Larbert Village pupils keep in touch with care home residents online

The children from Larbert Village Primary made videos for the residents of Caledonia Care Home in Larbert to cheer them up when they were without visitors.

Proud teacher Laura Robinson said: “In this time where things seem so negative and difficult for many who are not able to see loved ones I was really proud of the response from our families and hope it brings some joy to the residents who really enjoy the children’s visits.”

Primary 3 pupils have been regular visitors to the care home for two years now – sharing art, music and conversation with the residents.

But when they heard they could no longer visit, some of the children were  worried the elderly residents would be lonely without visitors.

Miss Robinson said: “My classes have visited the home a lot over the past two years for various themed events.

“We had a St Andrews Day celebration which was good fun with a shortbread and Irn Bru tea. We also had Burns’ night with poems and we had Halloween and Christmas visits.

“The kids get a lot out of it. They’ve made some nice relationships and they talk about the residents a lot.”

However, just before lockdown started it became clear their plans to visit with springtime themed cards and songs would not go ahead.

“I managed to hand the cards in but some of the class were worried that the residents would be lonely.” 

Laura decided to ask the children to make little videos for the residents and through Twitter, got the whole school involved.

She was delighted with the response to her appeal, adding:

“The children recorded all their videos and I dropped them off at the care home, so we’re hoping it will bring them joy when things are maybe a little bit hard in there.”

Laura has told the children if they want to keep sending them in, she’ll keep dropping them off.

“We’ll continue going in as soon as we can because the children get a lot out of it and so do the residents – the visits and art can spark memories and it’s lovely for all of them to make these connections.”