CRAIGROYSTON HIGH SCHOOL’S GARDEN ALSO HIT BY VANDALISM
Community Garden Vandalism
We’re really saddened and frustrated to share that nearly all of our garden beds have been damaged. The wood has been broken, and many of the plants and vegetables that young people and volunteers worked so hard to grow have been pulled out.
This garden means a lot to our community, and it’s disheartening to see so much hard work destroyed. If anyone saw anything or knows who was involved, please get in touch.
We’re determined to repair the damage and keep this space thriving
Awful We’re about to post the same thing about our garden in the SfL department. It’s so disheartening when we try so hard to keep it good and our young people are working in it
STEPPING STONES NORTH EDINBURGH and HOME-START EDINBURGH AWARDED £226,000 TO EXTEND EARLY YEARS SUPPORT SERVICE
The 1001 Critical Days Foundation has awarded its first £1m in grants to charities supporting babies and families across the UK.
Following a rigorous application process, six charities have been awarded a combined total of £1m in multi-year funding to deliver frontline services to families in community-based family hubs or similar settings. Up to 1,800 babies and their families are expected to benefit from this support.
Home-Start Edinburgh and Stepping Stones North Edinburgh have been awarded £226k over three years, and are the only Scottish recipeints of the fund. The funding will support and extend a collaborative support service, Bump Start.
Bump Start provides holistic, relationship-based support from pregnancy throughout early childhood, with the aim of reducing isolation, improving parental confidence, increasing capacity to provide nurturing care, and supporting positive mental health.
Eliza Waye, CEO of Home-Start Edinburgh, said: “We know the time from conception onwards is critical. With this funding, we can extend our partnership to deliver Bump Start with Stepping Stones North Edinburgh and reach even more families.”
The funding is expected to support around 320 babies through the project.
Morag Wilson, CEO of Stepping Stones North Edinburgh, said: “Bump Start has been a vital part of our organisation for over a decade, making a real difference in the lives of babies and their families.
“With support from the 1001 Critical Days Fund and a strengthened partnership with Home-Start Edinburgh, we’re excited to expand our reach and deepen our impact where it’s needed most.”
Founder of the 1001 Critical Days Foundation and Executive Chair of the Trustees, the Rt Hon Dame Andrea Leadsom said: “This is an incredibly proud moment for the 1001 Critical Days Foundation.
“These are our very first grant awards, and each of the six charities chosen has shown outstanding commitment to supporting babies and their families.
“Their applications were impressive, their impact is tangible, and I cannot wait to see the difference they will make in communities across the country. Together, we are determined that every baby should experience the best start in life.”
Speaking at the recent launch of the Foundation, its Patron, Lord David Blunkett, highlighted the integral role played by community-based charities.
Lord Blunkett said: “We’re not talking about professionals coming in and offering support – important as this is. But rather, mobilising the talent and strength of the community, no matter how deprived, to become part of the solution, not the problem.”
The six charities awarded funding represent geographies across the whole of the UK and offer a full spectrum of services to help give every baby the best start in life.
Home-Start Edinburgh will celebrate it’s 40th year as charity next year. It’s needs-based preventative work is delivered by highly skilled volunteers, supporting families with children under five years old.
Stepping Stones North Edinburgh is a voluntary organisation that provides support services to young parent families and pregnant women living in the north Edinburgh area.
The two organisations began partnering on the Bump Start programme in 2024.
The five other charities that received funding are:
Literacy Volunteers
Nottinghamshire-based Literacy Volunteers delivers early language and literacy programmes in deprived communities, helping babies and young children build confidence, communication skills and a love of books alongside their parents.
They will use the grant funding to expand their “Learning to Love Books” programme in two family hubs based in communities where around 75% of families speak English as an additional language.
The For Baby’s Sake Trust
London-based charity, The For Baby’s Sake Trust, works with families to break the cycle of domestic abuse through long-term therapeutic, trauma-informed support, ensuring babies grow up in safe and nurturing environments.
The Oxford Parent Infant Project (OXPIP)
Based in Oxfordshire, OXPIP offers specialist parent-infant psychotherapy to strengthen the bond between parents and babies, supporting families facing trauma, postnatal depression, or disrupted attachment.
Thrive at Five
Thrive at Five is a national charity working to improve outcomes for children under five, ensuring they have the strong foundations needed for life and learning.
As a place-based charity working with communities facing hardship, Thrive at Five has been working alongside families and partners in Stoke-on Trent for just under five years. They will be using their funding to roll-out a pilot for Video Interaction Guidance with the goal of improving school readiness and long-term outcomes.
Thanks to funding from a local charitable trust Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust are able to deliver a programme of community engagement activities as part of the redevelopment of West Pilton Park.
The first sessions are on10th & 17th September.
ELGT are keen to work with local groups and individuals so please contact emily@elgt.org.uk to get involved.
Have a good look at our new programme below! We are so ready to welcome everyone back NEXT WEEK!
Please look carefully as some of our age groups have changed and we want you to come along to the right one!
Children/Young people MUST have a new completed consent form to come along, any done before or during the summer holidays don’t count! Please follow this link to fill them in
SCRAN ACADEMY and THE YARD to receive a share of over £1m to help put a stop to child poverty in Scotland
Three Edinburgh children’s charities have been named among 11 Scottish organisations as partners of STV Children’s Appeal’s new Ignite Fund.
Each charity will receive a share of £1 million this year through the funding programme created to deliver ongoing financial and non-financial support to children, young people and family charities in Scotland.
Since its inception in 2011, STV Children’s Appeal has invested in long-term projects with charitable organisations. The Ignite Fund, a key part of the Appeal, will continue to provide sustained, multi-year financial and development aid to charities across the country to help break the cycle of child poverty in Scotland.
The Edinburgh charities which will receive funding are:
Scran Academy which is a catering social enterprise empowering young people to realise their full potential through transformational education and employability programmes;
based in Edinburgh and operating Scotland wide is Place2Be & Youth Scotland which equips youth workers and Peer Leaders with the tools to provide vital support for young people’s mental health and wellbeing, and
The Yard which has a play and family support centre for disabled children in Edinburgh as well as other cities across Scotland.
These charities were chosen for their commitment to offering tangible, scalable solutions which tackle the root causes of poverty – an ethos shared by the Ignite Fund.
The STV Children’s Appeal will work closely with Ignite partners to identify goals, needs, and opportunities for growth, aiming to drive both immediate improvements and lasting systemic change.
The initiative will include the launch of the Ignite Academy which will offer charity partners access to STV’s in-house expertise (such as marketing, communications, and creative), while fostering a peer network for knowledge-sharing and collaboration.
Natalie Wright, Head of STV Children’s Appeal, said: “At STV Children’s Appeal, we have always focused on ensuring the funding we give is well thought through and with a purpose, which is exactly what we are doing with The Ignite Fund.
“Our experience shows that a sustained approach to our partnerships gives real results which make an immediate and lasting impact to those who need it most.
“We’re excited to welcome Place2Be back to continue our successful partnership, and to have The Yard and Scran Academy on board for the beginning of a fruitful relationship which will change lives.”
Scran Academyis in its first year of partnership with STV Children’s Appeal and provides meaningful youth-led education, employment and skills-building programmes through innovative catering social enterprises, helping young people realise their full potential.
The STV Children’s Appeal’s Ignite Fund will allow Scran Academy to reach younger age groups earlier, generate systemic change, and build capacity by opening new youth-led cafes, including one in the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, opening this summer.
Scran Academy Founder and Chair, John Loughton said: “This is the largest single investment in Scran, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. This funding will create hundreds of new employment and training opportunities for young people across Lothian.
“Our team will keep driving lifechanging impact across education, enterprise and community development, led by the communities we serve. As Founder, I know at Scran we trust and believe that folk facing poverty are the solutions to their own lives – we see what they can do, not what they don’t have.
“Thank you to the STV Children’s Appeal, one of Scotland’s most forward-looking funders. We’re ready to get to work and quite literally, Cater for the Future.”
The Yard, which has a play and family support centre in Edinburgh, is dedicated to improving the lives of disabled children, young people, and their families across Scotland. Their mission is to create thriving, supportive communities that enhance the well-being of families facing the challenges of disability.
The organisation will be supported by the Ignite Fund for the first time as it sets out on its five-year strategy to expand its impact, improve inclusion, and ensure sustainable growth.
Celine Sinclair, CEO at the Yard, said: “The Ignite Fund partnership couldn’t have come at a better time for us at The Yard.
“Our Edinburgh based play and education centre is a thriving community space which makes a huge difference to the families we work with, and this new funding and support will help us grow and develop our team which will ultimately let us continue expanding across Scotland and helping more families than ever.”
Place2Be, a children’s mental health charity providing counselling and support to UK schools. In partnership with Youth Scotland, the national charity for community-based youth work development, they are setting out to equip community-based youth workers with the essential knowledge and understanding of young people’s mental health, and the skills and confidence to better support their emotional needs.
Michele Meehan, Head of Youth Work Programmes at Youth Scotland said: “The Ignite fund has allowed Place2Be and Youth Scotland to work together to create a suite of programmes and resources for youth workers in the community which are needed to support young people with the issues they currently face.”
Community Garden Vandalism 
We’re about to post the same thing about our garden in the SfL department. It’s so disheartening when we try so hard to keep it good and our young people are working in it 
**Calling All Volunteers young and old!** 
**Where?** The Arena Basketball Court, Ferry Road Drive
**When?** Monday 22nd September
**Time?** 4:30PM – 6:30PM (Clean-Up)
6:30PM – 7:30PM (Refreshments at PYCP – come relax and chat!)
**Free refreshments afterwards** at PYCP – everyone welcome!
**Tag a friend, share this post, and let’s build a cleaner, greener, more welcoming community together!**
We currently have spaces in our Intermediate English class for those who would like to sign up! (Nat 4 level, ESOL level A2-B1)
Classes run on Tuesdays, 9.30am-12.30pm.
All enquiries, please contact 
Have a good look at our new programme below! We are so ready to welcome everyone back NEXT WEEK!
