School's 'grandfriends' scheme wins award

Shirley Robinson is one of the the retirement flat complex's "grandfriends" and enjoys doing activities such as making Christmas cards with Woolenwick nursery pupils

A school has been given a national teaching award for a learning scheme between its nursery pupils and their "grandfriends".

Woolenwick Infant and Nursery School, in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, organises weekly visits to meet the retired residents at Astonia Lodge in the town.

The project aims to develop the four and five-year-olds' social and language skills.

Nursery nurse Vicky Wilson said it was "amazing to watch" the children "learn empathy for our 'grandfriends'".

Ms Wilson said the project had helped the children improve academically and said there was a greater need for it since the Covid-19 pandemic.

"When we started, the children weren't able to share, they couldn't hold two-way conversations," she explained.

"Since they've started, the children can have conversations where they speak but also listen to what's being said.

"They're sharing equipment and toys and they're having fun with activities."

She would like to see the "very, very special project" rolled out across Stevenage and across England.

Four-year-old Indie is one of the nursery-age children who enjoys weekly sessions at Astonia Lodge, which houses retirement flats

Astonia Lodge resident Shirley Robinson, 77, said: "It's interesting to see how they develop week to week and come out of their little shell - it's really good for them and good for us."

Fellow resident Angela Gamby, 80, agreed the children "respond really well".

"There's several really shy ones and they come of their shell a bit, they're really enjoying it and then the ones that are a bit noisy calm down and join in more sensibly," she said.

Nico, aged five, said he "100 times" liked the weekly visits.

Lili, aged four, said "Shirley teaches me things", while Indie, also four, said "telling all my grandfriends things is fun".

Kuldeep Lidder said some children who started school after the pandemic "did not know how to socialise" and the project was helping with that

The scheme started in 2019, according to nursery nurse Kuldeep Lidder.

"The idea was inspired from watching the Channel 4 programme Old People's Home for 4-year-olds," she said.

"We were looking at the word-gap in our children - there was such a gap [in their vocabulary]."

Then along came the pandemic and "the children hadn't socialised with their peers... there wasn't that aspect of language and they didn't know how to communicate".

The scheme was the Gold Winner of the Impact Through Partnership Award at the Pearson National Teaching Awards 2024.