A heart-warming example of intergenerational friendship between older care home residents and nursery children, who although situated a couple of streets away from each other, until this activity, existed in very separate parts of society.
Every Friday a group of excited pre-school children don their hi-vis waistcoats ready to take their walking bus down to see their friends at the Amerind Grove residential home for older people.
Last month Southville Centre nursery children featured on Channel 4s, The Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds and Emma Morris, Lead Practitioner at the nursery who also appeared on the programme, said that whilst the emphasis of the production team was on the beneficial outcomes for the older adults, she saw clear benefits for the children too. “After the filming finished I was keen to continue this ground-breaking community development and introduce more of our children to local older adults”.
So the Southville Centre contacted Bupa Amerind Grove Care Home on Raleigh Road to discuss the idea and as the result of the really positive reaction from the staff at Amerind Grove, 12 children from the nursery visit the care home every week. Aimee Francis, Early Years Practitioner who leads on the project along with Emma, says that the children’s social skills have definitely improved and they are becoming more confident in their interactions and more comfortable with a wider variety of sensory experiences.
The visiting project is a great example of BS3 Community’s ethos as they are passionate about increasing the opportunities for interaction between all members of their community. So based on the latest research about building social confidence and self-esteem in both young and older people, games and activities are co-ordinated by the Southville Centre Amerind Grove staff.
BS3 Community Development currently operates the award-winning Southville Centre on Beauley Road in Southville and has recently opened the Chessel Centre in Bedminster.
Read more about this exciting project on our Culture and Community page.
“At the Southville Centre we have always worked hard to ensure we provide support to local groups and the community in wide and diverse ways through running our older people’s clubs as well as our nursery provision. This project demonstrates the incredible benefits of integrating different generations and the children and older adults alike really look forward to the weekly visits.”