South Perth Community Partnership and Perth High School IT Project

Overview

The project was set up to build bridges between the local secondary school and the local community. It is hoped that in time this will assist in challenging isolation for certain older community members. The long term plan is to run this project with school pupils every academic year. Obviously the hope is that this will result in many positives including challenging stereotypes between older and younger people and promoting positive images of people of all ages.

Perth High School and the South Perth Community Partnership were both keen to make this an intergenerational project. Perth High School wanted to develop a space in their timetable for 6th year pupils in their ‘options’ column which was community based and intergenerational. This tied in with the South Perth Community Partnership who planned to develop new opportunities to bring the community together and were keen to do this in an intergenerational way.

4 x S6 pupils and 5 x community members took part in this project. The pupils were all 17 years old and the community members were all over 60. The school pupils got involved through publicity for this project in school when it was a ‘proposal’. The community members linked in though the ‘Craigie and Moncreiffe Church’ who are part of the South Perth Community Partnership.

11 group sessions were held in total when everyone worked together and another was held to evaluate the project and agree proposals for the next year’s activities.

Benefits for the Community

Better links between community members and Perth High School pupils/staff.

One of the community members gave this project some money for the young people to do something constructive with. The outcome is that there will now be a trophy for the best contribution to intergenerational work in South Perth which will be decided by the South Perth Community Partnership and Perth High School.

Benefits for the Younger People

Perth High School pupils lead their sessions and become more successful learners, responsible citizens, effective contributors and confident individuals.

All involved have given very positive feedback on their personal involvement. All four pupils used this experience in UCAS applications/CVs. All young people involved have taken part in intergenerational work training and were also nominated for a ‘Perth and Kinross Spirit of Youth Award’ 2015 for their input into this project.

One of the pupils said “I think it’s a great idea to have young people working with elderly people to try to get rid of assumptions and stereotypes about both generations. The IT side of it allows elderly people to learn things that are second nature to us, and allows us to learn from their experiences and gain experience ourselves working with other people and improving our social skills.” Another said “I feel as though we have shown that elder people’s stereotypes aren’t always accurate”, she also said that “It has made me realise that working with community is important”. Another said she felt more confident “working in a group and being able to lead a session”.

Benefits for the Older People

All involved gave positive feedback on their individual learning needs being met. The community members have links to a local church and the worker connected to the project has said “From the feedback I have had the intergenerational IT group has been a huge success. Every one of the folks from Craigie and Moncreiffe has spoken very highly of their experience and don’t really want to stop”. One of the community members said “Emma galvanized me”. “It was quite a learning experience”; “There was a lot of learning from this experience”.

Funding

Staff time and any resources suppled via Perth and Kinross Council and the South Perth Community Partnership.

Evaluation

Using LEAP and individual evaluation questions for both community members and pupils. Positives included the relationships built and the learning that took place. Things came up in the evaluation that will be looked at for the next academic year namely the room/space used in school which also relates to access to wifi.

What next

The specific venue within the school will be looked at for the next year’s project. Planning individual learning, needs a bit more thought. If relevant, broader info on Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. will be covered in the introductory sessions.

Awards

The project won an award at the GWT national recognition award ceremony 2016.

Local Priorities

This linked into ‘Theme 1’ of the ’Craigie, Moncreiffe and Friarton Community Action Plan 2014-2019.

Scottish NPF Objectives

This project contributes to the Scottish National Performance Framework (NPF).

SMARTER – Expanding opportunities to succeed from nurture through to lifelong learning ensuring higher and more widely shared achievements.

These NPF objectives could also apply:

WEALTHIER & FAIRER – will support activities that address inequalities and enhance skills, employability and job opportunities. It builds on the characteristics of solidarity, cohesion and sustainability to ensure that all of Scotland has an opportunity to flourish

HEALTHIER – helping people to sustain and improve their health, especially in disadvantaged communities, ensuring better, local and faster access to health care.

Scottish NPF Outcomes

Our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens: To enable children, young people and (subsequently) adults to thrive from an early age, and make a positive contribution in the 21st century.

We are better educated, more skilled and more successful, renowned for our research and innovation.

We realise our full economic potential with more and better employment opportunities for our people.

We have tackled the significant inequalities in Scottish society.

We live longer, healthier lives: Securing longer healthier lives for the people of Scotland will always be a top priority for governments and individuals alike. There are significant challenges which can only be addressed by everyone in Scotland working together, pursuing this goal through improving lifestyles and life circumstances, and a shared ownership of an effective NHS.

Our people are able to maintain their independence as they get older and are able to access appropriate support when they need it.