About Us
Shawlands out of School Care (SOOSC) was set up in 1995 by a group of local parents. Two of the original group continue to be involved. Karen Stanway is our current Service Manager and Janice Delargy is our Service Supervisor.
We provide good quality care within a play environment for school age children who attend Shawlands Primary. Our service is provided by paid staff before and after school and all-day during school holidays.
Shawlands Out of School Care Ltd, is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status. The service is run for the benefit of both parents and children. We are registered with the Care Inspectorate (Scotland).[1] SOOSC is overseen by a Board of Trustees made up of parents.
Although we are based in Shawlands Primary School at 1284 Pollokshaws Rd, Shawlands, and work very closely and harmoniously with the school, we are independent. The service has had long term use through a rental agreement of the two gyms, dining hall and playground areas.
And inspected by the Care Inspectorate at present we are graded 5 “ Very Good”. Also the Staff are registered with the Scottish Social Services Council for their professional status.
Parental Involvement
Parental involvement is mainly through the role of charity trustees, who are legally responsible for the Charity and overseeing good governance. Our parent Trustees role capacity is to oversee and offer support to Karen the service manager when needed and helping with other projects and areas of development.
Our current Parent Trustees are:
Graeme Bisland (Chair) , Alan Brown (Treasurer), Joan Huntingford, Seonaid Daly , Carlos Mendez and Emily Rodway.
It is very important that parents get involved. We need a minimum of four trustees to be quorate and if we drop below that SOOSC will be at risk of closure. If you are interested in joining (no previous charity experience is needed) please get in touch. We also hold our Annual AGM in Feb or March each year and we would urge you to come along and get involved in this essential service for parents and children in the Shawlands community.
Our Philosophy
SOOSC advocates and promotes child lead holistic free play. Working with the guidelines of UNCRC (1989) Article 31& 12 (Leisure, play and culture and every child to freely express her or his views,):
Children have the right to relax and play, and to join in a wide range of cultural, artistic and other recreational play opportunities.
The key to this understanding is the development of skills in observing children and of interpreting those observations. Play practitioners recognise the importance of this approach and are trained to understand play cues, play frames, play space and therefore avoid adulterating play.
A holistic approach to child development seeks to simultaneously address the physical, emotional, relational, intellectual, and spiritual aspects of a child's life. The importance of the holistic free play approach is that children learn different things at different stages, were child led play is advocated and children’s ideas and voices are heard and their ideas are put into practice.
However the SOOSC team understand that some children need a degree of structure so will provide a stimulation station each day – this can include arts and crafts, games, puzzles etc. This area will simply be set up by staff for children to develop their confidence through self-directed play.
When outside, children are accompanied and supervised by a member of staff at all times.