In 2011 a team of enthusiastic and highly motivated staff sought funding and approval for the establishment of an innovative provision within the Secondary School to provide a much needed resource for the community and learning opportunities for pupils. A small amount of money and a great deal of personal effort by the staff involved led to the creation of the Tots and Teens Playgroup.

To ensure that we could understand and learn from the impact of this new provision an evaluation framework was established. The evaluation report sets out what we have learned in the first place and provides recommendations for the future.

Highlights have been the wider impact of play on the children’s lives, the growth in confidence in those S3 pupils involved and the fact that there were unexpected benefits for parents which we would not have realised if this evaluation had not been in place.

Please take the time to read this short report and to learn more about the importance of play in the early years.