Lundavra primary’s nursery granted £1,000
LUNDAVRA Primary School Nursery in Fort William has been granted £1,000 towards its play projects.
The Highland Play award was presented to Pamela Hamilton and Sharyn Morgan by Dr David Alston, chairman of NHS Highland, at the opening of the Play Highland Conference on Thursday March 15.
The Highland Council, in association with Play Highland, offers this annual award to the group, organisation or community that has done the most to promote self-directed free play with daily access to the outdoors in the region.
Sandra Harrington, chairman of the Play Improvement Group at Highland Council, said: ‘This year our focus was on inclusive play in line with Highland’s Year of Young People’s chosen themes. We received a large number of entries, the standard of which was very high. Many congratulations to Lundavra Primary School Nursery in Fort William.’
Lundavra primary is a new-build school. Staff consulted with children and parents to see what they would like put in place for nursery play and how they could contribute.
The use of ‘loose parts’ play toolkit in their garden has encouraged co-operation among children while ensuring inclusion of all children. This includes those with English as an additional language and those with additional support needs.
The children are able to communicate their ideas to each other using the loose parts rather than language and this has promoted a high level of interaction and inclusiveness. Many of the children attending the nursery live in flats with limited access to the outdoors.
The Play Improvement Group looks forward to seeing even more development at Lundavra Primary School Nursery in future.
The Highland Play Conference ‘Eat, Sleep, PLAY, Repeat’ welcomed more than 100 participants with a mixture of teachers, early years practitioners, social workers, primary mental health workers and UHI students among delegates.
The conference was organised by The Highland Council’s Play Improvement Group to inspire inclusion and equality in the planning and delivery of play. The conference was opened by Dr David Alston, chairman of NHS Highland, who was a founding member of the Play Improvement Group.