Leona didn’t attend school - now she’s a national silver medalist

Leona Loftus-Stewart was part of the East Lothian Deaf Bowls Club team that secured the silver medal at this year’s Scotland Deaf Bowls Championship. The achievement capped off an incredible turnaround for the 16-year-old Bridges Project client.

Being part of a sports team competing at a national level would have seemed like a distant dream for Leona only 16 months ago. That was when she was referred to Bridges Project due to health issues and low school attendance.

“I didn’t want to do anything at all. I was also suffering from long Covid, which affected my school attendance,” said Leona.

She ended up disengaging from school completely.

Leona is a young carer for her deaf parents and is also deaf herself. Due to her caring role, she was allocated to Bridges Project’s Young Carers Programme, which is funded by the Triangle Trust.

Leona started working with Young Carers Support Worker Niamh Mitchell, who helped her get back on her educational path. Niamh supported Leona to complete a PlayBack Leaning Academy Life Skills qualification and sign up for a No One Left Behind (NOLB) Agreement. She also helped her successfully complete applications for financial assistance.

Building a relationship with Niamh slowly built up Leona’s confidence.

“When I first met Niamh, I hardly had any confidence and wasn’t keen on getting involved in anything. But after a few months, I joined some groups at Bridges Project and my confidence just shot up. My mental health is also so much better,” she said.

Niamh says she has also seen a ‘massive change’ in Leona since they started working together.

“It is great to see her grow in confidence and that she is happy to attend things. She is progressing so well in working on her qualifications and has even started thinking about potentially starting college in the future. That would have been unthinkable for her when I first met her. It is great that she has found a nice alternative to school,” she said.

Having improved her overall situation significantly, Leona was motivated to try something new. At the beginning of 2024, she decided to take up bowls. She joined East Lothian Deaf Bowls Club and, at 15, she became the club’s youngest ever member.

“Some friends persuaded me to join and I haven’t looked back since!” said the former Preston Lodge high School pupil.

Joining the deaf bowls community gave Leona a new sense of purpose.

“It has allowed me to socialise with other deaf people and I have experienced many new things through bowls,” she said.

It didn’t take long for Leona’s bowls career to take off as her team entered the Scotland Deaf Bowls Championship only a few months after she started playing. Again she was one of the youngest people ever to compete in the tournament.

East Lothian Deaf Bowls Club was up against Aberdeen in the final. Unfortunately, the margins were not on their side.

“We played well in the beginning but the weather got quite bad and turned it into a mixed roulette. It really affected the game,” Leona said.

Despite losing the game, the Prestonpans teenager is very pleased with her silver medal.

“It felt like a huge achievement for me, especially since it’s my first year of playing bowls,” said Leona.

Leona is now working towards her Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze Award as well as on her NOLB Agreement. She hopes to soon move on to college or an apprenticeship and – someday – potentially the Scotland Deaf Bowls National Team!

Like a proper sports person, she just says:

“I will just take every day as it comes!”