The New Community Schools project, aimed at integrating education, health and social issues as a basic comprehensive service for children in our nursery, primary and secondary schools, has since it’s inception back in September, had a busy few months. Colin Macaulay, the manager responsible for implementing the project’s aims and ideas, updates the News and Views as to how things are progressing.
"The project is still at the very early stages. We are moving constantly and do not want to duplicate anything else that is already out there. We have a whole range of initiatives happening out there at the moment such as the SIP’s programme, the Childcare Partnership programme and the Out of School Care initiatives. One of the main things that we are looking into is an alternative to exclusions, we have to work with the young person and the parent to make sure that there is a viable alternative to this.
At the moment we are still in the stage of recruiting the Core Service Support team. A new assistant school nurse has recently joined the team, Catriona Vernal, she will act as support to our school nurse Morag Campbell. We will be appointing a social worker in the very near future which is one of the key positions. In my view we also need to recruit a Community Education worker, someone with the skills, experience and background that will help with projects like informal education, we are also looking into teaming up with groups and organisations such as Workers Education Association and Adult Basic Education, as part of enabling the parents and grandparents to get involved in all aspects their child’s development.
The picture is there, if you like, if not all the colours. It’s like painting by numbers, some of the colours have been filled in, but we have a lot of colour to add between now and the end of March, and as the project evolves over the three year period we will have the whole painting coloured.
The project is based, at the moment, within Merkinch Primary school. Colin says: "Merkinch Primary school is a great space but once the core staff are in place I think we may have to look at other premises. We will be needing at least 3 rooms, the core service support staff will need a meeting room and also we will need a consultation room. One of the big decisions, if we are being serious about involving the parents, is the need to improve facilities within the schools. We need a parent room and what would be absolutely ideal is a "Communal Wing" inside the school, and Merkinch Primary school is the ideal location for this. It would be a private space for parents and the professionals to talk, the communal wing could also include the school medical room, somewhere with cooking facilities, with a focus on ideas like, for instance, healthy eating and how to cook on a budget. We also want the children and the parents to know that if there is a problem somewhere, there will be someone to help. Networking and evaluation is very important. We have to look at the needs of the individual schools and move in collaboration. Another issue that we will be getting involved in is "Conflict Resolution." Every member of staff that deals with kids will be trained in this concept from the nurse, the teaching staff right through to the lollipop men and women. There will be a common understanding between the staff on how to handle this approach. The idea behind the initiative is not allowing conflict to get out of hand, showing the kids that there is another way, and that is talking things through. Children fall out all the time, and the staff will be trained on how to defuse those situations. We will be implementing this style of resolve right from the start, involving primary 1 pupils, and even kids still at nursery, right through to the older children. This is already done to some extent in Merkinch Primary School where pupils are encouraged to share their feelings, talk about what they are experiencing and not to bottle it up, and hopefully come to a peaceful solution. We will be continuing this, but on a larger scale."
Over the course of the first year the project is looking at developing a wide range of initiatives, working in partnership with other professionals such as clinical psychologist, dentists, opticians, doctors, chiropodists, a whole range of different professionals and this is all beginning to take shape.
"Another part of the 'joined-up' working (the term that refers to professionals and organisations working together towards the same goal) involves Maggie at the Merkinch Nursery school. Maggie is looking into the idea of setting up a local lending library for parents of the kids who attend the nursery. There will be children’s books and games to borrow, and also as a part of this service the nursery is also looking at informal basic computer training for parents, this could be a stepping stone for parents who would like to move onto a more structured training environment. IT and computers are now a big part of everyday life, like it or not, and learning basic computer skills is essential. The informal and relaxing set-up at the nursery could give parents the confidence to utilise the other I.T. facilities within the community, such as Merkinch Enterprise training courses.We are very conscious of the community we are serving and in that way we will hopefully be giving the folks what they want. We want parents, young people and members of the community involved in these initiatives, and our draft plan which is now starting to take shape, will enable us to find out what is working and what is not."
Your News and Views will keep you up-to-date over the coming months on all aspects of the Community School project.