The Gwen Mayor Trust was established by the EIS in memory of Gwen Mayor, the primary 1 teacher at Dunblane Primary School who was killed alongside 16 of her pupils in the 1996 tragedy. The purpose of the Trust is to advance education by providing fi nancial support for projects in connection with the arts, culture, music or sport. Gwen Mayor’s daughter and a former colleague from Dunblane Primary School are among the Trustees to the Fund. All primary schools in Scotland are eligible for Gwen Mayor Trust Funding. Here we look back at some school projects that benefited from Gwen Mayor Trust funding last year.

Lourdes Primary invested in outdoor staging and electronic equipment to allow us to hold school-wide events safely in our grounds in line with restrictions. We have already managed to celebrate Mass and have carols at Christmas. It was wonderful to see the whole school reunited again as one community. We hope to have many more events in the months and years to come.
James Kane, Depute Headteacher

St Brigid’s Primary, Toryglen were delighted to receive funding through the Gwen Mayor Trust to purchase music stands and a storage unit for the stands to support our Baby Strings Orchestra. Children from P1-P6 learn the violin, viola and cello during whole class lessons one day per week with our talented and supportive tutors, Anja Ormiston and Rhona MacFarlane.

The music stands are an invaluable piece of kit for us. The opportunity to take part in music lessons has been wonderful for St Brigid’s children. It has helped improve concentration, listening skills, working together, fi ne motor skills and has given children a sense of pride in mastering a new skill which will no doubt have a positive impact on them throughout their lives. St Brigid’s staff and children give our heartfelt thanks to the Gwen Mayor Trust for the grant to purchase these resources.
Paul Cassidy, Headteacher

The Grant of £1000 was invaluable to us. We were able to develop the space we had into what is now known as The Calm Garden. The Calm Garden is located adjacent to the school counselling room and is used every day by our children and adults alike. This is a special place were children and adults can come to fi nd some peace and quiet in these times of stress or just a place where they can refl ect upon and regulate their emotions before returning to their class.

With the help of the Grant, we were able to purchase a strimmer, some extra-large wooden planters, sensory plants, and soil. Our major purchase was two beautiful benches made from recycled timber. These allowed the children and adults to have somewhere to sit safely in their garden and simply enjoy all the fun and mental health benefits of being outdoors.
Roseann Woolfries, Teacher

Cullen Primary School, Moray £240.00
We arranged for ‘Outfi t Moray’ to visit each class to work with the children on cycling skills. However, we are very, very short on helmets. Adjusting helmets cost around £15 for children up to 7 years.

Chirnsyde Primary, Glasgow £900.00
We have proposed a two-part project. As part of Children’s mental health week 2022; one of the aspects will include encouraging children and families to get outside and get more physical exercise. We will use equipment to enable older pupils to set up and take responsibility for running a lunchtime athletics club.

Leadhills Primary School, Glasgow £1033.75
We would like to create a friendship and sensory garden. Our project will involve planning, creating and sharing the garden as well as communicating our project with our families and the wider community. In the planning stage of the garden, our children will create sketches with their preferred ideas and layout.

Woodlands Primary School, Glasgow £1,000.00
To support children with ongoing covid restrictions we have added an extra playtime within the school day. The resources would be distributed between our 3 playground areas and rotated to allow all children the possibility to play with all of the materials.

Whitehirst Park Primary, Kilwinning £891.00
Pupils love their weekly music lessons and have expressed an interest in extracurricular music and drama clubs. More resources would allow us to provide a different focus from music lessons and would widen the skill set of pupils.

St Margaret’s Primary School, Johnstone £685.22
Our school is currently taking part in Bikeability Training so that we can deliver road safety and cycling competence to pupils in P5-P7. However, we have discovered that a number of pupils aren’t able to cycle a bike or don’t have access to a bike so they can learn. Our plan is to buy balance bikes (and helmets) for use in early primary so that pupils can gain competence and confi dence in using a bike.

Harestanes Primary School, Kirkintilloch £1,000.00
We would like to apply for a grant to maximise the use of our outdoor space in our school. Although we do have access to outdoor space it is used by the public and we would like to apply for the grant to have orienteering resources permanently fi xed in our playground.

Newmains Primary School, Renfrew £1,000.00
The project is to increase literacy levels by encouraging reading outdoors. A designated reading area will enhance the opportunities for learning further. Story stones will enable the children to talk about their reading and this in turn will assist with their writing.

St Catherine Primary School, Edinburgh £475.00
In order to allow 14 children to benefi t from 20 minutes brass tuition in pairs weekly, we require 4 Trombones to be purchased. We wish to purchase these and music books to allow us to form a group of young players who will benefit from participating in an ensemble.

Helmsdale Primary School, Helmsdale £1,000.00
To create a resource kit in the Polycrub for the early and first level pupils. We will create a cultural and creative ‘treasure’ kit (chest) for the children, comprising elements which will help them map out and explore Helmsdale through arts and science related activity.

Ardeer Primary School, Stevenston £900.00
Our children have successfully campaigned for a playground extension to improve their space to play and learn. It has been decided part of our new area will be for sports and activities.

St John Vianney Primary School, Edinburgh £525.00
We presently have a large group of P6 and 7 pupils wishing to take up a musical instrument. In order to allow 25 children to benefi t from 20 minutes music weekly, we require 4 trombones to be purchased, some additional tutor books and clarinet reeds.