Session leaders tablets

Fun First was founded over 20 years ago and during that time, has been a consistent 'go to' organisation for local parents of children aged 0 to 5. Our service operates around 37 weeks each year typically in line with the school year delivering a range of sessions each week from various community venues. Some of our venues are in the heart of the Helensburgh community and others based in settings slightly further afield to reach rural families who find travel into Helensburgh a challenge. We also operate a number of sessions during school holidays and special events. We aim to not only provide fun sessions for children aiding the development of communication and motor skills, but encourage adult life skills and social connections. Our sessions are donation only; we believe that all children should have the best start in life, not just those who can afford it. We have on average 150 Helensburgh families using our service each year. We recently surveyed our families and 96% of adults said that Fun First was important to help maintain/improve their mental health and well-being. 98% of our families said that their children benefit from attending Fun First sessions for social, emotional, physical or language development. 40% of our families reported that due to the cost of living crisis, they cannot access children's classes and services that charge. It is therefore vital that Fun First continues in our community for these families, especially as there are sessions every day of the week. We would like to buy 6 Chromebooks for session leaders to use for sessions. We register all Fun First families at their first session and at each session a register is taken. At present this is all done on paper and inputted by our service coordinator. Not only is this not cost efficient as our service coordinator is paid hourly, but also is not the most environmentally friendly due to all the paper and printing (as well as associated costs). We will also use them to get feedback to help shape our sessions and ensure we are meeting the needs of our service users. The landscape of funding applications is increasingly competitive and we need to ensure that we are getting regular and up to date data to improve our chances of being awarded funding. Our service users are busy parents and carers, who need fast and efficient ways of responding. We feel that a tablet at sessions will significantly help us to achieve this aim, as well as allow session leaders to take photos for evidence and promotion.

Who Benefits

Families with children aged 0-5 in Helensburgh and surrounding rural areas