School closure offers unexpected opportunities
Last month’s closure of 17 PPP1 schools caused much anxiety – for council officers, for school staff and particularly for families and for children. And while the saga rumbles on, many local parents and carers still don’t know when their child will return to his or her own school.
It’s disruption on a scale Edinburgh has never seen before, and it’s a tribute to all involved that some sort of order has been salvaged from the chaos – that children are still being taught, even if the circumstances are far from ideal.
And the upheaval has brought about a unique series of events that has thrown up unlikely opportunities to forge new friendships and partnerships.
Rowanfield is a special school for children with additional support needs, and while the school is based in Drylaw the pupils come from all over the city. Rowanfield was one of the buildings forced to close for safety reasons last month, and this meant finding temporary accommodation for children who need that extra support.
Rowanfield’s unlikely first new ‘home’ was at Pilton Youth & Children’s Project, and the arrangement worked out remarkably well.
Rowanfield’s Acting Depute Head Susan Barr explained: “Moving to somewhere new was really challenging for our children – a new environment like this is a big change for them.
“Our children are not exactly a quiet bunch and I think we all worried a bit about how things would work out, but the staff at PYCP made us welcome and were really accommodating. They opened early for us, and as their regular school clubs had not restarted we had the use of the gym hall, the studio and the soft play area so our children had a great time!
“There have been lots of outings too and the Hopscotch charity has also been very supportive. All of the staff – PYCP and Rowanfied – have worked incredibly hard to make this work, and although it’s not been easy it has worked out well.”
PYCP manager Lesley Ross said: “I think the experience worked really well;, Rowanfield had the run of the centre most days and used all the different spaces.
“It was nice to meet the staff and young people and support them in this very challenging time with the ‘school closures’. I feel the PY staff team welcomed Rowanfield and accepted it was going to be a challenge at times, but embraced it and got on. The staff do a great job and you could see the commitment and dedication they gave to the pupils at Rowanfield.
“Rowanfield are now using our space twice a week for art therapy and play therapy sessions, so this is really positive. Hopefully some of the pupils will become members of PY now they have seen our centre!”
As was always planned, the Rowanfield children have since moved on to new temporary ‘homes’ and it could be a while yet before they get back to their school in Drylaw. Here’s hoping the children have lots more happy memories to take back with them!
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