ARU Research Report 2019

4 The Up Project What is the Up Project? The Inception & Development of the Up Project The project was set up by the governors and teachers of All Saint’s Primary School in 2017 as part of its ‘Shine’ curriculum, an overview of the timeline can be seen in Figure 1. The ‘Shine’ curriculum aims to enable children to ‘shine’ in a broad range of ways to ensure a holistic educational experience. In addition to the fundamentals of maths, writing and reading, All Saint’s Primary School also wanted to provide the circumstances for children to learn ‘soft skills’, such as compassion, respect, and tolerance. Alongside this was the ambition of driving interaction and inclusion of the school into the local community. To facilitate the cultivation of such skills and community engagement, the Up project was envisioned in which children would visit a care home as a part of the school curriculum to engage in shared activities and form new relationships with older adults. While the project was envisioned by the school governors and teachers, it soon became affectionately named ‘Up’ by all involved to reflect the Pixar animation which sees a young boy form an unlikely friendship with a lonely elderly man. A partnership was developed with Longfields, a local care home seeking community engagement and new activities. Longfields Care Home provides residential care for older adults with and without dementia, and it was clear that in addition to the benefits these visits might have for children, benefits could also be gleamed for the older adults. The partnership began with initial visits to the care home by the head teacher, and a visit to school from the care home manager. The Up Project