My name is Cheryl Brisbane and I am an Early Years Pedagogue based in Carmuirs ELC. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you a little bit about me and what I will be working on this year.  I moved to Falkirk Council in August 2021 after working with Clackmannanshire Council for fourteen years.   During my time there I carried out a variety of roles including Family Support Worker, Early Learning and Childcare Educator and Senior Early Learning and Childcare Educator.

My biggest passion is children’s Health and Wellbeing; for me this is fundamental and this is why one of my projects this year will focus on the Child’s Right to be Safe and Healthy.  For me, all children deserve the absolute best and I strive every day to support and ensure every child receives high quality provision within my setting.  Carmuirs Primary School is currently working towards their ‘Gold Rights Respecting School Award’ and this year the ELC will play a big part in this.  By embedding children’s rights in the ELC we are supporting our youngest learners to be aware of their rights and what they need from people around them as they grow and develop.

Within Carmuirs ELC this session I will be establishing positive relationships with children, families and staff as I am new to Falkirk Council and the setting.  Having spent one term at Carmuirs I am focussing my other two projects on Literacy – Developing the use of language through wordless stories and, Numeracy – Developing number recognition and systematic counting. All three projects will support the development of Carmuirs Improvement Plan.

As well as the 3 projects I am leading I will be working alongside Strathdevon ELC and Park ELC from Clackmannanshire on ‘Developing Technology in the Early Years’.  As the Senior ELC at Strathdevon I secured a STEM Grant from Education Scotland to develop a STEM programme across settings and to improve attainment.  This project has now grown and is not only going to be across settings but across Local Authorities also.  This will hopefully lead to some new and innovative STEM opportunities for our children and pave the way for more collaborative partnership working.

I feel very fortunate to have been welcomed so warmly into not only Carmuirs ELC but by Carmuirs Primary also.  It has been an incredibly busy, productive term which I have been lucky to be working with the ELC and Primary Staff. We are working on creating a seamless transition from ELC into Primary 1, which will showcase the experiences and outcomes of the Early Level as one continuous pathway.

I am very much looking forward to undertaking these projects alongside the staff of Carmuirs ELC to enhance the experience for our children and families.

By Cheryl Brisbane