graeme Rough, Director, Saturday School Ltd
Scholarship applications are made via the Catherine McEwan Foundation website and require the learner to complete a web form, providing details of their current education status to the charity. A personal statement is also required from the candidate and their parent or carer. The scholarship team will also seek a reference from the applicant's school and IBD nurse. When an application is received, Saturday School will then engage with the potential new scholar, their parents/carers, and their referees. If selected, these young people will be given enhanced educational support through a series of learning programmes at Saturday School to maximise their chances of success in SQA exams.
The Scholarship is fully funded, offering young people unlimited access to Saturday School’s highly successful and long-standing portfolio of support, including:
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Saturday School Limited (SSL) is Scotland’s premier tutoring school offering lessons, tuition and revision in SQA National 5 and Higher Maths, English, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
SSL is also an SQA Approved Centre and therefore offers full National Qualifications for adults or school-aged learners. All staff at SSL are fully qualified GTCS-registered teachers who offer enhanced support and expert tuition in their respective subjects.
All students are provided with a wealth of learning materials and stationery for each National 5 or Higher class they attend. This applies to all tutoring classes and full qualification courses.
Constant online support is also offered to all of our students, so the support our tutors provide extends well beyond the Saturday morning class.
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"The CMF Scholarship has been one of our most exciting ventures.
As an IBD nurse, I regularly see how IBD can negatively affect our young people, particularly in terms of achieving their full academic potential. Unfortunately, this has a long lasting and significant impact on their opportunities for the future. Our collaboration with SSL has allowed us to offer support to your young people at this crucial stage in their lives and we are delighted to be able to do this. We now have an invaluable resource for our patients which will allow us to make a real difference to our young people with IBD.
I was so impressed when I visited the Saturday School site for the first time. The setup is so informal immediately putting the young scholars at ease. It is clearly run by people who have a vested interest in supporting our young people to be all they can be – values mirrored by both the IBD Team and the CMF.
We are excited to see what the future brings!"
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Vikki Garrick
Specialist / GI Nurse Team Lead