Local Motion, the new 3 year Highland Council Out-of-School Hour programme, for Inverness and Nairn areas, is attracting high levels of participation by primary school children and excellent support from schools.

Currently the project is focussing on the feeder Primary schools for Nairn Academy and Millburn Academy. After the summer it will move onto another block of ten schools.

The project aims to deliver a range of positive benefits to young people by offering them the opportunity to enjoy an exciting programme of sports and physical arts activities. It is also hoped to establish out of school hours clubs in each area in order to continue the momentum of the project.

The Local Motion core team includes skilled sports and dance tutors. Other expertise is brought in as required, such as the Eden Court Outreach team and the Happyness drumming tutor. In Nairn the programme has been developed with the help of the Primary sports co-ordinator, Sharon Asher.

All schools are receiving an eight week programme of physical activities for a targeted age range. The programme has been designed to appeal to all young people and so far children have enjoyed parachute games, basket ball, creative movement, drama games, dance, physical theatre, and hand drumming.

The programme, which is being offered either at lunchtime or after school, has been well received and at some schools a waiting list has had to be set up.

Local Motion aims to establish either school clubs in Inverness and Nairnshire communities. We are therefore very interested to hear from any adults who may be interested in continuing to run these activities in the future. We will be arranging short training courses in liaison with various specialist organisations.

Local Motion is funded by the New Opportunities Fund.

If you are interested in helping to run a club in your area please contact Cath or Catherine at the Town House on 01463 724224.