Out & About Activities: Marybank Primary Parent Council
There are two primary schools in this fund area of benefit – Marybank and Strathconon - which are part of the same school cluster. Normally children from both schools would collaborate on a number of projects and activities throughout the school year, but during the last couple of years of Covid restrictions, this was not possible.
The years of pandemic lockdowns and restrictions, meant that primary age children have had limited opportunities to socialise with their peers, to mix with children from other schools and to experience travel and group activities.
Marybank Parent Council volunteers decided to address this with an exciting project to bring the children of both schools together and try to make up for some of the missed opportunities. They also made a point of including children who lived locally but attended other schools. They planned to organise three day trips to sites of interest in the highland area, picking places which would be fun as well as educational, with a natural heritage theme. They also planned a series of Friday afternoon sessions at a local outdoor activity centre.
With funding from the Corriemoillie Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund, trips were organised to the Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie and a boat trip was also arranged to see marine wildlife in the Moray Firth, as well as the outdoor activities at the Fairburn Centre. Staff changes at the schools created some issues with scheduling and the Parent Council was not able to arrange all the planned outings in 2022. They also saved some money by partnering up with other schools in the cluster to share transport costs on one of the trips.
As a result they got back to Foundation Scotland at the end of the year to request an extension to the project – to use the remaining funds for further activity in 2023.
Local volunteer Eleanor said:
The grant has supported the Marybank Primary Parent Council to better connect the children living in this remote and rural area providing transport funding to take them to new places and learn about the nature on their doorstep. The impact has been fantastic and reached the lives offamilies suffering transport poverty and isolation bringing them together to go places they cannot normally go together. It was very effective to be inclusive of multiple schools and open the events up to wider families. We'll build on the success and continue to organise a further trip and activity day(s) in Spring 2023.