Education Scotland’s
Early Years
Matters
Raising the Bar...Transforming Lives through Learning // ISSUE 5 // AUTUMN 2013
Raising the Bar...
Transforming Lives
through Learning
New National Assessment
Resources for Early Years
Working with Families
Journey to the Dragons’ Den
WELCOME
Contents Welcome
A few words from Siân Neil,
Senior Education Officer –
Children and Families
08
Welcome to the latest edition of
Early Years Matters magazine.
02Welcome
Siân Neil, Senior Education Officer:
Children and Families
03Why do the Early Years matter?
Overview from Alastair Delaney,
Strategic Director: Early Years,
Families and Partnerships,
Education Scotland
04National Assessment Resource (NAR)
Raising the Bar: Assessment to
support learning in Early Years
08 Working with Families
Kilwinning Early Years Centre explains
how work with families improves
outcomes for all
10Insight into the Role of the
Homelink Worker
Two Homelink workers from Orkney
describe their work
The last few months have seen
some changes in the Children
and Families team at Education
Scotland. Liz Paterson who has
led the team for the last year is
moving on to new challenges. Our
thanks go to Liz for the significant
contribution she has made through
her leadership of the Children and
Families agenda over the last year
and for the support that she has
provided to the team.
We welcome Joan Mackay as
Assistant Director for Children
and Families. Joan is well known
to the team as, along with other
responsibilities, she has held the
post of Assistant Director, Parental
Involvement within Education
Scotland. Joan will continue to
have strategic responsibility for
Parental Involvement, and we look
forward to working as a wider
Children and Families team.
Our thanks and best wishes also
go to Morag Sutherland who
returns to her substantive post
following her secondment as a
Development Officer with the
Children and Families team.
In common with this year’s Scottish
Learning Festival, this edition of
the magazine focuses on “Raising
the Bar – Transforming Lives
through Learning”. Highlights
from the Learning Festival will be
posted on the Education Scotland
website. We hope that these
presentations, together with the
articles here, showcasing the work
of Early Years’ and Family Learning
settings, inspire you in your work
with children and families!
With best wishes
Siân Neil
Senior Education Officer, Children and
Families
12 Discover Your Child is Amazing
A highly targeted, early intervention,
family literacy and numeracy learning
project in Dundee.
14Our Journey to the Dragons’ Den
and Beyond
Ferguslie Pre-5 Centre braves the
Dragons to support their enterprising
community project
16Noticeboard Updates
News from other agencies
201 3
25-26
2013
The Scottish Learning Festival
Raising the bar in Scotland – Transforming lives through learning
•Over100conference
sessions
•KeynotesfromDrAvis
GlazeandProfAndy
HargreavesandDrPasi
Sahlberg
Throughout the magazine the term “parents” has
been used to mean mothers, fathers, carers,
and others with responsibility for caring for a
child or young person.
2 EARLY YEARS MATTERS | AUTUMN 2013
•Scotland’slargest
educationexhibition
www.scottishlearningfestival.org.uk
Education Scotland
Why do the Early
Years matter?
Alastair Delaney, Strategic Director: Families,
Inclusion and Local Authorities, Education Scotland
Research has shown what many
people have long believed – that our
early years shape the people that we
become and that what we experience
in these years has lifelong impact.
In 2011 “Growing Up in Scotland”, the study of the lives
of children and their families, highlighted significant
gaps of up to 18 months in children’s cognitive abilities
at age 5, between the most advantaged and the most
disadvantaged families in Scotland. This gap persists
throughout education leading to huge differences in the
attainment of qualifications and life opportunities for our
young people. There is therefore no doubt that these
early years matter.
“Greatest impact comes when improvement
strategies are clearly focused on outcomes
for children and families.”
Collaborative working has to be at the heart of evidence
based improvement, and family learning, early learning
and childcare, and schools can make a significant
contribution to this. Embedded approaches to
self-evaluation, using tools such as “Child at the
Centre” (HMIE, 2007), and improvement planning,
can and do make a difference. The Early Years
Collaborative is also supporting improvement
methodology in the sector through tests of change
and the Plan, Do, Study, Act cycle. Of course these
approaches have most impact where they are clearly
focussed on improved outcomes for children and families.
“Assessment needs to support
learning, be an integral part of learning
and teaching, promote children’s
engagement, and ensure appropriate
support for all children.”
As Education Scotland works together with you to
continue to improve the quality of early learning
in Scotland, assessment is an area where both
practitioners and inspection evidence tells us that there
is scope to do better. To support this we have recently
published several new early learning exemplars
on the National Assessment Resource (NAR). We
know that assessment should follow the principles
set out in “Building the Curriculum 5: A framework
for assessment” (Scottish Government, 2011) by
supporting learning, being an integral part of learning
and teaching, promoting children’s engagement, and
ensuring appropriate support for all children. The NAR
projects provide practical examples of how these
principles can be embedded in practice in a variety of
early learning and childcare settings across the private,
voluntary and public sectors. Look out for the article on
this later in this edition of the magazine.
“By making a difference in the early years,
we can make a difference for life.”
As the sector prepares for the implementation of the
Children and Young People Bill and the extension of
an entitlement to early learning and care for our most
vulnerable 2 year olds, the multi-media resource “PreBirth to Three: Improving Outcomes for Scotland’s
Children and Families” (Learning and Teaching
Scotland, 2010) continues to provide practitioners with
an easily accessible insight into how they can best
support our youngest children. We continue to build on
this resource and will be publishing additional support
materials for those working with under threes over the
course of the next year.
It is vital that all of us working with Scotland’s youngest
children and their families recognise the potential
impact and importance of our work on children’s lives.
By making a difference in the early years, we can
make a difference for life.
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/
earlyyears/prebirthtothree/index.asp
03
NAtional assessment resource (NAR)
Raising the Bar
Assessment to support learning
in the Early Years
From February to June 2013, Education
Scotland funded a number of projects
aimed at identifying, capturing and
sharing, interesting and effective
practice in assessment in a range of
pre-school centres, including both
local authority and partner providers
from the private and voluntary sectors.
In addition to building the capacity of
practitioners in these establishments,
the projects have further enriched
the exemplification of Early Years
assessment practice available on the
National Assessment Resource (NAR):
www.narscotland.org.uk.
Project Snapshots
Peek-a-boo Nursery,
City of Edinburgh
Peek-a-boo is a free-standing partner provider nursery
in North Edinburgh for children aged 0-5 years with
a roll of 70 children. The setting has strong links with
a range of outside agencies and the community. The
main focus of their project was on developing dialogue
with learners in the process of planning, developing
and evaluating learning experiences. These included
developing approaches to: questioning, building on
learner responses, personalisation and choice and
self and peer assessment.
“Assessment is an integral part of learning
and teaching; assessment approaches
need to promote learner engagement.”
In order to capture learner interest, staff secretly dug
a large hole in the nursery front garden and filled it
with an enormous spray-painted rock. This stimulating
starting point sparked the children’s thinking –
4 EARLY YEARS MATTERS | AUTUMN 2013
particularly when they arrived at their nursery to find
the street cordoned off, South Queensferry police cars
with their sirens blazing, and reports of a large red
ball flying across the sky the night before!
With the help of their keyworker, each child then
discussed and captured in a mind map what they
already knew and would like to find out about space.
Keyworkers used different colours of pen to record
each child’s contribution making it unique. The staff
commented that by placing greater emphasis on the
learners’ responses, the children’s ability to influence
and drive their own learning increased.
NAtional assessment resource (NAR)
Little Learners Nursery,
Argyll and Bute
Little Learners is a private day-care centre providing
education and child care for children between the
ages of 3 months and 5 years. In their project, learning
in the expressive arts is focused on developing the
creativity, imagination and confidence of learners.
Assessment evidence is used to progress and develop
this alongside art skills and knowledge of media.
Staff chose a bundle of experiences and outcomes
that would focus assessment and enhance children’s
learning. They planned together to explore possible
lines of development, then held a planning meeting
with the children to get their ideas on a mind map. Staff
used individualised floor books to plan, explore, share,
document and evidence learning. They used these
alongside observation and dialogue to make judgements
about progress. Staff were able to offer individual
progression in learning experiences in terms of each
child’s skills and capabilities, taking into account the
needs of the whole child as a developing person.
“To ensure children and young people are
making progress across all aspects of
planned learning, assessment will place
a greater emphasis on higher order skills,
including creativity.”
Poppies, Aberdeenshire
Poppies is a small private nursery working in partnership with the local authority to provide pre-school education.
In line with “Building the Curriculum 5” their project aim was to “improve assessment approaches through
participation in moderation activities” and “improve learning and teaching in the sciences”, engaging with the
local primary school to share standards about science and best practice.
“Quality assurance and moderation is particularly important at points of transition in
order to share standards and expectations across sectors and providers.”
The Team Leader delivered 1:1 sessions in which staff were encouraged to observe, discuss, facilitate and
feedback on practice; focusing on the use of skilled questioning and dialogue to support learning in science.
The moderation process began with the staff in Poppies before extending to the wider learning community.
05
NAtional assessment resource (NAR)
Red Kite Community Nursery,
Stirling
Red Kite is a voluntary sector community-owned
20-place nursery, working in partnership with Stirling
Council, which deploys the Council’s Documentation
Approach in Early Years. Red Kite’s project developed
the use of learning walls as an intrinsic part of planning
for, and reviewing, learning at regular intervals, involving
all stakeholders in their development and evaluation.
“Assessment relates to the engagement
of staff, children and parents, carers
and the wider community in sharing and
using a range of information to improve
learning and development and ultimately
‘raise the bar’.”
Children took more ownership of their individual
learning journeys through the increased visibility
of their learning on the walls, frequently initiating
discussion with their peers or adults, challenging
themselves and one another in their next steps.
The learning walls also supported dialogue with
parents and a higher level of engagement between
home and nursery, leading to increased opportunities
for children’s learning to be taken forward.
Woodside Nursery School,
Glasgow
Woodside provides for children aged 3-5 years
and is staffed to accommodate up to 120 children.
Ninety per cent of children come from households
whose parents have English as an additional language.
Woodside’s project focused on enabling children and
parents to contribute to learning profiles, share learning
and plan for next steps. Staff shared their practice
with colleagues from other Early Years settings and
primary schools.
“Information about the learning needs
of children and young people and on
their achievements needs to be shared
effectively through collaborative planning
and profiling.”
“We were able to effectively plan for the arrival of
children from Woodside. The evidence provided
showed the learner’s journey throughout the initial
stages of the Early Level of Curriculum for Excellence.”
Primary 1 teacher from a local primary school
6 EARLY YEARS MATTERS | AUTUMN 2013
NAtional assessment resource (NAR)
Auchlone Nature
Kindergarten,
Perth and Kinross
Auchlone Nature Kindergarten
sits within eight acres of forest
space, comprising of indoor and
outdoor spaces for children aged
2-5 years old. Their project aim was
to develop approaches to profiling
and consider the views of all
stakeholders in creating a profiling
process and profile that meets
the needs of children and their
families. The project develops
the use of observation and
questioning to underpin the
profiling process including
identifying “children’s theories”.
Langside Nursery
School, Glasgow
Langside is a local authority
nursery situated in the south side
of Glasgow. It caters for up to two
hundred children. The main focus
of this project was to ensure their
process of “plan, do, review”,
which seeks to involve children
in individual planning and review,
was focused on learning and
supported by high quality dialogue
between learners and educators.
“As they develop skills in
self and peer assessment,
learners will build
confidence and take more
ownership for managing
their own learning.”
■All of the projects featured can be found on the National Assessment
Resource: www.narscotland.org.uk and can be accessed by
clicking on “New Early Years Projects” in the Quick Links section of
the home page.
■If you would like any further information about any of the projects or
assessment in Early Years you can contact the assessment team at
Education Scotland: charlotte.officer@educationscotland.gov.uk
http://www.narscotland.org.uk
07
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES: SHARING PRACTICE
Working with Families
Developing parental involvement and building capacity and resilience
with parents and the wider community is a priority for Kilwinning Early
Years Centre. Staff are committed to developing and sharing their own
particular skills to lead improvements with families. Alicia Train, Head
of Centre, shares the story of their success.
Alicia Train
Head of Centre, Kilwinning Early Years Centre
Kilwinning Early Years Centre offers a wide range of
activities to involve parents and families, including
individual support where required. The weekly
family day offers opportunities to suit the needs of
our parents and activities on offer include healthy
cooking, street dancing, first aid, handling children’s
behaviour and knitting. Other sessions include weekly
baby massage classes, Book Bug and stay and
play sessions. These opportunities are offered to
the children and families attending the Centre and,
increasingly, to the wider community.
8 EARLY YEARS MATTERS | AUTUMN 2013
“We believe the success of the work with
our parents is down to our welcoming
ethos. Our staff are fully committed to
supporting and empowering families.”
The Centre operates a keyworker system which has
helped to develop positive relationships with all parents
and ensure they can be fully involved in the life and work
of the centre. Through family meetings and discussions
with the parents of children under 3, staff gain an
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES: SHARING PRACTICE
understanding of where and how they can best provide
support. One size does not fit all and Centre staff work
hard to tailor support to individual families and their
needs. Keyworkers liaise closely with the Centre’s Family
Link Worker and use a flexible approach to support
families within the centre and the wider community;
selecting members of staff to work with families on
the basis of both their individual skills and existing
relationships with the families. These relationships may
have begun with previous generations of the same family,
or through the attendance of older children at the Centre.
Community capacity building
ensures sustainable progress
ulti-agency collaboration is key
M
to success
“It has changed my family life, I can now deal
with issues in a calm way and me and my
partners relationship is now much better.”
Local health visitors and head teachers refer families
from the wider community to the Centre’s Family Link
Worker. Individual planned aims and outcomes are
agreed with the family. To meet these outcomes staff
discuss with parents whether or not they are ready to
participate within a group setting. Parents who do not
have the confidence, or feel they are not able to cope
with a group setting, are often offered 1:1 support.
To further build the capacity of parents, North Ayrshire
Council has recently piloted a training course facilitated
by Parent Network Scotland. Parents who had been
involved within the Centre for a few years, and were
ready to progress to this, were invited to take part.
Feedback from the parents involved in the programme
has been very positive as they feel it has helped to
develop their confidence. One parent commented:
parent
The parents have started to share some of their
learning with others and will be supported to facilitate
training within the community. This provides the
community with sustainable support for the future.
A variety of strategies are used to evaluate the
Centre’s work and measure the impact of the provision
on our families.
When a specific program has taken place, parents are
asked about the strategies they are now using and the
impact this is having on family life. A recent evaluation
from a parent stated:
The Centre provides a bespoke
service to children and families
One of the Centre’s success stories involved the
support of a mum whose partner was in prison.
To enable the parent and child to attend fortnightly
family sessions, support was needed with travel to and
from the prison. The child’s special book and pictures
were taken along to allow the mum to share the child’s
progress with the dad. Staff also supported the mum
to complete the necessary paperwork to claim travel
expenses, enabling her to attend visits independently.
The child’s dad is now at home and is actively working
alongside the Centre and engaging in cooking and
behaviour management groups along with his partner.
This programme has been tailored to suit their individual
family needs. The mum recently commented:
“The support over the last six months
has been fantastic, admitting you have
a problem is the most difficult part. Our
family life is transformed.”
Mum
“Being able to open up and talk about my
child’s behaviour has helped me a lot.
It has also helped my partner and I to be
more patient and work together to sort
problems out.”
parent
General day-to-day discussions and meetings with
parents reflect on the support being offered to families
and progress being made. Important measures of
impact are improving attendance levels, and happy
children and parents who feel well supported.
The Centre intends to build on the success of our
work with parents, offering individual support where
required. Staff and parents will have more training
and opportunities within the local community to build
capacity and confidence.
09
INSIGHT INTO
Insight into the Role of
Homelink Workers
in the Islands
An interview with Liz Innes and Manda Balfour
Part of the Early Years Team within Education,
Leisure and Housing
The Homelink Service works with families with young children across the
Islands. They work with parents and their children and aim to support them
in making positive choices within their families and the wider community.
Tell us about your career so far.
Liz: I started off in Youth and Community Work.
After a career break to have a family, I then worked
in a nursery as a Support for Learning Assistant.
At the same time I trained to be a marriage guidance
counsellor. I really enjoyed this work as I am interested
in relationships and how families interact. I applied for
the job of Homelink Worker and have been doing this
for 12 years. Over the years the job has developed
and changed a lot in recognition of just how intricate
family relationships are.
Manda: I started off by running my own business and, at
the same time, studied with the Open University and got
a degree in psychology and sociology. I then decided
on a change of direction, sold the business and started
10 EARLY YEARS MATTERS | AUTUMN 2013
to work with children with additional support needs in
nurseries. I felt this was the area I was really interested
in so I completed an SVQ in Early Years and then a
postgraduate certificate to develop my knowledge
and understanding of children with additional support
needs. When the Homelink Service expanded to have a
second worker, I applied for the post.
“We connect what we see in real life with
theory to develop our practice.”
Liz and Manda: As we worked with families, we
realised that the needs of families were becoming
more complex. We needed to respond to this and to
develop our skills. We were fortunate to secure places
INSIGHT INTO
on a Family Therapy and Systemic Practice Course
enabling us to connect what we were seeing in real
life with theory in order to develop our practice.
This has really helped us in our work with families as
well as developing our own self-awareness and ability
to reflect on what we bring to a situation and how we
can impact on it.
Tell us about a typical day
Liz: There is no typical day and that’s what makes
the job so interesting! Last week, I started the day
with a meeting with colleagues from Community
Learning and Development, schools and the health
visiting team to develop a project around family
learning opportunities. We hope to promote family
capacity building and feelings of connectedness
within an island setting. On a lot of our islands,
transport is a major issue and families can live in very
isolated settings that are a long way from each other
and services. We are working with the community
to develop what they feel they need, rather than
delivering what we think they want. This involves lots of
visits out to the islands to work with the community and
individual families.
“Family capacity building promotes
feelings of connectedness within an
island setting.”
Manda: One constant is meeting families in their
homes. This is something we always feel is a privilege
and we don’t take for granted the trust people have to
invite you into their lives.
What are the challenges of working on an island?
Manda: In any remote and rural location, there are
specific challenges around culture, confidentiality,
and prior knowledge, and while that brings richness,
it can also bring challenges for professionals and
parents. You need be aware of making judgements
or assumptions and make sure that you are able to
build on the strengths of each family and draw on their
support networks.
Working in a small community you need to be flexible
and adjust to the needs around you. Collaboration is
key and we know our colleagues in other departments
really well so we can work together and complement
each other to support the families and communities
we work with.
“Traveling on tiny planes and taking
ferries to each island is a real
experience.”
Liz: On the practical side, getting to islands can take
time. Transport costs are a challenge for getting
services out to the islands and also for parents and
children to travel to things, including nursery. But there
have been great moments – traveling on tiny planes
and taking ferries to each island is a real experience
as each community is very different.
How do you evaluate your work?
Liz and Manda: We use a range of approaches,
including a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
to give us an insight into what’s working well for each
family and the effectiveness of any interventions and
support. As well as feedback from families, we also
get feedback from other professionals.
We meet regularly together as a team to reflect on and
evaluate our work, and to develop plans and projects.
The Early Years Collaborative has led to a number
of joint projects that we are working on with other
professionals. We also have regular access to more
formal supervision sessions, where we speak with an
experienced family therapist to discuss more complex
and challenging issues.
At the end of the day, we try to foster good positive
relationships so that families can enjoy being together.
It’s really important to establish these positive
relationships in the early years, so that children really
do have the best start in life.
011
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES: SHARING PRACTICE
Discover
Your Child
is Amazing
A highly targeted,
early intervention,
family literacy
and numeracy
learning project
in Dundee.
Sarah McEwan
Senior Community Learning and
Development Worker (Adult Learning),
Dundee City Council
Engaging families in fun activities that lead to literacy
and numeracy activities. Parents are encouraged to
replicate these at home.
From August 2012 to March 2013 the Dundee Adult Literacy Partnership,
with funding from the Scottish Government, piloted a highly targeted early
intervention, family literacy learning project.
The project aimed to provide families with additional
support to address barriers and improve life chances.
It built the capacity of the parents and carers as the
key early educators, strengthening their own literacy
skills and helping them to develop critical awareness
of their central role in their child’s early development
and learning. It aimed to test out a new way of
working, using data which indicated the likelihood of
potential literacies needs down to a street level and
offering everyone in those areas, with a child aged
0-3 years, the chance to take part.
Using a multi-agency approach we worked in
partnership with key organisations in the early years
and community sectors to look at engaging and
working with families in a more radical way. To do this
we directly targeted families who had been identified
through work with the analytical services section of
Dundee City Council as having key characteristics
12 EARLY YEARS MATTERS | AUTUMN 2013
which can be linked to literacy needs (ALiS 2020).
These characteristics include families living in
poverty, high levels of unemployment, low educational
attainment of parents and poor levels of health.
The key characteristics associated with a low level of
literacy skills can have a detrimental effect on people’s
lives and levels of deprivation. There are particularly
concentrated clusters of deprivation within Dundee
that present a major issue for services. During the
project, staff used a variety of engagement techniques
including door-to-door visiting in the targeted areas in
order to raise awareness of the project and learning
opportunities families could access. A range of family
learning groups were established to support parents
and carers of children aged 0-3 years. Activities on offer
included messy play, stories and rhymes, brain builders
and baby memory books. One-hundred-and-five places
were taken up by adults, thereby reaching 112 children.
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES: SHARING PRACTICE
The initial project findings suggest that this targeted
approach could point to a new model of operation for
the delivery of whole family literacy learning within
Dundee and provide an example of effective practice
which could be replicated elsewhere. However, the
model requires further testing to determine how the
lessons learned can be embedded into the future
delivery of family literacy.
The project has been awarded continuation funding
for the family literacy learning work and will continue
to develop and build on the work already done with
families in Dundee. Whilst the project has only been in
operation for 6 months, it has increased participation
in adult learning in the target areas by 97%. We hope
that the success of the project will encourage more
families to participate and be supported to develop
the literacy skills of the whole family.
Families who have taken part in the project have
commented that it has had a positive impact on many
parts of their lives; including encouraging them to
actively engage in reading activities as a family, as
well as spending more time together in other ways
such as cooking as a family, messy play and other
fun activities.
“I always knew it was good to read to your
child but never really knew why. Now I
know how it helps language and reading
– especially the bit about beat and
sounds in nursery rhymes.”
“I enjoy coming along with my child as
I can spend time with him, where I am
totally involved with him, without the
older kids being there.”
“I am doing much more things with the
kids in the house. If I’m making tea, I will
get the kids to help – we do it together.
Me and the kids are baking together.
The biggest thing is I have started reading
with the kids. We are reading all the time.
Have learned we can do things together
in the house – have learned to do fun
activities – for example – make things out
of paper plates. At messy play I learned
how to make a shaker out of paper plates.
It is things like this I can do in the house.”
The project was developed in line with the current
priorities for prevention and addressing inequalities
as set out in Dundee City Council’s Single Outcome
Agreement 2012-2017, and in keeping with the
recommendations set out in the Christie Commission
Report, “The Commission on the Future Delivery of
Public Services” particularly:
“Prioritising preventative measures to
reduce demand and lessen inequalities.”
The reports and policies mentioned in this article can
be found on the Scottish Government website by using
the links below.
http://www.scotland.
gov.uk/Resource/Doc/
336015/0109934.pdf
http://www.scotland.
gov.uk/About/Review/
publicservicescommission
013
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES: SHARING PRACTICE
Our Journey to the Dragons’
Den and Beyond!
Isabel Henney and Jacqueline Small
Ferguslie Pre-5 Centre
Ferguslie Park in Paisley, is known as an area of multiple deprivation linked
to unemployment, poor housing and drug and alcohol misuse. However,
what is often not highlighted is the sense of community and belonging within
Ferguslie Park. Ferguslie Pre-5 Centre’s work with the community made the
most of this in an exciting learning opportunity creating a resource for all.
Isabel and Jacqueline share the Centre’s story.
Each year Renfrewshire Council runs a “Dragons’ Den”
competition for schools and early learning and care
centres. We decided to develop an enterprise project
with the children and enter the competition.
The children’s suggestions for a project were recorded on
a mind map and, through careful questioning, the ideas
became much more tangible. After much consultation,
and with a recent “Eat Well to Play Well” project for
parents and children still fresh in their minds, the children
decided to grow and sell fruit and vegetables.
Developing the site
Our original idea was to use our nursery garden.
However, a parent remembered that there was land
allocated for an allotment within the community. Through
research the children discovered that they needed to
speak to the Community Environmental Team about the
land. The team were really interested in our idea and
initially offered us two allotment spaces. However, we
have now developed the whole area. A site visit was
organised with the children and their extended families,
providing us with ideas on how best we could develop it.
14 EARLY YEARS MATTERS | AUTUMN 2013
The land which had been lying more or less derelict was
now going to be used as a learning opportunity for us all.
The allotment is huge and ideas for it were abundant!
We had enough space to develop 16 separate
vegetable patches and room to create an outdoor
learning area for our forest kindergarten programme.
We realised that to develop the land we would need a
huge amount of support from our community. We sought
help from the Environmental Action Team, a group of
unemployed volunteers from Ferguslie Park who carry out
gardening maintenance within the local area. This group
was crucial in getting us started and has continued to
provide support alongside the staff, parents, and children.
Our first major problem was how we were going to
clear the site. Companies offered machinery to rotovate
the earth, materials to help with drainage, and human
resources to help section off the land and build the
raised beds. Families and businesses have offered their
time, energy, skills and commitment to our venture. They
have also visited the allotment independently to help
with digging and tidying outwith nursery time.
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES: SHARING PRACTICE
“This is a great idea, it’s fantastic for kids
to learn and grow”
“Thanks for giving my boy this experience”
The local college helped us build a greenhouse from
recycled plastic juice bottles handed in by the children
and parents. This is now ready to be placed in a spot
in our newly refurbished nursery garden.
children bravely entered the Dragons’ Den to ask for
£500 to buy planting tools. They confidently answered all
questions with ease in front of an audience. In addition
to receiving the £500 they had asked for, the children’s
pitch was deemed the best in the pre-5 category.
parent
parent
Many long, hard hours have been spent making the
allotment into a beautiful space which is now fit for
purpose.
Meanwhile, back at the nursery the children had
already planted seeds donated by a local business and
were learning all about growing and harvesting plants.
Plants which “had seen better days” were donated to the
nursery from a local company and were taken into the
care of a grandpa who nurtured them back to health.
Sadly though, due to adverse weather the vegetable
beds were not complete and at the end of term the
children had over 100 lettuces and tomato plants to
look after. A decision was made by the children to sell
these plants to parents and to our local community in
a one day only sale. This resulted in the first £91.00 in
our business account.
Entering the Dragons’ Den
At this time we learned we had made it through to the
final of Dragons’ Den. The children worked on their
pitch for the Dragons, as well as continuing to look
after the plants. When the time arrived for the children
to pitch their business idea to the Dragons a parent
designed and made T-shirts for them to wear. Six
What’s next?
The whole nursery will be involved in using the allotment
area and we are planning a programme so that all age
groups can go to the area with staff and parents and
enjoy the outdoors. Activities will include sowing seeds,
digging, exploring mini-beasts and building dens.
At present we are continuing to grow our vegetables in
the nursery garden and have a great crop of potatoes,
leeks, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, onions and
broad beans soon to be harvested. With the return of
the good weather, work has begun again on building
up the beds for the next planting season. The learning
relating to this initiative is wide, varied and challenging.
Planting seeds has given children the experience
of growing, caring and nurturing flowers, fruit and
vegetables. They water them daily and monitor their
progress. When they have grown, we will celebrate the
harvesting of our first crop by having a fun day at the
allotment to highlight the work that is going on there and
involve as many people in the community as possible.
Community spirit is evident throughout many projects in
the area and we are now an integral part of community
working to create something special to be enjoyed by
all generations.
015
UPDATES
New health inequalities
content on the Maternal
and Early Years website
NHS Health Scotland has added new content to the
Maternal and Early Years website www.maternaland-early-years.org.uk highlighting the causes
and impact of health inequalities on 12 areas of
a child’s life between 0-8 years including: speech
and language development and mental health and
wellbeing, and how the Early Years workforce can
help address them.
Noticeboard
Updates
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Changing Lives
Through Literacy
Friday 6th September saw practitioners
from all over Scotland coming together on
GLOW to celebrate literacy for all ages.
Children, young people, adults and educators
enjoyed films, discussions, storytelling and
interviews from Ministers, groups and classes from
all over Scotland and internationally.
Education Scotland has recorded the day which
you can access through Glow or by contacting
Enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk