Kenmore pupils bust gender stereotypes
Perthshire school scoops second in competition
A Perthshire primary school has demonstrated play creativity in a national competition aimed at busting gender myths.
Kenmore Primary School scooped second place in the Improving Gender Balance Scotland contest, which asked pupils for their thoughts on gender stereotypes.
Primary 3 pupils designed a play house for boys and girls called ‘Ganghut’.
Their creation is a safe space for boys and girls aged four years and up to play together, and includes a slide and pool. The pupils wanted to be clear that play should be gender neutral to allow boys and girls to use whatever toys and take part in whatever activities they wanted.
Primary 3 pupil Caitlin Johnston said: “We learned to argue in a nice way about gender stereotyping, sharing ideas in our group about what would be fair and then we put them all together in our report for the competition. We have learned to argue with the idea and not the person. We even did a dragons’ den pitch in class and won!”
Richard Broklehurst, teacher at Kenmore Primary School, said: “The pupils are overjoyed to be runners up in the competition. I’ve been impressed with the deep, collaborative discussion the pupils have had in the classroom looking at gender stereotyping, and how nuanced, thoughtful and well argued their contributions were.
“It’s helped the children develop skills in debating, team working, research and analysis.”
Kenmore were pipped to the post for the top spot in the Primary 1-3 category by Woodside Primary School in South Lanarkshire, who beat 170 other entries to be named winners.
Winners were presented with a trophy and vouchers for Letterbox Library. Kenmore PS runners up, from l-r, Fiona McDiarmid, Caitlin Johnston and Ivan Watson