'Maddie is Online' Funding Support

'Maddie is Online' has been awarded funding by the Scottish Library & Information Council (SLIC)

The fund is administered by SLIC on behalf of Scottish Government @scotgov and only 13 projects across Scotland were funded in 2020.  

                           https://scottishlibraries.org/funding/school-library-improvement-fund/

This year, the fund ensured priority was given to projects aimed at supporting school library service provision to pupils in response to COVID-19 lockdown measures. 'Maddie is Online' will be travelling to East Renfrewshire to run the cartoon series with a number of workshops that will be delivered in secondary schools in S1 classes.

 “In East Renfrewshire, the successful project aims to explore issues surrounding young people’s development of digital literacy and resilience. It will develop a set of resources, activities and lesson plans that school librarians and teachers can use to support young people!”. See more here.

John Swinney, Deputy First Minister, said: “This announcement is a reminder of the central role that school libraries can play in schools, and never more so than in current circumstances.

“The last year has brought to the fore the need for innovative approaches to supporting pupil engagement, digital literacy and health and wellbeing.

“I’m pleased to see that the School Library Improvement Fund is enabling projects to develop good practice in these areas which will support learning across the curriculum.”

Pamela Tulloch, Chief Executive at SLIC, said:  “During the COVID-19 lockdown, school libraries have continued to support pupils and schools with the delivery of the curriculum. There are fantastic examples of school librarians and library staff developing new ways to engage pupils during periods of home-based learning. We know it has added immense pressure in the last year, so it is great to be able to support them in delivering creative solutions to help re-engage pupils, whilst also developing their collaborative working, literacy and digital skills”.

The SLIF award page includes more details about the project.  

Details of project: East Renfrewshire: Maddie is Online

Woodfarm High School, Eastwood High School & Robert Gordon University         

Award £9373

The Maddie is Online project aims to explore issues surrounding young people’s development of digital literacy and resilience as the online citizens of tomorrow and to develop a set of resources, activities and lesson plans that school librarians and teachers can use to support young people with the multiple challenges they encounter when navigating their online environments.

This project support strategic aims 2 and 4 of Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools.