Alness ceilidh kids step out in style
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A SCHOOL project aiming to teach younger pupils literacy skills through traditional Gaelic music and dance culture has been celebrated in style.
Pupils from primary one classes and nursery groups have been taking part in ceilidhs at their schools as part of a scheme run by charity Artsplay Highland.
Among them was Obsdale Primary in Alness. Head teacher Susan Josey said parents also came along to the ceilidh session on Monday: “The music was brilliant and the kids were just so enthusiastic,” she said. “It was just such a lovely experience.”
Obsdale’s involvement with Artsplay Highland began in 2017. The school has paid the charity £7765 to run a year’s worth of tutor-led weekly music sessions in the school.
The money came from the school’s annual £38,000 Pupil Equity Fund which the Scottish Government grants to schools in varying amounts to raise attainment levels.
Artsplay Highland sends a tutor into the school once a week to deliver sessions lasting between 45 minutes and an hour to pupils from nursery upwards.
Forty ukulele stringed instruments and sets of maracas were purchased out of this year’s £7765 spend.
Mrs Josey said: “Artsplay Highland supports our pupils’ literacy through music and rhyme. It’s just been tremendous.”
Mrs Josey wants it to continue into next year and beyond. She said: “The continuity is helping the children to see their progress and to see the skills they have achieved and to see how their confidence is growing – so we would very much like it to carry on.”
The Pupil Equity funding is being provided as part of the £750 million Attainment Scotland Fund which is being invested over the current parliamentary term from 2016 to 2021.
It is allocated directly to schools and targeted at closing the poverty-related attainment gap.
