Support for inner-city school wins Design Links top prize

A Scottish design consultancy scooped the prize for Small Company of the Year at this week’s Scottish Business in the Community Awards.

Design Links, which employs ten people, received the prize – which rewards businesses that have had a positive social impact – for the support it has given an Edinburgh secondary school, Craigroyston Community High School.

Once described as ‘the worst-performing school in Scotland’, the school has worked with the design consultancy to present a better image of itself to parents and the local community.

The consultancy helped the school showcase the talents of its pupils by creating podcasts for its website, taking pupils into its studio on work placement schemes and creating a series of newsletters highlighting that the school was moving forward, says Design Links managing director Mike Stevenson.

Design Links will be developing a brand for the school when it moves into a new building next year. It is actively seeking pupil participation in decisions about interior design.