Keith nursery to benefit from Tesco blue token funding
A nursery is set to develop community programmes and focus on improving mental health provision after a funding boost.
Strathisla Children’s Centre in Keith has received £1500 from Tesco Stronger Starts to develop community outreach programmes and improve mental health locally.
The custom built 65-place nursery provides flexible early learning and childcare, allowing parents to book by the hour, pay as they go and change their bookings each week in line with their childcare needs.
This helps parents save money on childcare while presenting them with opportunities to increase their income by removing childcare as a barrier to work.
The nursery has been designed to provide the children with areas to develop their literacy, numeracy, health and well-being skills.
All areas have been designed to support children in learning through play following the Curriculum for Excellence model.
The focus of the centre doesn’t end with supporting children, but also building strong attachments with parents, families and the local community.
That makes the centre a valuable support provider for the whole Keith community, according to the nursery’s service manager Eleanor Smith:
She said: “Our role as early educators now extends into offering a place where parents feel valued and listened to, understood, supported and part of a caring nursery environment.
“There is a serious gap in mental health support in our local community and the grant from Tesco Stronger Starts will put us in an ideal position to provide a solution to combat this lack of support.”
Thanks to the funding from Tesco, the team at Strathisla are now developing a range of initiatives designed to bring the community together, to share skills and offer peer support.
These include the creation of regular ‘Tea and Talk’ sessions where parents and families, many of whom are new to the area, can meet, build valuable relationships and have a safe space to share their challenges and offer each other peer support.
They will enhance their existing garden space to create a community garden where adults and children can learn about growing their own food.
This would create intergenerational learning opportunities, stronger ties with their own family and give everyone an opportunity to share skills and create stronger bonds.
The produce from the garden can be used as snacks for the children in the nursery, promoting healthy eating.
They will also create woodworking workshops, a valuable way of encouraging male attendance, which will provide a sustainable means of maintaining the garden, provide valuable skills to attendees, children and adults alike, and further develop relationship building within the wider community.
The centre is also wanting to develop a series of life skills workshops from dedicated professionals or local support groups.
Fiona Addison, Tesco Community champion in Keith, said: “It’s great to visit and see first hand how Tesco Stronger Starts Grants continues to help local good causes especially projects that aid children and young people in our area.
“With the continued support from customers, voting with our blue tokens for projects that matter to them, together we can help build a better community for all.”
