Summer Newsletter 2025

First Produce Delivery From The Garden To Cafes In The New Van

We’ve been excited to see our brand-new electric van – thanks to the incredible support of the CrossCountry Customer and Communities Improvement Fund – being used to deliver its first few batches of fresh produce grown by our students.
Students have grown and harvested spring onions, lettuce, radishes, beetroot, and more.
At the Upmo eat cafes, the students help prepare tasty, nutritious lunches using the very vegetables grown.
From café produce to handcrafted goods, and even student events, our new van keeps our social enterprises running smoothly, while cutting carbon emissions.
Big thanks to CrossCountry trains and also i.CREATION for the van wrap design and Specialized Signs who applied the wrap.

Craigmount High School Transitions Programme Research Trial

Between May and June, Upmo delivered a 6-week pilot of ‘Upmo Futures’, a new learning programme that will provide practical life skills for high school leavers with additional support needs to successfully transition into employment, volunteering or further education.
This research and analysis trial took place at Craigmount High School in West Edinburgh, where Upmo facilitators Dayna and Charlotte collaborated with pupils, school staff and families to inform the structure and content of the next design phase of the programme.
Pilot activities were well-received by the participating group, with pupils exploring their hopes for the future and confidence-building tips for taking their next steps into adulthood.

The Upmo Abseil Raised A Whopping £2,400!

Thank you so much to every one who donated to our upmo abseil in May.
Not only did you encourage the team to scale down a 100ft building, you have helped us fight rising costs so we can continue providing the quality workshops that our students deserve.
Thank you to The Port of Leith Distillery, Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland and Big Bang Experiences for organising such a fun, memorable fundraising experience.

Upmo Extra Supper Club

Upmo Extra Supper Club is a series of evening workshops giving Upmo students the opportunity to meet new people, cook recipes and bake yummy treats.
Together, the group learned how to make a variety of dishes, from macaroni cheese and soup, to scones and banana loaf. With a fun movie and pizza party generously provided by Pizza Geeks to celebrate at the end.
We hope to announce more exciting Upmo Extra activities later in the year – so stay tuned for updates.

Fisher & Donaldson Fudge Doughnuts

Grab some doughnuts at our Upmo Eat Cafés in Ainslie Park, Drumbrae, and St. Mags!
It’s been a great start, and we’d love to keep this partnership growing — so spread the word and tell your friends to pop by. They’re the perfect match with a coffee from our Forth Roasters blend.

Disability Scottish Olympics Medallists

Congratulations to our students Ian and Rebecca who had great success at the Scotland Learning Disability Sport; National Summer Games in Stirling. Ian won medals with the tenpin bowling and Rebecca brought home three medals — two in doubles and one in singles — in badminton. Great work guys!

Site News

St Margaret’s House

Chris from Curious Seed has been running dance workshops with Razza, while our Upmo Retail group has taken part in several successful markets at Newhailes and along the canal. We also held a special in-house farewell show for project worker Lauren, featuring a Tuesday musical performance. With new students joining, the summer holidays and staff training have made things a little quieter, but we’re looking forward to heading to the Fringe through community ticket initiatives. Coming up, the walking group will launch on 28th August, a seven-week adventure we can’t wait to get started!

Links House

Our creative projects are in full swing across the board! In IT, students are continuing their Creature Creation work on Nomad Sculpt every Monday and Wednesday, while Friday’s multimedia group are developing their own individual animation projects. The VR sessions (Tuesday–Thursday) and Thursday IT classes are diving into Dungeons & Dragons, designing characters and running their own campaigns. Photography has been out and about, visiting Jupiter Artland and various National Trust for Scotland sites in Edinburgh. In Art, students have been exploring a range of projects, including creating a mural for the quiet area at Links House. Meanwhile, in the textile workshop, some are putting the finishing touches on waistcoats while others are starting on colourful finger puppets.

Prestonpans

Gorebridge recently enjoyed being our audience for a lively “From Now On” sign-along dance workshop inspired by The Greatest Showman.
It’s also been a hugely successful planting and growing season, with over 3 kilos of courgettes going to the Upmo Café. Our cooking class has been putting them to good use — even baking a delicious courgette cake — and we were thrilled to harvest our biggest carrot yet, measuring around 3 inches wide! The new multimedia group has been busy creating animations on themes ranging from Still Game to Thomas the Tank Engine and Godzilla & Friends. Using Flipaclip, they’ve been producing student-led cinema premieres complete with storyboarding, sequencing, voiceovers, and subtitles. We’ve also continued our popular beach cleans with the Scottish Seabird Centre, a project that’s going from strength to strength. Despite a period of staff changeover, our students have kept delivering fantastic work.

Gorebridge

The group recently wrapped up their Blair Drummond Safari project and have now embarked on an exciting new topic — World War II. They’ve also been busy making planters, thanks to donated wood from the building site across the road, where new houses are going up. We’d like to thank Eden Building and Lothian Logs for their generous in-kind contributions, and if anyone else would like to donate materials, they’d be very welcome. As part of their activities, the group also enjoyed a fascinating tour of St Leonard’s Police Station, where they explored the cells, interview rooms, and equipment, took fingerprints and photos, and even had a look inside the police vans.