New to the Large Project portfolio for 2020, over the next 3 years Children 1st will work in partnership with Ardroy Outdoor Education Centre to offer residential weekends to over 100 families from across Scotland, as well as providing ongoing outreach support to build on the benefits of the residential experience. Children 1st recognise that outdoor education is often not accessed by families due to financial, physical or emotional restrictions they face. This project aims to overcome this to encourage and enable whole families to take part. The project aims to strengthen family relationships, build confidence and create the conditions in which families can come together and become more active in their communities. The partnership will pool their expertise and assets to provide this opportunity for families and build a safe, sustainable, and scalable model.
Key achievements
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic curtailing delivery plans Children 1st and Ardroy Outdoor Education Centre have made progress in setting up the project considering new social distancing measures:
- Generating the project scope and mapping of outdoor spaces for outreach work
- Developing the John Muir Award linking into the Project Outcomes Matrix
- Developing a home activities pack to complement outreach work linked into the John Muir Award
- Generating the residential programme and reviewing and amending associated activity Risk Assessments based on operating under COVID restrictions
- Assessing the Centre and generating a COVID-19 plan of operations for Children 1st residential visits
- Advertising for project staff Whilst Children 1st await a time in the Scottish Government’s phased route-map to begin delivery fully, they anticipate being operational by October 2020, with two residential weekend taking place before the end of 2020.
Legacy
Children 1st anticipate the support provided to families during this Large Project will lead to them building the skills and confidence needed to develop and sustain self-directed support groups. These groups will help support families to be more active in their local community through strong connections and networks.
Sustainability
A key aspect of this Large Project is the ambition to create a sustainable model which can be replicated across Scotland, ensuring families have the right support in place to enable them to access the same type of provision known to improve wellbeing and outcomes.