Minister for Children and Young People visits Flowerbank Early Childhood Centre
Minister for Children and Young People, Clare Haughey was welcomed to Flowerbank Early Childhood Centre in Kilmarnock recently, to hear about their successful pilot of the Children and Young People’s Improvement Collaborative (CYPIC) Out to Play improvement programme.
The Early Childhood Centre trialled the programme, with five other teams from three local authorities, for a nine month period, starting in May 2021. Head of Centre, Margaret Blades and Excellence and Equity Lead, Lindsey McCabe welcomed the Minister for Children and Young People; Councillor Elaine Cowan, East Ayrshire Council’s Cabinet Spokesperson for Lifelong Learning, Education and Skills and Culture, Councillor Lillian Jones, who represented the Leader of the Labour Opposition Group and representatives from the Scottish Government's CYPIC.
Margaret and Lindsey spoke passionately about the importance of outdoor learning and the benefit of ensuring that the children who attend the centre spend 50% of their time outside. They led a tour of the outdoor learning space, which is easily accessible from every playroom in the centre, explaining how each area ties back to every section of the curriculum.
The Flowerbank team attended seven virtual workshops during the programme and measured daily data on the time spent outdoors, children’s and staff experience of outdoors and regular data on parent’s views of the outdoors. The centre’s Outdoor Champions engaged with parents and carers to allay any fears they may have had about their children being cold or wet outside. Shelters were provided to ensure that learning could continue whatever the weather, the Council provided outdoor clothing for all staff and a variety of different outdoor suits for the children, which Flowerbank is piloting. The team were also successful in a bid from Thrive Outdoors purchasing outdoor clothing for the children.
Margaret Blades said: “The whole of Flowerbank Early Childhood Centre has really embraced outdoor learning and we were very pleased to be part of the Out to Play programme. We have seen big improvements in the children’s wellbeing. Being outdoors really suits some children and they participate in learning more actively when they are outside; we are also able to link our work with the Food for Thought programme with outdoor learning and the children have loved growing vegetables and helping to prepare food. We have made our own caramelised onion chutney and pickled our own beetroot. Our term time children were very excited about taking lettuce home on the last day before the summer holidays.
“I recently participated in a webinar for colleagues across Scotland to talk about our journey and the benefits of increasing outdoor learning for children and for staff development. A lot of our focus in the childhood centre is on wellbeing. We do outdoor yoga and mindfulness with the children, which we hope will start them on a lifelong path towards positive mental health. The Out to Play programme was a real success for our early childhood centre and I was very happy to show the Minister for Children and Young People, Clare Haughey, our outdoor learning space and talk about our plans for continuing and growing our outdoor learning experiences.”
Children’s Minister Clare Haughey said: “There is evidence that playing and learning outdoors is good for children’s wellbeing, and, as I saw at Flowerbank Early Childhood Centre, it’s also great fun.
“The Scottish Government is committed to a vision of all children in early learning and childcare settings spending half of their day outdoors.
“It was lovely to see the children at Flowerbank enjoying playing and learning outdoors, and it was interesting to hear from members of staff, who said that they, too, were feeling the benefits.”
Councillor Elaine Cowan, Cabinet Spokesperson for Lifelong Learning, Education and Skills and Culture said: “I was delighted to welcome the Minister for Children and Young People, Clare Haughey to Flowerbank Early Childhood Centre and to hear about the Out to Play improvement programme.
“The indoor learning spaces within the Early Childhood Centre are bright and airy and designed to support the needs of all children, there are quiet spaces and a star room with star lights on the ceiling, which is a calm space for children to practice mindfulness.
“The outdoor learning spaces are wonderful. There are different sections for the children to play and learn. Some of the children were on a gruffalo hunt in the bamboo, other children were searching for bugs and birds, while others were playing with mud and water. There are plum and cherry trees, planters where the children are growing fruit and vegetables and range of plants to encourage wildlife.
“It was great to speak to the staff, who are extremely enthusiastic, to the children and parents and carers about the benefits of outdoor learning. The children were so confident and happy to help us learn more about their birds and bugs and all the vegetables they had grown. The benefits of outdoor learning were very clear to see.”