Early Years at Wild About Aden
Welly walkers Childminding Family
Innovative CPD Opportunity: Engaging Children in Permaculture for Early Years
My name Christine Mathieson from Welly Walkers Childminding Family out at Portsoy. I have just finished a fantastic course that ran for 6 weeks, 12hrs in total 2 hrs in the evening per week. It is the Introduction to Engaging Children in Permaculture part of the Permaculture Association, with lecturers/trainers Lusi Alderslowe and Annette Argabright.
As we look for innovative ways to embed sustainability and outdoor learning into our Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) provisions, I would like to tell you about the training that i stumbled on whie doing reaearch during an outdoor play module in my second year of Uni : Engaging Children in Permaculture.
Permaculture goes beyond standard gardening. It introduces a holistic design framework rooted in three core ethics: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share.
- Enhancing STEM & Literacy: Providing practical, nature-based ways to deliver core curriculum outcomes.
- Boosting Child Wellbeing: Supporting sensory integration, physical confidence, and emotional resilience through active outdoor play.
- Promoting Sustainability: Directly contributing to the green initiatives by teaching waste reduction, composting, and biodiversity to the next generation.
- Maximizing Resources: Training educators to utilize free, open-ended natural materials, lowering long-term resource costs for centers.
I really wanted to shout about this CPD as I believe it can lead the way in progressive, climate-conscious early pedagogy.
June Monthly Round up
June 2026 – Congratulations to:
Peterhead Central ELC – https://educationinspectorate.gov.scot/media/h23fxrwh/peterhead-central-school-nc-sif-230626.pdf
Laurencekirk ELC – https://educationinspectorate.gov.scot/media/ivvf0b1v/laurencekirk-psnc-sif-190526.pdf
Macduff ELC – https://educationinspectorate.gov.scot/media/veveixc3/macduff-school-nc-sif-210426.pdf
June 2026 – Congratulations to:
Stepping Stones Ellon – https://ci-web-media-production-bucket.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/inspection-reports/CS2009195509/327829.pdf
Crossroads ELC – https://ci-web-media-production-bucket.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/inspection-reports/CS2003015747/327985.pdf
Danni’s Daycare – https://ci-web-media-production-bucket.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/inspection-reports/CS2024000430/328110.pdf
Banbury Cross – NDNA Nursery of the Year 2026
The team at Banbury Cross Nursery are absolutely delighted to share that Banbury Cross Nursery has won NDNA Nursery of the Year Scotland 2026.
We travelled down to the Titanic Hotel in Liverpool for the NDNA Conference before heading to the awards ceremony that evening. It was a brilliant experience, and we were over the moon when Banbury Cross was announced as the winner.
The judges said:
“Judges praised Banbury Cross Nursery for creating a warm, caring environment and strong family relationships, reflected in glowing testimonials. A clear vision, engaging learning approaches and investment in staffing shows commitment to children’s needs, while strong staff retention highlights effective support despite its rural location.”
Hearing those comments and then winning the award made all the hard work worthwhile. After 15 years of building and growing Banbury Cross Nursery, this recognition means so much to our whole team. We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved together and of the caring, nurturing environment we’ve created for our children and families.
It’s a real team achievement, and we’re still smiling about it!
Flowerpots – Staff Development Workshop
Recently the teams from both Flowerpots sites gathered at the Kastille in Turriff for our bi-annual staff development workshop. Twice a year we step away from our daily routines to engage in collaborative professional discussion and in- house training. This dedicated time allows us to analyse our performance and reflect on our impact in improving outcomes for children and families.
Key focus areas of this event included: Skills for life learning and work, developmental milestones, manual handling, health and safety, curriculum, the promise, pedagogy, and digital literacy. We are incredibly proud of our team’s commitment to providing the highest standards of care and support for our children and families. The level of passion and professionalism brought to these workshops was truly inspiring. Such a valuable opportunity to learn together and we look forward to seeing the benefits of these refreshed insights in our playrooms.
Linda McRae Childminding – Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Certificate
Linda McRae is excited to share that she has recently received a certificate through and is proudly the first childminder in Scotland to be on the map for the Breastfeeding friendly Scotland Award😊
Linda knew a lot with having her own 2 children but after doing this course it has given her much more information about breastfeeding.
This is a free course available to all Childminders, ELC settings and more to support building a Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland. For more information, visit the website here – Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Scheme
Boddam ELC – Raising attainment in literacy
As part of our improvement plan at Boddam ELC, we have been working hard this session on raising attainment in literacy. We have had a focus on developing phonological awareness skills using assessment feedback from P1. We have also been thinking of ways to get children interested and motivated in literacy learning. EYP Mrs Alexander’s Mum knitted a very special teddy for nursery, and the children called him Boddam Gruffalo. Project Boddam Gruffalo was born!
The children have been busy creating their very own Boddam Gruffalo story and have been drawing and describing their character, planning where to take Boddam Gruffalo on our outings, thinking about how we keep Boddam Gruffalo safe in the community and drawing/writing a thank you card for the Little Lighthouse Bakes Cake Shed owners. Boddam Gruffalo has been joining us on our nursery outings and visiting all the lovely places in Boddam with the children. We have linked our learning across the curriculum to enhance and maximise the children’s learning experiences. We visited the local shop to buy some things for snack which tied into our intentional planning around money, we visited the local harbour to see the boats and through stones in the water looking at safety in the community, we visited the local lighthouse and learned how the Boddam lighthouse keeps the boats safe and we visited a very special local cake shed where the owner had made some yummy treats for the children!
We created a special presentation of the children’s work including their voice telling their Boddam Gruffalo story and describing their activities and presented this recently to the whole school at a special Nursery Learning Assembly. The children all earned Certificates of Achievement against the school and nursery values. The children have all taken part in this project, and it has inspired the children in all aspects of literacy learning.
We are planning on sharing the presentation with all the parents when they join us in nursery for an end of term celebration at the end of the month.
Crombie ELC – Intergenerational Learning
Here at Crombie Nursery, we have been extending our intergenerational links with the community.
We invited some of the residents of the local sheltered housing, to a stay and play session. We usually visit them but thought it would be nice for them to come and play with us. The manager organised the dial-a-bus for them to visit.
We also held our termly ‘grandparents stay and play’ session.
The children really enjoy having their grandparents their and feedback from the adults is they enjoy it too.
Having the grandparents in to the setting, started a collaboration with the local ‘Men’s Shed Band’. One of our grandparents is a member of the band and was keen to collaborate with us in some way.
The band joined us for a ‘sing along’ session where they sang nursery rhymes and other children’s songs.
We plan to build on these intergenerational links, by collaborating with the ‘Men’s Shed’ and the local ‘She Shed’. By building on these intergenerational experiences, we will continue to develop and build our links with the community.
Rosehearty ELC – Improving Family Engagement
As a team we recognised that we needed to do more to engage with our families. To do this we invited our families in for a tea, toast and blether session where some families shared their struggles with sleep and fussy eaters. One parent mentioned she had previously moved to the village and was delighted to meet other parents and they invited her along to a local group.
Mrs Purcell, EYSP and Mrs Ruxton, EYLP approached the Health and Wellbeing Team to see if they could come and speak to our parents about sleep and fussy eating, but they shared they do not come out to the villages. Mrs Purcell then approached Homestart and they came to a couple of meetings to share information about their Mellow programme. Parents seemed reluctant to sign up for an 8-week course, so Mrs Purcell asked Homestart if they could come and do a single session on fussy eating. This was a huge success and attended by many of our parents. Following feedback from parents we are now offering a session on “Understanding Feelings and Behaviour” on 15 June which we hope parents with supporting their children’s behaviour during the school holidays. We have also invited our new parents to join us.
Other family sessions we have offered are Bookbug on a regular basis which have been well received, including a session for dads. We have held a music session; stay and play sessions with Christmas Craft and Easter Messy play where parents discussed their child’s All About Me’s and progress to date. Some parents recently attended a mark-making/pre-writing session with our EYSP/EYLP and P1/2 teacher where they gave a presentation on what skills children need to develop before they engage in writing and showcased ideas that parents can do at home cheaply with their children, to get them interested in developing their gross and fine motor skills.
Staff also have strong bonds with their key worker families and parents who come to them for advice and help on a regular basis, which allows us to work closely together to give our children the best start in their learning journeys.
We are now planning a family picnic and considering inviting dad’s to a football kick about session.
Crombie ELC – Digital Pedagogy
Please watch the short video below to see the inspirational journey toward quality Digital Pedagogy undertaken by the team at Crombie ELC.
