Tag: Children and Families

Edinburgh International Book Festival announces fun-filled free schools programme for 2023

The Edinburgh International Book Festival has revealed details of its free programme of events for school pupils in 2023.

Running from 21 to 29 August at the state-of-the-art studios inside Edinburgh College of Art, the Baillie Gifford Schools Programme will offer a packed programme of free, in-person events created especially for school-age audiences, from P1 to S6.

Selected events will also be available to watch, live or on-demand, from the classroom. Every child who attends will also receive a free book courtesy of event sponsors Baillie Gifford, which they can have signed by their favourite author after the events.

The programme will culminate in the return of the massively popular Baillie Gifford Schools Gala Day, an entertaining and educational day of events and workshops which this year celebrates the theme Happy Healthy You.  

Rachel Fox, Children & Schools Programme Director at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said: “We are so excited to welcome schools to this jam-packed programme of events for pupils, and so incredibly grateful to Baillie Gifford for their support to make tickets and books free. 

“Thanks too to all the wonderful authors and illustrators joining us in person to deliver their fantastic events live and giving their time to signing books after every event. From the science of the brain to the building of the Forth Bridge; Creative writing inspiration to reflections on body image and social media usage; we hope there is something for everyone in this year’s offer for schools and we can’t wait to welcome everyone on to site!” 

Every weekday morning from 21 – 28 August school audiences can enjoy imaginative, inspiring events with leading writers and authors, with something available for all ages.

Young adventure-seekers (P1 -P3) can join co-author legends Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve as they introduce their story about a tiny mouse named Pedro, before he sets off into the world to meet the brave and daring Adventuremice! 

Award-winning author Barbara Henderson brings reading, drama, and engineering challenges to the stage with her riveting adventure Rivet Boy, telling the story of one boy’s vital role in the building of Scotland’s greatest man-made wonder, the Forth Rail Bridge (P4–P6).

 While bestselling author and two-time Olympian Matthew Syed, alongside inspirational writer and resilience guru Kathy Weeks, invite young audiences to find their voice, flex their social superpowers, and speak up with kindness and confidence in the event What Do YOU Think? (P4–P6).    

Secondary school pupils can also enjoy some brilliant events. Acclaimed author Alex Wheatle returns to the Festival to chat about the fifth instalment in his multi-award-winning Crongton series, each book featuring the story of a young person struggling to grow up and make their mark in the fictional South Crongton council estate (S1–S3). 

Nikesh Shukla wrestles with issues of humour and viral fame in his new book Stand Up (S1–S3), while author, illustrator, and performance poet Laura Dockrill delivers a superb masterclass on how pupils can use their imaginations to find their voice and become creative writing superstars (S3–S6).  

Poet and current Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho takes classes through ancient Greek myths and magic with his latest novel The Boy Lost in the Maze, before offering some tips for writing their own powerful stories (S3–S5).

Multi-award-winning writer SF Said delves into the power of imagination as he shares his own storytelling journey (S1–S3), while YA writers William Hussey and Amara Sage chat cancel culture, body confidence, mental health, and first loves as they discuss how their experiences have shaped their novels (S3–S5).

There’s also the return of the audience favourite YA Book Prize (S3–S6), which gives pupils a chance to meet some of the incredible authors shortlisted for this year’s award as they talk about and read from their books ahead of the big reveal. 

This year’s programme celebrates the power of self-care under the theme Happy Healthy You, with themed events and exciting onsite activities taking place throughout the day.

Pupils from P1–P7 will have the chance to meet and learn about the power of Therapets with Canine Concern Scotland; go on an inter-planetary trip to Planet Citizen with Ryan Van Winkle; enjoy some footballing fun with Spartans Community Football Academy; enjoy mindfulness-focussed crafts and activities with Edinburgh Libraries; and ‘Dress to Express’ to showcase their best selves by wearing something bright and colourful, whether it’s a badge and bobble or a full eye-catching outfit.    

The nation’s favourite NHS doctor, and Strictly Come Dancing star, Dr Ranj Singh arrives to challenge pupils to unleash the power of their brains, with his new book Brain Power unveiling the secrets of the how to keep your mind healthy and happy. 

Edinburgh-based poet Nadine Aisha Jassat shines a light on the effects of Alzheimer’s, on both family and the patient, in her heart-warming book The Stories that Grandma Forgot, while bestselling author Phil Earle offers inspiration and reminds us that it’s never too late to find the perfect book to get your imagination racing and capture your attention.   

Space-heads can jump onboard for an awesome and exciting space adventure with authors-extraordinaire Katie and Kevin Tsang, exploring their new book Suzie and the Moonbugs, while prize-winning author Mike Nicholson introduces the intrepid Museum Mystery Squad – Nabster, Kennedy, and Laurie, along with hamster Colin – for an action-packed event with unexpected cliff-hangers and astonishing space facts.    

Celebrated writer Maisie Chan shares her love of Chinese myths, the Moon Festival, and the power of creativity in a special interactive event based on her Tiger Warrior series. Author and illustrator Nadia Shireen will discuss the fabulous third instalment in her hilarious Grimwood series featuring fox siblings Nancy and Ted and a whole host of animal friends and foes.

And children are invited to put on their helmets, grab their swords and step back in time to the Viking Age in an hilarious historic event with award-winning writer Chae Strathie who gives a kid’s-eye view of what life as a Viking was really like. 

Michelle McLeod, Sponsorship Manager at Baillie Gifford, said: “The Schools Programme is full of inspiration, imagination and fun activities for pupils of all ages, and the festival is an excellent way to take young people on an adventure through books.

“We remain committed to removing barriers for schools and pupils so they can fully enjoy the magic of the festival and the joy of books. As well as the fantastic line-up of in-person events, there will be opportunities for schools to take part from the classroom” 

The Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Baillie Gifford Schools Programme runs from Monday 21 August – Tuesday 29 August. All events will take place in person, with a selection also made available online, both live and on catch up.

Support towards travel costs for schools attending in person continues to be available through the Baillie Gifford Transport Fund. All events are free for schools and are available to book online from Tuesday 25 April.    

Full details of the Baillie Gifford Schools Programme, and guidance for registration and booking for teachers can be found online now at learning.edbookfest.com 

2023-baillie-gifford-schools-programme.644002c272c42Download

Holyrood to nominate new Children’s Commissioner tomorrow

The Scottish Parliament will be invited to nominate Nicola Killean to His Majesty the King for appointment as the new Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland.

The Commissioner’s general duty is to promote and safeguard the rights of children and young people in Scotland.

Ms Killean is set to succeed Bruce Adamson who leaves the position next month following the completion of his six-year term of office.

A motion to agree Ms Killean’s appointment will be considered by the Parliament on Wednesday 26 April.

The appointment follows an open recruitment process. The position attracts a starting salary of £77,260 and is for a single term of six years.

Nicola Killean OBE was the very first employee of the charity Sistema Scotland in 2007 and worked with the Board to create and grow the organisation to a charity of national significance.

It supports children and young people to gain vital life skills such as confidence, resilience, team work, pride, creativity, and aspiration, and aims to strengthen community cohesion and tackle inequalities in some of Scotland’s most disadvantaged areas.

The charity delivers a social change programme called Big Noise in 5 cities in Scotland, using music and nurturing relationships to support over 3,500 children and young in Scotland.

She graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with a degree in music education and has had a particular focus throughout her career in creating opportunities for children and young people from more disadvantaged communities.

She previously worked as a nursery teacher, as one of the first cultural coordinators in Scotland focusing on designing arts projects as social development and intervention models, the Scottish Officer for the charity Youth Music, as well as music leader and freelance project manager.

Ms Killean is a Saltire Foundation Fellow, and has also previously held voluntary roles within the Children’s Panel in Scotland and on the Board of Horsecross Arts.

She was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours list for 2020, for services to ‘Music, children and community cohesion’.  She believes passionately in the potential of all children and young people.

Find out more about the Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland

Pilton Youth & Children’s Project: New programme starts next week

✨ New Term Programme ✨

Our new term starts next week! Clubs are back on as normal and we’re excited to see all our children and young people every week until Summer!!

If you are new to us, please pop in for a consent form and make sure it’s signed by your legal guardian!

#YouthWorkMatters

#YouthWorkWorks

Swimmers diving into history with The Great Royal Swim Challenge

Swimmers from Edinburgh Leisure’s coaching sessions are looking to dive into history with the Great Royal Swim Challenge by taking on the challenge to collectively swim from the Royal Commonwealth Pool to Balmoral Castle in celebration of the King’s Coronation.

Children in Edinburgh Leisure’s coaching classes in Swim Skills 4, Club Ready and Junior Skills & Drills classes, will aim to swim a total of 166km, the distance between the Royal Commonwealth Pool and Balmoral Castle, during their swim lessons between now and 5th May, with each class totalling the distance they swim. 

As there are different numbers of classes at each pool it will be an Edinburgh Leisure team challenge and the total distance in metres for all pools will be accumulated to reach Balmoral Castle.

Marie Kneeshaw, Edinburgh Leisure’s Aquatics Development Officer explained: “Our swim coordinators collectively came up with this exciting challenge for swimmers in our coaching classes to take on the challenge to swim 166km, the distance between the Commie Pool and Balmoral Castle, aiming to complete the challenge by Friday, 5th May, just before the King’s Coronation.

“This will be an amazing target to reach and hopefully this will get our swimmers up for the challenge.”

At the end of the challenge each swimmer in the Swim Skills 4, Club Ready and Junior Skills & Drills will receive a certificate of congratulations for taking part in the Great Royal Swim.

Follow the children’s progress by following Edinburgh Leisure on their social media channels on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

For more information: https://www.edinburghleisure.co.uk/activities/coaching-courses/swimming#greatroyalswim

Foster carers needed for children from minority ethnic backgrounds

Foster with Edinburgh is launching a new a recruitment campaign to find more foster carers for children from minority ethnic backgrounds.

The organisation is looking for host family foster carers for unaccompanied young people arriving in Edinburgh escaping the trauma of war and persecution.

The campaign aims to raise awareness of the need for foster carers who have the skills, knowledge and cultural awareness to support them.

As well as a digital advertising and radio campaign, the foster team will be linking in with mosques, universities, cultural and voluntary overseas organisations to spread the word.

A series of events will start with a stall at the Asda superstore in Chesser tomorrow (Thursday 20 April) where anyone who wants to find out more can pop along from 11am until 2pm and meet the team.

Edinburgh has a number of children from minority ethnic backgrounds and unaccompanied migrants between 16 – 21 who require support. 

Research highlights where possible children who require foster care should be matched with families who can reflect and promote their ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identities, as well as navigate discrimination. 

There is currently a national shortage of approved foster carers, so matching children with carers who will best suit their needs is an ongoing challenge. 

We are therefore keen to recruit foster carers from a range of diverse groups. As our host family foster carers support unaccompanied migrants age 16 plus, they can still work.  A large part of their role is supporting our young people in coming to terms with their experiences, promoting their learning within a new country and helping prepare them for independence.

Cllr Joan Griffiths, Education, Children and Families Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, explains more about the campaign and its importance. She said: “We have a number of children and young people from minority ethnic backgrounds who desperately need homes as they are unaccompanied migrants seeking asylum in the UK or may have been trafficked.

“We urgently need foster carers who can support these young people to feel safe, nurtured and cared for.  

“Our foster carers come from all different backgrounds, but we know that young people from minority ethnic backgrounds face additional challenges and need understanding in relation to the impact of racism and of growing up in a society where their culture and heritage is different.

“I would encourage anyone who might be interested in taking up this amazing opportunity to change a young person’s life for the better to come along to one of our public events or contact us at fosterchildren@edinburgh.gov.uk.”

Foster carers are supported by way of a fostering fee to reflect the care they are providing, along with a maintenance allowance to cover a child or young person’s expenses while in their care. They also get full training and ongoing support from an allocated social worker to develop the skills and knowledge needed to foster.  

Foster carers need time, space (physical and emotional), a sense of fun, patience, and commitment. They also need to have a spare room, be able to work confidently with others and take part in meetings in English. It’s also important to be able to support children and young people becoming part of a new culture who may have issues relating to their immigration status.

There are two further events planned at Asda Chesser on Tuesday 16 May and Friday 26 May which both tie in with Foster Care Fortnight.

Granton Goes Greener looking for Spring clothing donations

Granton Goes Greener are now looking for DONATIONS of SPRING CLOTHES AND SHOES

The items we really need are:

-teenager clothes and shoes,

-children clothes and shoes ( from 2 years old),

-good quality shoes of different sizes,

-male and female Spring clothes.

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Healthy Heart Tip: The Power of Gardening

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

Healthy Heart Tip: The Power of Gardening

It is National Gardening Day on 14th April in the UK and as the weather starts to (slowly!) warm up, it is a great time to get outside. Gardening is associated with many health benefits including improved physical, mental and social wellbeing.

Mowing the lawn, digging, weeding and other gardening tasks can help us stay active and hit our weekly exercise goal and simply spending more time outdoors has been shown to improve sleep. If you don’t have a garden, or outdoor space, you can still reap many of the benefits by planting in pots on windowsills or joining a local gardening group near you.

Read on for our top tips to get started and ideas of what to grow: 

Getting started 

Whether you are growing indoors or outdoors, a thriving plant starts with good soil. The surest way to make sure your plants get off to a good start is to buy a bag of compost and use this to start your seedlings; once they are well-established you can re-plant them into regular soil in your garden.

To save money on buying little pots, you can start your seedlings in clean yoghurt pots or any other containers you can save from your kitchen, just poke something sharp through the bottom to allow for some drainage. 

Grow heart-healthy herbs 

Eating too much salt can contribute to increased blood pressure, using herbs in cooking is a great way to add flavour without adding salt. Herbs are one of the easiest things to grow and great for beginners to try. They are a great choice for indoor growing as they do well in pots on a sunny windowsill.

If you’re planting them outdoors, choose the sunniest spot you can find. Chives, mint, basil, parsley, and thyme are just a few that are easy to care for. You can either grow from seeds or buy the small plants from the supermarket and re-pot them. 

Involve the whole family 

Gardening is a hobby for all ages, and it’s a nice activity to do with children. Children love to see flowers grow and growing vegetables together can be a great way to encourage them to try them, which is especially helpful if you have a picky eater.

It is also a great way to introduce a little responsibility in the form of caring for something else, let children choose what flowers and vegetables they want to grow and watch the sense of joy they get from seeing the fruits of their labour. 

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our healthy recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/.

Dino-saur into the Edinburgh Science Festival final weekend with EarthFest

Dino-sauring into Edinburgh Science Festival 2023’s final weekend, the National Museum of Scotland is hosting the second of the Festival’s themed family weekends: EarthFest.

From prehistoric creatures to the cutting edge of climate science, EarthFest is a t-rriffic celebration of the world around us that offers the chance to learn more about our planet, the animals that live here and how we can take care of it. 

Families can build their own dinosaur from giant bones in the Grand Gallery’s drop-in activities zone, and adventure through a world of sustainability in Two in a Barrel. 

PICTURED: Thane Elders (age 7) getting ready for EarthFest this weekend at the National Museum of Scotland.

Over 23,000 celebrate Easter with the National Trust for Scotland

  • Scotland’s largest conservation charity welcomed 23,822 children to take part in its Easter Egg Trails 
  • Events took place across 32 Trust places throughout the country, with Crathes Castle welcoming 3,363 children, Newhailes 3,251 and Brodie Castle 2,261

The National Trust for Scotland welcomed 23,822 children to its places over Easter weekend, as people flocked to sites such as Crathes Castle, Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and Glencoe National Nature Reserve, to take part in its Easter Egg Trails and enjoy the country’s nature, beauty and heritage.

Following the popularity of last year’s Easter Egg Trails, which saw nearly 20,000 children take part in activities at 21 National Trust for Scotland places between Good Friday and Easter Monday, this year even more events took place across Scotland to encourage more families to get outdoors and enjoy some fun-filled activities in the beautiful surrounds of the Trust’s properties. This resulted in an increase in participants of almost 20%.

This year’s Easter trails took place across 32 Trust properties, from Friday 7 to Monday 10 April, where the family-friendly events tasked visitors with collecting clues dotted around the gardens, grounds, hills and woodland owned and cared for by the conservation charity, before solving the puzzle and winning some tasty chocolate prizes.

Certain places across the country saw a remarkable increase in participants this year, with figures at Hill of Tarvit up 155% to 846 children, meanwhile Crathes Castle welcomed 3,363 children (up 51% on last year), Newhailes 3,251 and Brodie Castle 2,261. House of the Binns, which recently re-opened its doors to the public on 1 April, participated for the first year and sold out in advance, with 478 children taking part.

Philip Long OBE, Chief Executive of National Trust for Scotland, said: “Easter is one of the highlights of the National Trust for Scotland’s calendar, giving people and especially families the chance to enjoy nature, beauty and heritage at our fantastic places.

“All over the country, our places were alive with people from across generations spending time together outdoors, while the sun mostly shone. What a great start to spring for everyone who loves Scotland’s special places. This support means so much to our charity and allows us to continue our vital work to care for and protect Scotland’s rich heritage, now and in the future.”

The Easter Egg Trails are just one example of the events and activities the National Trust for Scotland has made available this year, as part of its commitment to making Scotland’s heritage more accessible, as outlined in the charity’s 10-year strategy, Nature, Beauty & Heritage for Everyone. 

Focused on caring for, sharing, and speaking up for Scotland’s heritage which doesn’t have a voice, the Trust offers its members and visitors the opportunity to explore over 100 sites, while learning about some of the most magnificent buildings, collections and landscapes in the country.

For more information on the National Trust for Scotland visit www.nts.org.uk.