Newlands and Kirkurd Playgroup has been established for many years. It was originally started by the Womens' Guild for local children. It is still run today by local parents on the committee, however today Playgroup has qualified staff working with the children to help them discover and develop new skills. Newlands and Kirkurd Playgroup is part of the local Partnership and children are funded by the local Education Authority. We are funded to provide a pre-school Education to the children of nursery age.

 We enjoy a range of activities and outings which include playing in the playgroup garden where we plant a small number of vegetables, from which we make soups and salads.  The children also enjoy playing on the toys and digging in the hole we have made. Another popular activity is our trip to Penicuik library where we choose books to find out interesting facts or read just for fun.

 We try to go on outings throughout the year to interesting places such as the theatre, woodland walks or play parks where we can explore and have fun.

 We enjoy end of term trips to places like East Links Farm and we also host a small play where we are entertained by the children on stage in Playgroup at various points of the year. We also like to visit the local care home with our latest stage performance.

 We work within the new curriculum for excellence and had a positive HMIe inspection last January and a very good Care Commission report.

Newlands and kirkurd opened up a new and exciting out of school club in 2010 and we are happy to report that all the children who use the club enjoy it immensely. So much so they don't seem to want to go home when their parents/carers arrive to pick them up.

We feel that having an out of school club in the community is a vital service enabling parents/careres to resume career or study opportunities. We also provide ad-hoc care for children only needing to use the club on an odd occaisions or if they just want to meet up with their friends. This in turn is a great opportunity for parents and carers who might need extra shopping hours or catching up with their own friends. So come on everyone enjoy the OOSC its there to be used by everyone.