 |
Write to Read is a community literacy project in Stockton-On-Tees
that seeks creative ways of encouraging and developing key literacy
skills, including writing, reading, speaking, listening and ICT.
It is based in a primary school and staffed by a project manager,
a number of development workers and volunteers, and an administrator.
A number of projects have helped residents and children of all ages
to explore new skills, using different approaches to learning; some
examples are given below. The project received Single Regeneration
Budget round 6 funding. Write to Read seeks to work in partnership
with many organisations and, wherever possible and appropriate,
with more than one age group.
The Playground Pals project at Bowesfield and St Cuthbert's Schools
involved investigating and sharing children's games and activities
contributed by grandparents, parents and children. The work was
funded through a Reading Millennium Families Award granted to an
individual grandmother and parents from both schools. It enabled
the publication of games old and new for use in each school.
This project allowed Year 8 pupils to investigate scientific theories
of force and resistance while ice skating, making and testing parachutes
and quad biking through mud. The activities were designed to improve
literacy skills across the curriculum, and made explicit links between
Science, English, Citizenship, ICT and PE. They were planned and
delivered by Write to Read in partnership with teaching staff at
The Norton Comprehensive School, and included practical challenges
and weekend events in addition to timetabled lessons. The school
is part of an Education Action Zone and its facilities were used
as a community venue for this project. Pupils and staff worked together
to produce a record of their activities, including displays, video
footage, a CD-Rom and material for a website, www.communigate.co.uk/ne/writetoread/page5.phtml.
They also presented their work in the assemblies of 'feeder' primary
schools. An informal lunchtime club continued after the end of the
project. Teachers reported improved attendance, behaviour and interest
in science lessons, improved inter-personal relationships and increased
attainment from this group of pupils, who were difficult to engage
in the classroom.
The Raffle Readers out-of-school club was created for children in
Years 5 and 6, to encourage independent and shared reading. This
is for both personal enjoyment and the enjoyment of others: members
are encouraged to find ways of supporting other people's reading
activities.
Children meet in school weekly and join other group members monthly
for joint sessions in two local libraries. A monthly raffle draw
takes place at the library, when members have a chance to win a
book token and also designate £10 worth of book tokens to
someone else for whom reading may not be as easy, for whatever reason.
Recipients have included the local children's hospice and children's
ward, and a grandma who could not get out to the library. A group
of readers also share their activities with patients in the children's
ward.
Pupils who have moved on to Year 7 (secondary school) have expressed
their desire to continue attending the club's sessions, and it is
hoped that a cluster of Raffle Readers' groups will be created in
secondary schools. Twelve Raffle Readers from Redbrook Primary School
shared their poetry on the stage of the local theatre at a celebration
of family learning attended by the Mayor of Stockton.
Working in partnership with Stockton Adult Education Service, Write
to Read ran an after-school club in which parents and their primary-age
children joined in craft and outdoor activities. They were encouraged
to speak, listen and communicate as a group and to write stories
or poems that enhanced their artistic creations.
The group members chose the activities they wished to undertake,
although choosing and planning a trip within a budget was always
included. Parents also identified ways in which the course activities
supported their children's literacy, numeracy, 'emotional language'
and fine motor skills, and produced a record of these activities.
They wrote poems and encouraged their children to write in a course
diary - and also chose a course to progress to as a group.
As part of Learning through Leisure, the parents completed the Open
College Network family learning course and went on to do a further
Level 1: "Remembering, researching and recording the past",
in which they shared childhood memories with their children. As
part of a European project funded through Grundtvig, they also showed
other adult learners the memory boxes they had made, in a video
conference with partners in Scotland, Germany and Norway. They are
now considering joining with groups from other nearby communities
on other projects.
The initial course was internally evaluated. According to parents'
comments, children showed improved concentration and behaviour since
taking part, and staff judged that all participants improved their
communication skills. Their completed diaries and written and craft
items also showed an improvement in their skills, and all participants
engaged in other community events and trips.
Staff judged that it was learners' 'ownership' of the course that
made it successful, along with the relaxed, informal atmosphere.
Learners' evaluations at the end of the course showed that they
were enthusiastic to continue learning.
| |
80px.gif)
