In seven hours you can travel from Glasgow, Scotland to Dubai, New York or even Oman. However, our Schools Organiser Maxine had the pleasure of travelling seven hours to one of the most scenic isles in Scotland; the Isle of Lewis. With beaches as pristine as you would find in the Maldives and picture postcard landscapes, it’s definitely a gorgeous holiday destination
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However, I (Maxine) was not there to visit the beaches or to sightsee, I was there to deliver NSPCC’s ‘Speak out, Stay safe’ programme to several schools on the Isle. Overall there are 15 schools on the Isle of Lewis, I managed to deliver to and had the best week doing so. The schools delivered to were; Stornoway, Laxdale, Tong, Sgoil an Rubha, Sgoil nan Loch, Sgoil an Pairc, Sgoil a’ Bhac, Tolsta School, Sgoil an Taobh Siar and Lionel School.
With each school being just as different as the next; from the size and scale of the school, from new buildings to old it was always a lovely surprise. With Stornoway PS being the biggest school with over 460 pupils and Tolsta being the smallest (27 pupils), each visit was completely different from the last.
Every member of staff I met, throughout my visits were so welcoming. They always tried to make me feel as comfortable as I could, for example, being offered a cup of tea as soon as I entered nearly every school and having someone there to help if something was going wrong.
Delivering as many assemblies and workshops as we do within the Schools Service, there is always a time when things don’t go according to plan, either IT will fail, resources will not have arrived at the school on time. Although these issues occurred through my visit, I was never left to sort these out alone and this was very much appreciated.
I was also there to deliver our Online Safety Workshop for parents. This is a service that has only been delivered to schools in Scotland within the last year. Despite the local people and the schools not really knowing about our SOSS programme, it did not deter parents from wanting to find out how to keep their children safe online. Not only did parents come to these workshops, members of staff also attended, which was lovely as they were just as involved in every aspect of our programme as their pupils and the parents.
Overall, this visit was a very enjoyable experience. It made me realise the importance and relevance of our service to children in rural and remote areas, just as it is to children across the rest of Scotland. It really brought home to me the organisation’s commitment that every childhood is worth fighting for – regardless of geography or postcode. I hope the pupils from the schools I visited and the staff enjoyed the visit as much as I did and I am very much looking forward to returning later in the year to visit the rest of the Isle of Lewis and neighbouring Isles.
NSPCC Scotland 