New hub will bring a Flying Start
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AN INNOVATIVE new project to provide nursery children at a Moray school with a flying start, before they begin Primary 1, has been launched.
A new parent hub is now open at Lhanbryde Primary School, following a successful £10,000 application to the Scottish Government.
The Flying Start initiative places parents at its heart, providing them with packs containing activities that can be completed at home with their children. Courses and talks will also be staged at the hub for parents.
Headteacher Gillian Ross and nursery teacher Sandy Millican developed the concept, and the project then received money from the Scottish Government’s attainment fund, which is given to initiatives that aim to close the attainment gap.
The money was used to transform an old ICT suite, located immediately beside the nursery. The room was painted and new floors were installed, and resources were ordered which it was identified would be most effective for improving literacy, numeracy and well-being.
There will also be discussions between the school and speech and language therapists, health visitors and other professionals in order to make the best possible use of the facility.
Mrs Ross said she was delighted to see the hub, which had taken a lot of planning and preparation, now open.
“Part of it will include the packs that will be given out to parents,” Mrs Ross explained.
“There will be sessions with parents on how to support their children with their homework in different levels of numeracy and literacy and with their learning at home.
“It is geared towards delivering equity and helping to close the attainment gap.”
Mrs Ross said the hub could in the future be expanded to include a kitchen, which could then be used to stage cooking sessions for parents.
Talks will be given by a number of specialists including physical health experts, health visitors and dental hygienists.
“It’s an information hub as well. We will be starting off with nursery to help with early intervention and we want in the future to use that further up the school,” said Mrs Ross.
“As far as I can see it’s the only one in Moray. We applied for the full amount and we received it.
“It can help with what children need to get them ready for school and what children need for support. It started off just about the packs, but it grew as we wanted to think more about parental engagement as well.
“Parental engagement and family involvement is a big part of Scottish education just now, and studies show that for parents who engage with their children, the children will do better with their learning.”
Mrs Millican said the packs will give parents ideas.
“We will give them activity-based suggestions to do with their children, with things like cards, maths games and literacy activities. They will include nursery rhyme booklets, crayons, a white board, dice, cards, dominoes and a skipping rope,” she said.
“All parents get a pack, and it is for the children to use during the following weeks.
“It’s about raising the attainment levels of the nursery children so they have a better start for Primary 1 and then they can be better monitored in Primary 1 and in future years.”
Every three weeks, from February 6, Mrs Millican said she would be running sessions on an individual element of the packs. These courses will begin with a session on literacy.
Fochabers Lhanbryde councillor Douglas Ross, who is also an MSP for the Highlands and Islands, attended the opening ceremony last Friday.
Mr Ross, whose constituency includes Moray, described it as an “excellent initiative”.
The Conservative MSP added: “It’s great to see the funding being used in a different way to anywhere else in Moray, and perhaps even in Scotland.
“I will be raising it in Parliament as a tremendous example of really creative thinking, and I can already see today that parents are really engaged with it.”
