FUTURE engineers and architects at a Gourock school have honed their skills with a series of den building sessions. The P7 classes at St Ninian s Primary came up with their own creations made from pieces of wood, crates, hula hoops and plastic cones. The object of the exercise was to boost their team-building skills and bring what they learn in the classroom outside. School head Lesley McCabe said: Through loose parts play like this the pupils develop communication, team-building and leadership skills as well as resilience and problem solving. The children have been busy creating different structures with the loose parts, which involves negotiating and perseverance.
St Ninian s triumphed in a three-week challenge organised by Active Schools. The district-wide competition - coordinated by a sports development team - saw a total of 78,247km clocked up by 21 schools across Inverclyde. The Gourock youngsters successfully saw off competition from 15 other primaries to be crowned winners alongside Clydeview Academy, who took the prize in the secondary school category. St Ninian s head Lesley McCabe told the
Tele: The challenge was great fun and got the whole school and wider community involved. The children, staff and parents all took part. Youngsters were out walking and cycling and it was great to see as it brought us together whilst the older children were still home-schooling.