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Skills for Life Programmes in Scotland – Coping skills and resilience at forefront of Recovery Curriculum

We are delighted to have successfully launched our Skills for Life programmes in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. In June 2020, 125 teachers and learning support staff from 20 schools across the region attended our online training courses and received programme resource packs. This is all thanks to funding from the Kavli Trust - the Kavli Trust owns the Castle McLellan pâté factory in Kirkcudbright, and the Kavli Trust is a generous supporter of good causes in the UK and abroad.

The funding has allowed schools in Dumfries and Galloway to access Skills for Life mental health promotion programmes at a crucial time.
 
“In speaking to schools across Dumfries and Galloway, it has become very apparent that teachers are keen to place mental health and wellbeing, and not least work around resilience and coping skills at the forefront of the recovery curriculum when children go back to school in August. Staff recognise the increased anxiety that children are likely to have faced as a result of lockdown and Covid-19, and the fears that they may experience in coming back to school and are extremely grateful for the opportunity to have access to easy to use, evidence based programmes to help them support children to express their feelings and navigate these uncertainties together.” - Grace Cardozo, Dumfries and Galloway Skills for Life Coordinator and Managing Director of Sleeping Giants.
 
“I think it's a very worthwhile programme and training and can definitely see the advantages of implementing it throughout the school. Children will learn skills and strategies to support their mental health that they can use not just during their childhood but as they move through their teenage years and into an adult.” - Learning Assistant
 
Skills for Life schools in Dumfries and Galloway will begin implementation of Zippy’s Friends (P1-P3), Apple’s Friends (P4-5) and Passport (P6-7) when their classes return in August.

Over 1500 children in Dumfries and Galloway will be taking part in the programme this coming academic year and we look forward to supporting schools and measuring the impact of the programme.

We are thrilled that the Kavli Trust will be funding our work in the region until 2023.

Schools in Dumfries and Galloway interested in the programmes should contact: grace@sleeping-giants.org.uk

Schools within other local authorities in Scotland interested in the programmes should contact: Hannah.craig@partnershipforchildren.org.uk

Partnership for Children
7 July 2020