The kitchen, along with the washing machine gives the School the opportunity to support our Young Carers to meet weekly to give them the time to relax and chat, learn how to cook/ do washing and have fun activities. The school have been awarded two “We Care Awards” for Schools with Young Carers, these Awards recognise and reward good practice around identifying and supporting our young carers in schools across Scotland. Braehead Primary School are very proud to hold these Awards and are currently working towards the final We Excel Award. The Harbour gives us the space to be able to link with Stirling Young Carers and gives our pupils the opportunity to share their experiences within school in a quiet and confidential setting.

These meetings are regularly held in the Harbour, the reason being, it creates a more relaxing atmosphere particularly for families who have difficulty with a school environment. Parents/Carers find this layout less formal and find it easier to relax and ask questions.

Please clink on the above icon for further information about the Staged Intervention process. 

The Health & Wellbeing Officer hosts a weekly group called Brave Butterflies for young children Primary 2-3. The group was developed to promote social and emotional skills focusing on ways to build a child’s resilience and confidence through fun sessions. E.g. Understanding how emotions feel and look, relaxation strategies, breaking things down into small steps. The Harbour provides the space to be able to hold these sessions.

These sessions are 1:1 and give a child the opportunity to discover and communicate their emotions through a non-directed technique where the child is free to draw what is on their mind and is then able to chat about what they are feeling. The Harbour provides a safe, quiet uninterrupted space for this to take place.

Braehead Parent Support Group: The School setup a support group for our families who have children with an ASN/ADHD diagnosis or who are awaiting a CAMHS referral. The Harbour has provided a relaxed area where parents can pop in once a week for a coffee and a chat. The Health & Wellbeing Support Officer has had talks from outside Agencies to support the parents and this has

been well received. The parents have found this group really supportive and enjoy their chat and sharing their best practice. This has given them a confidential, safe space to speak to people who share the same experiences as them.

The Harbour has given the school the space to offer access to pre loved school uniform and also a food larder during the school year. This access points mean families can enter and exit the Harbour without coming through the main school, therefore giving them the ability to be discrete where they wish. The Health & Wellbeing Officer also provides weekly food parcels for families and this comes via the Heart of Braehead. The School food larder is for any family who requires a top up. This is stocked via donations from our school community.

We have 3 members of staff trained in Seasons for Growth which supports young children who are experiencing bereavement, separation or other form of change in their life. The Harbour offers a quiet uninterrupted setting which is required to run this group.

Overall the Harbour is setup to welcome those in need. Children who are having a tough day emotionally enjoy the relaxed surroundings the sofas and the snug are the favourites. The snug gives children who are emotionally overwhelmed an opportunity to regulate themselves by resting on the bean bags watching the lava lamp. This has been successfully used on many occasions.

Our school has used the LEANS project to strengthen our understanding of Neurodiversity. Our school prides itself on its inclusive ethos and the LEANS resources are used throughout our upper classes to develop our understanding of different types of brains and strategies for learning.

The Mission Dyslexia Team is made up of P4-7 children. Their objective is to raise awareness of dyslexia and neurodiversity with students, staff and families.

The team work on different projects throughout the year and have highlighted their important work to the school community during Dyslexia Awareness week.

The Tech Team of Braehead Primary is a group of P5-P7 students with a range of learning needs and abilities.  The Team created and add to an educational website to educate and celebrate Neurodiversity The students worked with supervision and guidance from the Learning Support teacher to research different learning differences and to encourage our school community to embrace and celebrate Neurodiversity. The Tech Team researched lots of neurotypes and developed tech skills relating to research and software.  

One of our school’s core values is inclusion. Inclusion means to respect and accept other’s differences and celebrate how these differences enrich our school community. We foster an inclusive environment at Braehead and each year we take part in Neurodiversity Celebration Week.

To celebrate Neurodiversity we engage in whole class learning, listen to presentations from Neurodiverse peers, create artwork, read and share Neurodiversity themed books and celebrate all our learning with whole school assemblies.

Our school uses Fresh Start as a reading intervention from Primary 4 onwards. The systematic synthetic phonics program provides rigorous intervention and support. The delivery of this intervention at Braehead has had an incredibly positive impact on learning.

Assistive technology is used to support learners to reduce barriers. Our school uses Clicker, talking buttons, Read&Write on Chrome and accessibility tools within the Google Suite.  Braehead's ethos is that technology is a tool to access and enhance learning, allowing students to show their full capabilities.

Colourful Semantics, and its precursor Fun with Narrative, are resources created to develop young people's communication skills. The approach support children's understanding of sentence structure and to expand on the detail and length of their sentences.