WORLD OF WORK DAY Community support helps project take shape
Pupils at Coupar Angus Primary School marked the end of a term-long project looking at the world of work with an open afternoon for parents and a series of workshops with various local businesses and organisations recently.
Some of the groups and businesses at the school included Pride of Place, Active Schools, Police Scotland, Perth and Kinross Council’s Community Greenspace team, the Scottish Football Association (SFA), Coupar Angus Cycling Hub, Tayside Contracts, Thrums Vets, Guide Dogs Scotland, the Royal Highland Education Trust and Horsecross Theatre.
Head teacher Nikki Drew explained: “Pupils throughout the school, from nursery through to P7, have been looking at the word of work for the whole of this term.
“We have had a lot of partner organisations working with the children on this topic.
“Primary three pupils went to visit the Perth and Kinross Council offices in Perth and representatives from the housing and waste departments have come out to speak to the children. Primary two pupils set up a cafe enterprise, and primary one visited local businesses in Coupar Angus – such as the Red House Hotel – to find out about careers in the town.
“Pupils in primary four looked at careers in computing and visited relevant businesses in Dundee, while primary five worked with local artist Frances Law on her Coupar Burn project and looked at how that relates to tourism.
“Primary six looked at careers in science, technology, engineering and maths and primary seven looked at journalism and produced their very own newspaper.
“The whole thing has been super and it was lovely to get the parents into the school for the final workshops and to see the work the children have been doing.”
Active Schools coordinator Caroline Lawrie is a regular visitor to the school.
As well as explaining about her role and leading workshops in indoor curling and bocca, Caroline was also keen to encourage more parents to volunteer at the school.
She said: “It was a great afternoon and it was good that so many parents were involved too.
“We are always looking for more parent and carer volunteers to help out with after-school and breakfast clubs and sporting activities and clubs in the schools and events like this are a great way to encourage more engagement.”
Iain Bentley is involved with Pride of Place and the Butterybank community woodland on the outskirts of the town.
Another regular visitor to the school, Iain chatted to pupils about studying nature and using senses to identify whether something is beneficial to the environment or not.
Blairgowrie-based Police Scotland officers Alistair Crowe and Carole Addison visited the nursery class.
PC Addison said: “Projects such as this are great for us to be involved in as part of our own community engagement work. Chatting to the youngsters makes us more approachable, and we also visited the older pupils a few weeks ago and taught them how to use speed cameras as part of efforts to help address traffic management issues in the town.
“They were very interested in what we do and asked us lots of questions, which was great.”
Grant Murdoch from the Coupar Angus Cycling Hub also does a lot of work with the school.
He said: “I talked to the children about the different parts of the bike and some of the older pupils also had a go at carrying out basic repairs, which they were really good at.”
Tam McCabe, club development officer for the SFA, added: “We are keen to support local clubs and opportunities for young people to get involved with sport and as part of that we worked on skills that the kids can practice as well as playing some fun games.”
Strathmore ward councillor Alan Grant was impressed.
He said: “I was really pleased to see so many parents come along to this event to see what the children have been working on and to help them think about what they might like to do.
“It is a great initiative by the school. If you get an idea of what you might like to do from an event like this then you can develop it as you go on - that’s what education is all about.
“The response from local businesses and organisations has been very good and given a great range of potential careers opportunities for the children to learn about.” Iain Bentley, who is involved with Pride of Place and the Butterybank community woodland, with pupils Active Schools co-ordinator Caroline Lawrie led workshops and encouraged parents to volunteer
Officers Alistair Crowe and Carole Addison visited the nursery class