With the support of the Birmingham Family
Learning Service, Four Dwellings High School was the first
secondary school in Birmingham to offer literacy and numeracy
programmes. By encouraging families to read through drama
and social opportunities, the school is endeavouring to
break the cycle of underachievement. Christine Smith, family
learning coordinator, describes one of Four Dwellings' basic
skills projects that encourages pupils and their families
to engage with books.
Year 9 pupils were referred to me by teachers and I invited
their parents in to an informal coffee morning, where the
benefits of the 10-week programme were explained. Once recruited,
the families spent two hours in a joint session each week,
as well as four hours with a teacher (for the students)
or adult tutor (for the adults).
To engage the families with reading, the initial choice
of book was of utmost importance. "Refugee Boy"
by Benjamin Zephaniah was a popular choice, as this author
was born in Birmingham and still has strong links with the
West Midlands. We read the book aloud together during the
sessions. Initially some parents were reluctant to read
in front of other families, so they started off just by
listening or by reading one sentence or paragraph, to increase
their confidence. The students were great in encouraging
their own parents to take a turn in reading.
To keep families motivated, we needed to make sure the
reading message we were promoting was delivered and reinforced
in a variety of ways. "Refugee Boy" raised an
awareness of the lives of refugees and, after a visit to
the theatre to see "No going back", the families
were keen to work together to explore this area in more
depth. We researched the topic through reading a variety
of materials including local and national newspapers, internet
pages, poetry and magazine articles. In addition, links
were made with another secondary school from a different
part of the country, as a way of encouraging the families
to share experiences with a variety of families and to foster
a caring atmosphere in the classroom and beyond. The work
that the group produced was of a very high standard, and
families were encouraged to read each other's work and offer
suggestions for improvement.
As a result of the sessions, students and adults developed
the confidence to read aloud, to use ICT skills for research
purposes and to start a journey, on which they learned to
appreciate literature and other reading materials. However,
the impact of the project can really be measured when considering
the families' enthusiasm during and after the sessions.
We were delighted that many of those involved were keen
to repeat the experience, borrow other books and to continue
to share what they had learnt with their children.
With continued collaboration between Four Dwellings and
the wider community, Family Learning intends to further
expand the learning and social opportunities for all in
the next few years.
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