Staff expected a handful of under-fives to come along to their experimental new playgroup at a Scottish travellers site. But when they opened the doors, all ages - from toddlers to teenagers - piled in.
Dave Simmers, from the Travellers Education and Information Project (North East) in Aberdeen, recalls, 'Things like finger painting appealed just as much to over-fives as under-fives, because it was a new experience for them. Children up to early teens were coming along and enjoying it.'
But, despite the scheme's decade of success, traveller children receive only one weekly session. Dave says that, as in every other sort of provision, accessing pre-school resources is more difficult for travellers than the settled community.
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