Angela Simms, quality improvement officer with West Dunbartonshire education and cultural services department, said she sees this as a natural progression of highly effective work already done in the authority's primary and secondary schools. She set up a working group of nursery heads, who decided that the most powerful method of delivery would be through drama.
Mrs Simms said, 'We were surprised, when listening to the headteachers, what the youngsters were already aware of.'
The Scottish Drug Challenge Fund awarded the council 25,000 to work in partnership with Pace Theatre Company. They will introduce the children to a digital character from another world, who wants to learn about our world. For example, he might find a disused needle or a medicine cabinet, and questions will be raised about what to do and what not to do in such a situation.
David Wallace, executive director of Pace, said, 'We decided on a DVD and participatory workshops rather than a live performance because we felt that three larger-than-life characters interacting with such young children might be a bit much for them.
'After they have seen the DVD, the main digital character will appear in the nursery, played by an actor, and will interact with them. The only voices on the DVD will be those of three-to five-year-olds, so the children will relate to them. This will be a fun, comic way of dealing with serious issues.'
Mr Wallace believes that drug education is as fundamental as road safety and that drama is one of the greatest tools for getting the message across.
Nursery staff have already had training in drugs education, and further in-service training will enable them to run workshops following the theatre company's visit.
