Interesting Practice

Key Facts

Primary 1 – 3 were given the opportunity to plan and develop an Enterprise topic that would benefit our local community. The focus was to organise a Community Reading Café and this allowed the children to develop their skills in a range of curricular areas including Literacy, Numeracy, Health and Wellbeing and Social Studies.

The pupils brainstormed ideas together to decide what we could do to give back to our local community by making use of our school facilities. Once the children decided that we would set up a reading café they planned which job roles would be required and discussed the skills and qualities needed to deliver these roles effectively. These job roles included Business Leaders, Caterers, Craft Characters and Story Tellers. The pupils took ownership of their project and developed their ability to work together by solving problems and taking on these different job roles.

How did the project develop?

Primary 1 – 3 used HGIOURS to self-evaluate our schools connection with our local community. Gartmore Primary School has very strong links within the local community which we make use of throughout each school year, this includes the sewing group, Green Routes, Gartmore House and the Horticultural Society.

We decided that we could give back to our wider community by providing facilities for the adults and families within our school. Our village has limited facilities, a shop and a hall, therefore we decided to set up a Community Café to allow adults and families to come into our school so they could select and enjoy a range of books in our newly refurbished library.

What did pupils gain from taking part in the project?

The project was successful and allowed the pupils to lead their own learning. The skills pupils developed covered a range of curricular areas as well as a number of skills for learning, life and work. Pupils were able to manage their time, work effectively with others, problem solve, lead others and plan and organise an event.

In Health and Wellbeing pupils were able to recognise their own skills and abilities, as well as others; they were able to recognise and adopt different roles in a range of practical activities; and they were beginning to understand the world of work.

In Numeracy pupils had to use money to budget, analyse price lists and purchase items for the catering team; they also had to use their knowledge and understanding of measurement to follow recipes.

In Literacy pupils were able to make use of a rage of writing and reading opportunities. Pupils designed and created leaflets and posters which were distributed around the village advertising our Reading Café, we wrote a letter to the Head Teacher asking for a donation of money to fund our project and we created menus for our café.

In Social Studies pupils were developing their understanding of job roles and businesses in the local community; they were taking on job roles in group work as part of an enterprise task and they were developing their ability to work as part of a team.

The launch of the Community Reading Café was a success, community members who attended included parents, other adults in the village, children from local nurseries as well as other family members. The visitors were able to enjoy a range of refreshments and make use of our library facilities whilst interacting with our pupils.

Is the project sustainable? How do you see it developing in the future?

We are hoping to plan several dates throughout each year to run our Community Reading Café. The library van visits us fortnightly on a Friday morning and we are hoping to use this alongside our café to encourage community members to continue to visit us and use or library facilities.

Did you incur any costs?

• Home baking
• Juice, coffee and tea

Did you get other organisations/partners involved?

• Local families
• Local adults
• Gartmore Village Hall

Contact Details

April Hutton
P 1-3 Class Teacher (Acting PT)

E-mail: Huttona33s@glow.sch.uk
@GartmorePS