Moray's Earthtime outdoor nurseries first in Scotland to reopen
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TWO Moray outdoor nurseries will be the first in Scotland to welcome back children this month.
Earthtime's Forest School nurseries at Duffus and Elgin – which operate wholly outdoors – will reopen within the next fortnight.
This follows new guidance issued last week from the Scottish Government on the reopening of outdoor nurseries and a successful appeal for nursery volunteers.
Earthtime at Cooper Park reopens today, June 9, and at Duffus Estate next Wednesday, June 17. These will offer some sessions to all registered families, as well as a dedicated group for children transitioning to primary one from Duffus nursery.
Throughout the pandemic the Duffus nursery has been running a separate childcare hub for children of key workers and vulnerable families, which is set to continue.
The pandemic has thrown into focus the benefits of the outdoor learning and play model practised at Earthtime as Scotland looks at ways forward for post-lockdown schooling.
Earthtime opened its Cooper Park off-shoot in January this year with funding and support from Thrive Outdoors, with the specific aim to cater for more vulnerable families, offering a central location, waterproof clothing, footwear and daily snacks without charge.
The key workers' childcare hub at Duffus has been working with an average of 12 children daily, who nursery staff say have settled in well to learning in the woodland.
The nursery's practitioners have also kept up contact with registered families during lockdown with daily bedtime stories and activities through social media.
Natalie Campbell, Earthtime project leader, said: "The reopening of both our nurseries has only been possible due to the incredible response we have received from a recent appeal for volunteers. We were overwhelmed by the number of people coming forward to donate their time and are very grateful.
"Volunteers will be involved in tasks such as manning hand-washing stations which frees up our staff to work with the children. This should also, over the summer, give staff a chance for a bit of a break as they have been working very long and hard, often beyond their hours, in recent months.
"We had 12 or so volunteers come forward. It'll all be very different for us but not so different for the wee ones we work with, and we're glad we can offer a period of transition for children going into P1 who can now have some sociable time before moving on.
"We're very lucky at Duffus as we have so much room and this allows staff to work with the children in a socially distanced way as well as have different small groups at the same time.
"Because we've been running a childcare hub we are very familiar with all the enhanced measures to ensure social distancing.
"We've had continued support from Thrive Outdoors, who have been wonderful, as well as our incredibly dedicated and hard-working staff.
"We very much look forward to welcoming our families back for further adventures in the outdoors."
