Tag: Children and Families

£3.6m National Lottery funding to support adoptive families

The charity Adoption UK has been awarded funding from The National Lottery Community Fund to set up a bold new project that will benefit thousands of families in England, Scotland and Wales.

The project, known as TESSA (Therapeutic, Education and Support Services in Adoption) has just launched. Continue reading £3.6m National Lottery funding to support adoptive families

Warm welcome awaits Norhet’s charity walkers

There will be a warm welcome – and a cold pint or two – awaiting a hardy team of walkers when they get back to the Norhet Bar in Davidsons Mains late this afternoon. Continue reading Warm welcome awaits Norhet’s charity walkers

Nurseries rewarded for innovation

New awards recognise Early Learning and Childcare success

A nursery where children built a car out of old tyres and recycled wood is among the inaugural winners of a new awards scheme to boost the quality of childcare.

Other winners of the Scottish Government’s Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Innovation Award include a nursery where children set up a café for parents and a nursery where children now grow their own food for lunch.

All six winning nurseries set up new creative experiences to challenge children and improve their social and language skills and self-confidence.

The six are:

  • Clober Nursery, East Dunbartonshire
  • Menstrie Nursery, Clackmannanshire
  • Village Nursery, West Linton, Scottish Borders
  • Bowhouse Early Learning and Childcare, Falkirk
  • Treetop Family Nurture Centre, Fife
  • Innerwick Early Years Setting, East Lothian.

All of the winning nurseries will receive £5,000 to further develop their innovative ideas.

Children’s Minister Maree Todd visited Clober Nursery and said: “Every winning nursery has gone above and beyond to give their children outstanding opportunities to learn and develop.

“Staff have come up with amazingly creative and fun ways to develop children’s understanding of the world around them, with great results already for the children, their families and staff.

“As quality is at the heart of our expansion plans, the awards will showcase best practice and encourage nurseries to share success with each other.”

Louise McHugh, an ELC practitioner from Clober Nursery, said: “Outdoor learning is an exciting and daily part of Clober Nursery.

“We strive to provide children with opportunities to learn and develop their risk-taking strategies, educate them to understand where food comes from as well as providing them with the opportunity to use their imagination with loose part play.

“We are only at the beginning of our outdoor learning journey and we cannot wait to see where the children’s investigations take us.”

Scotland ‘working hard’ to improve breastfeeding support, says report

Breastfeeding support in Scotland has been rated highly by an expert group looking at provision across the country.

The report from the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) Scottish committee assessed the effectiveness, affordability and feasibility of current support, marking it overall as ‘strong’.  Continue reading Scotland ‘working hard’ to improve breastfeeding support, says report

New support for families of children starting school

Full Best Start Grant package now available

A brand new benefit for low income families is now open for applications.  The £250 School Age Payment is for families with a child old enough to start primary school  this August.

The payment is part of the Best Start Best Grant, a package of three payments for families in receipt of eligible benefits – including Universal Credit, Income Support, Housing Benefit and tax credits – to help at key stages in a child’s life.

The Best Start Grant package also includes the Pregnancy and Baby Payment, which has been open for applications since December 2018 and the Early Learning Payment, which launched in April.

Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Covering the costs of a child starting school puts pressure on family finances, and we have created this new payment to help ease that burden, putting more money into the pockets of families at a time when they need it most.

“We are committed to doing all we can to make sure Scotland is the best place for a child to grow up.  We want to increase financial support to families, bringing equality to children by giving them help towards a fairer start.

“We also want to encourage everyone who is entitled to a payment to apply, so will be working with services to promote the benefit to ensure as many people as possible are aware they can access this new additional support.”

  • applications for the School Age Payment open today (Monday 3 June) and will remain open to 29 February 2020
  • eligible families can apply for a payment if their child was born between 1 March 2014 and 28 February 2015
  • there is no requirement to take up a place at school to be eligible for the payment
  • parents who have deferred school entry so their children will start school in August 2020 should still apply in the 3 June to 29 February window
  • Social Security Scotland is using a single application process for these payments so families can apply for any Best Start Grant Payment in one form. Applications can be made online, over the phone or by post
  • parents/carers will be eligible if they live in Scotland, are responsible for a child and receive certain qualifying benefits
  • the qualifying benefits include: Universal Credit, Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit
  • the introduction of this benefit means that the Scottish Government is now delivering four new benefits. These are: Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment, Early Learning Payment, School Age Payment and Carer’s Allowance Supplement.
  • Social Security Scotland came into being as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government on 1 September 2018
  • further information can be found at mygov.scot/benefits or call 0800 182 2222