Glaitness pupils give “240 reasons to smile”!

Smile and the world smiles with you has been a thought-provoking enterprise by a number of pupils at Glaitness Primary School.

The focus was on encouraging P6/7 pupils to realise there can be significant rewards in things other than financial gains.

Part of this included a new intergenerational group set up with the Orkney Befriending Service based at Voluntary Action Orkney linking with Sunnybrae Adult Supported Accommodation at Eunson Kloss and pupils from Glaitness.

Young and older folk joined together at Sunnybrae bringing together different generations from the age of ten right up to folk’s more twilight years!

Pamela Scott, Co-ordinator of the Adult Befriending Service, said: “The intergenerational group ran from April to June and the pupils made such a difference to the lives of other people.

“During the last session at Sunnybrae we played some games and then had time for tea, juice and cakes as a peedie thank you to everyone. Glaitness P6/7 have been absolutely brilliant, and the residents will really miss them.

“They certainly achieved their outcome by making the residents smile. Our thanks are also extended to the residents and staff of Eunson Kloss for making us all feel so welcome. We have had a great time and hope to be back!”

Glaitness Head Teacher, Ingrid Rendall, added: “The benefits of this type of project can be immense, elderly people can become isolated and lonely and lose motivation, but the joy of children can reignite that fun side of people.

“It may also be the case that children in the school don’t have grandparents living in Orkney or who are sadly no longer with us, so interaction with older folk can help them and teach them.

“Intergenerational relationships are so important to build our communities and teach children respect for our elders. For young children to begin to understand difficulties older people face can only be a positive thing.

“An important part of the project was to change children's perceptions about what it means to be a more mature person and it has certainly changed the bairn's perspective on this. 

“I was delighted for the school to do this, and we are keen to continue to build on these community aspects moving forward. 

“It has certainly been a joy seeing the delight and smiles on both the young and older – there’s no barriers when simply enjoying a game or a chat. It made me smile just looking at the photos and hearing from the bairns about what they were doing.”

The Adult Befriending Service has many years of experience in developing and delivering intergenerational projects.

Also as part of the “happiness” project the pupils helped set up for one of the Kirkwall Salvation Army Church & Community Centre Friendship and Lunch Clubs.

Chair of the Council’s Education, Leisure and Housing Committee, Councillor Gwenda Shearer, said: “A picture can paint a thousand words, and I think some of the photos here say it all!

“What a fantastic initiative to give people something to look forward to and the chance to connect with new people. Some may not have experienced the joy of grandchildren for whatever reason – this will facilitate the building of new relationships.

“This may also help break down some of the stereotyping of ‘older’ people; through discussions they may find out they have lots more in common than they at first realised. Most important of all was that they all seemed to have good fun!”