Supporting vulnerable children during lunch breaks

Chirnside Primary School is situated in the Scottish Borders. The mainstream school roll is around 180 and there is also a Support Centre, which takes in children from other primary schools on a part-time basis.

Eighteen months ago, as part of a whole school audit, it was found that children with additional needs such as learning difficulties were well supported in the classroom. However, there was a significant number of children who were not coping during the unstructured times of the school day. This vulnerable group included some with English as an additional language, those with relationship difficulties and those who were excluded from the playground due to constant aggressive behaviour.

Excluding children from playtimes was not the answer; it wasn't helping these children learn how to cope and was further disengaging them from an important part of school life. There was also a group who although not excluded from playtimes were clearly unhappy during these unstructured times of the school day.

Louise Sanders, Support Centre Manager, sent out a questionnaire to pupils to find out how they wanted to improve playtimes and she also interviewed the playground staff. There were also discussions with other professionals involved with the school, the Educational Psychologist and the Locality Integration Police Officer, and it was through these questionnaires and discussions that the idea was born of setting up lunchtime activity groups and the peer mediation scheme.