Children and young people across Argyll and Bute are continuing to benefit from a variety of health and wellbeing initiatives as part of the Council’s £600,000 Covid-19 education recovery programme.
At a meeting of the Council’s Community Services Committee, members received an update on the initiatives supported by the funding:
- An Outdoor Learning Programme that benefitted more than 3,000 learners to develop skills, confidence and resilience after the second lockdown.
- A childminding recruitment campaign that has seen six new childminders registered with the Care Inspectorate and a further four are in the process of working towards registration. As well as boosting family incomes and helping to alleviate poverty, the introduction of these childminders has allowed parents to return to work.
- A Principal Teacher for Maximising Attendance secondment is currently advertised to support attendance developments across Argyll and Bute.
- Two Lead Teachers of Nurture too up post in October, enabling schools to make progress with the Our Children, Their Nurturing Education early intervention programme.
- Ten school counsellors are in post.
- Four Health and Wellbeing Support Workers/Family Liaison Workers have been funded through the Care Experienced Children and Young People Grant.
- Coaching is available for Head Teachers, Central Team members and other Educational Staff.
- Council-funded Seasons for Growth resources are supporting children and young people who have had to confront loss or change in their lives.
The Council’s Policy Lead for Education, Councillor Yvonne McNeilly, said: “Our education service has worked extremely hard to develop and deliver a detailed, inclusive Covid recovery programme to ensure that our learners feel supported as they adjust to a new way of school life post-lockdown.
“I am incredibly proud of the measures we have put in place for our children and young people and I would like to thank everyone involved. We cannot underestimate the impact that Covid has had on our communities, especially our school pupils, but I feel reassured that we are doing everything we can to promote positive health and wellbeing, and ensure our children and young people have access to appropriate support and resources.”