Muirkirk launch school baby programme
Alistair Neil • Published 18 Jan 2012 13:30
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CLASS ABOVE: staff and pupils are working alongside Shirene Little and five-month-old son Jaxson
MUIRKIRK Primary this week kicked off a pioneering school project that will see babies and their mothers deployed in classrooms.
As the Chronicle reported last week, the programme is also being rolled out in Barshare, Greenmill, Netherthird, St John's and Logan Primary Schools in a bid to reduce levels of problem behaviour in schools.
Babies and parents will attend classrooms over the course of the school year to allow pupils to observe the caring relationship between them.
The programme aims to reduce aggressive behaviour by encouraging children to interact in a nurturing manner.
Critics have voiced concern at the cost of the scheme and question whether it has the practicalities to work.
But supporters of the project point to independent evaluations of a similar programme in Canada which showed a significant increase in peer acceptance in 74 per cent of children and a decrease in social aggression in 39 per cent of children.
For the full story see this week's paper.
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