At Barr Primary School and Early Years centre ‘Getting it Right for Every Child’ (GIRFEC) is at the heart of everything we do.
What is GIRFEC?
“GIRFEC is the national approach in Scotland to improving outcomes and supporting the wellbeing of our children and young people by offering the right help at the right time from the right people. It supports them and their parent(s) to work in partnership with the services that can help them.” (http://girfec-ayrshire.co.uk/what-is-girfec/)
There are 8 wellbeing indicators (SHANARRI) which are a legislative entitlement. These state that all children in Scotland should be:
- Safe
- Healthy
- Achieving
- Nurtured
- Active
- Respected
- Responsible
- Included
These indicators are the right of all children and we need to provide the support to ensure they are achieving these. In order to do this sometimes we will work with other agencies, for example, Speech and Language Therapists, Health Professionals, Educational Psychologists and English as an Additional Language Specialists, to name a few. GIRFEC isn’t an add on to general learning, rather it is central to the ethos and values of our school
At Barr Primary and Early Years Centre we extend the pupils’ understanding of GIRFEC and the 8 wellbeing indicators through class work, self-assessments and assemblies. The pupils all complete a Wellbeing Wheel self-assessment at the beginning of the year, which highlights how they feel they are coping in each area. We then use the results of these assessments to provide necessary supports and inform our learning. Pupils then complete further Wellbeing Wheel self-assessments throughout the year to monitor their wellbeing within the areas.
If you wish to know more about GIRFEC please click the image below to access a parent and carer e-guide to GIRFEC in Ayrshire and Arran or visit The National Parent Forum of Scotland website (https://www.npfs.org.uk/2016/03/girfec-information-for-parents/)
