Residents knit thousands of woolly mice pals for new P1s

Midlothian Council’s early years team has welcomed an ‘infestation’ of more than 2,000 woolly mice after local people answered their call to knit and crochet pocket pals for every new primary 1 pupil.

Helping P1s settle in school

The community wide effort will mean all P1 pupils will get their own special ‘Mid Mouse’ before the end of term in June to make the transition to school in August just that bit easier.

Overwhelming response

Principal teachers Emma Scafe and Jackie Matthew their line manager Sally Ward said they’d been overwhelmed by the response from residents and community groups.

Each one unique

Principal Teacher Emma says: “We’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to knit and crochet them. They all look amazing, and each one is unique – just like every child.

All going to good homes

“We’ve got more than enough for the pupils starting school but all of the extra mice will go to a good home as some children may join the school later in the term and, of course, hundreds and hundreds more will be needed for the next new intake of P1s.”

Special thanks

The early years’ team gave special thanks to Newtongrange Primary and its Mindfulness Mice, which inspired this project. Emma and Jackie also paid tribute to staff at The Loanhead After School Club (LASC) and the Link community centre in Loanhead and the charity PlayBase, based in the grounds of Newbattle Community Centre. The Link and PlayBase, which lends high quality educational resources, acted as drop-off points for local people to hand in mice. PlayBase also organised packs for the children with Mid Mice and story books.

Meeting their mouse friend

Jackie said: “Staff at the LASC at The Link and PlayBase have worked incredibly hard to make sure every child gets their mouse ‘pack’ before the holidays. Thanks so much, we really couldn’t have done it without you.”

Whiskery pals

Among the first children to meet their new whiskery friends were Piper, Ava-May, Lilly and Orla from Newbattle Community Nursery. They all agreed they were very excited about getting to know and care for their mouse over the summer before taking them to school in August.

Knitting communities together

Jackie said the whole project has been uplifting and a real opportunity during the pandemic to “knit our communities back together”.

In the picture

Pictured are, from left to right: Emma, Janine Brown (early years practitioner with Newbattle Community Nursery) and Jackie at the back and Lilly, Piper, Ava-May and Orla at the front