Children and young people from women's refuges in Scotland took part in musical workshop at the Glasgow BBC Centre in September, including a tour of the studios and meeting CBeebies star Nina from "Nina and the Neurons".

The activity day, a partnership between KidsOut and BBC Outreach and Volunteering, saw 15 children aged between 11 and 16 taking part in activities, including the chance to contribute to World Stories.

The workshop was specially designed with sensitivity to the young people’s needs. All the children are supported by women's refuges that have benefited from the Toy Box Service and were accompanied by their refuge worker. Confidence boosting exercises featured throughout the morning with lots of icebreakers, storytelling and even some dancing.

The children recorded world stories in small groups with the patience and support of the sound recordist ,which included ‘The Dream’ (A Bengali story), ‘The Wind and the Sun’ (An Akan story) and Li and Gao (A Chinese story). All stories were specially selected to suit the group and hold positive messages and lessons of cultural awareness.

"That was awesome”

 “I felt like a DJ”

“I’m going to keep going on to world stories to hear more stuff and then I’ll hear me!”

“I think when I grow up I’d like to read the news, do they get paid loads of money?”

 Feedback from the Refuge Workers was that:

“It was a fun day, with no pressure which provided them with a unique opportunity”

“As a worker I felt the children were encouraged and made to feel accepted and important. They also enjoyed the lunch – especially the chocolate biscuits”

After recording there was a tour around the TV studios and the children got to meet Nina from the CBeebies TV programme ‘Nina and the Neurons’.

The experience gave the children the chance to feel proud, build their self-esteem and feel confident in their abilities.

KidsOut hopes to extend these workshops, in partnership with the BBC, and is in discussion to repeat similar days next year.