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These are smaller-scale initiatives than those highlighted on the key initiatives page
What went on
This project gave support in basic skills, particularly financial
literacy, to parents living in the most deprived wards of
Blackburn with Darwen. Parents learned with their pre-school
children, and put their skills into practice in daily life
with guidance from very experienced tutors. Sessions were
run at different times of the day to suit different communities,
and healthy snacks were provided. Parents were encouraged
to progress to further family learning.
Results of the project
One of the outcomes of the project was that parents began
to cook for their families and to save money as a result.
They were also more confident than previously in their relationships
with officials and agencies, and encouraged their peers to
take part in learning.
Partners and funding
Run by Blackburn with Darwen Education Action Zone (EAZ) in
local schools and nurseries, the project drew on expertise
from Blackburn with Darwen Department of Education and Lifelong
Learning, Sure Start, Blackburn Child Care Society and EAZ
family support workers. It was funded by Barclays, the Esmée
Fairbairn Foundation and the Sutton Trust. The charitable
funding ended in August 2003, and the EAZ has also come to
an end, but some of the project's work is continuing through
the Local Education Authority (LEA) and a further education
college.
Evaluation
The project has raised awareness about the needs of families
living in the area, and staff from the EAZ and the college
have delivered presentations and workshops about it at conferences
and for other LEAs. The project was evaluated by the Community
Education Development Centre, and copies of the evaluation
can be obtained by emailing Mary Carley at mary.carley@blackburn.gov.uk
Background to the project
This was a school-led project, designed to break the "cycle
of despair" in a small ex-mining town, by encouraging
parents and children to learn together. It entailed the building
of the Community Exchange, a purpose-built annex to Birklands
Primary School in Warsop, Derbyshire. The learning that goes
on at the Exchange falls into the broad "family learning"
category, but the activities include a literacy dimension.
The project aimed to encourage a new generation of parents
to become more involved in their children's learning and school
life, to develop parents' confidence and interest them in
learning opportunities for themselves, and to provide a resource
for the whole community.
What goes on
The programme at the Community Exchange responds to the Government's
floor (key) targets for health, education and employment,
and includes:
- A drop-in centre where parents and children can learn
to read together
- An English and Maths "homework helper"
- Courses in IT (with laptops), Welcome to Working with
Children, First Aid, etc - open to all parents, regardless
of whether they have children at the school
- A crèche
- The Exchange Library, from which families can borrow books,
educational games and puzzles
Results of the project
- Parents (mostly young mothers) have learnt about the National
Curriculum and Sure Start, and for some it is the first
time that they are enjoying being in a learning environment
- Some parents have been lifted out of depression through
involvement with the Exchange, and for others the project
has given them a taste of a career, eg in teaching
- The school has become a focal meeting point for the community,
since community groups and outside agencies also use the
Exchange. This contrasts with the earlier situation of low
parental involvement in school life (for example, it was
estimated that only 25% of pupils received help with their
reading at home) and negative attitudes in the community
towards learning
- Parents have brought friends and relations along to courses
Other findings
- All parents cited the advantage of having local access
to the more formal courses as crucial to their decision
to attend: before, they would have had to take a 45 minute
bus journey to West Nottinghamshire College for a 9am start
- Word of mouth and face to face engagement with parents
by a staff member in the playground was more effective than
an initial publicity flyer campaign
Partnerships and funding
The concept of the Community Exchange grew out of the involvement
of senior staff at the school in the town's Neighbourhood
Management Trust. This was funded by the Neighbourhood Regeneration
Fund (NRF), and includes the Primary Care Trust, police, councillors,
schools and residents. Sure Start and West Nottinghamshire
College are also involved in the project. The NRF provided
an initial grant to cover the building, equipment and running
costs. Heating and cleaning costs were absorbed by the school
and the use of volunteers kept core running costs down. The
school could not support the cost of the supply teaching post
for the drop-in centre after NRF funding came to an end, but
planned for this element of the Exchange to become self-funding
through rental income from the college and other outside agencies.
Link:
These details were obtained from the report 'renewal.net Case
Study: East Midlands - Birklands Community Exchange', which
can be downloaded from www.renewal.net
(this link goes straight to the relevant page).
The Bolton Literacy Trust is a charity working with others
to raise literacy and numeracy standards and engage new learners
in innovative ways. Through a project called 'Catching the
Learning Buzz', funded by the Learning and Skills Council,
it has provided sports equipment for a Somali centre with
the aim of engaging dads and teenagers.
It has also set up an internet café, which aims to
attract families and has several grandfathers coming along
to learn IT skills and send emails to relatives. With the
charity Saturday Fathers, another café is being set
up in an access centre for dads and children who see each
other only at weekends, so that the dads can help their children
with homework and improve their own IT skills. There will
also be a 'Care to Read' resource area equipped with comfortable
seating and books, including books especially chosen to appeal
to reluctant male readers.
Links:
Dadzone is a community-based band of men and dads who perform
songs about fatherhood and childhood and enjoy sharing songs
with children. They have organised and supported community
events in the region, and have produced "song boxes",
which contain books, musical instruments and props based around
a nursery rhyme theme. These are lent out to families through
a toy library in Barrow Island, a Sure Start area, with the
aim of encouraging the sharing of music and books in homes.
The group received a Millennium Award, which enabled them
to bring in a local professional musician to work with the
dads to produce a double CD of original music, poetry and
song. The dads wrote and recorded these songs through regular
meetings, in which they worked together and reflected on their
experiences of growing up in the area. This gave them the
opportunity to express and discuss their feelings about family
relationships, in a supportive environment, and was the first
time that some of the dads had written for pleasure since
their school days. The first CD reflects the fathers' childhood
experiences, while the second is of music and movement and
can be used by parents or early years practitioners.
The dads found that it was quite tricky to pitch the language
of the songs at the right level for under-5s, and make them
simple and repetitive enough for children and parents to follow
any actions and have fun adding their own lyrics - but hope
that doing so will help children to develop new language,
rhyming skills and even writing for a purpose.
The Effective
Provision of Pre-school Education project (EPPE) has highlighted
the value for a child's language and literacy development
of activities that include playing rhyming games and singing
songs.
This project works with families to improve family life and
facilities for families, children and young people in Didcot,
Oxfordshire. It is a collaboration of several agencies and
organisations, and is particularly targeted at people who
are vulnerable due to poverty, poor basic skills, poor housing
on isolated estates, and young and/or single parenthood. The
aim is to develop the confidence of these parents to provide
a stimulating learning environment for their children.
What goes on
The project runs several community groups, including some
for young mothers, and a toddler group where parents can learn
computer skills, situated on a small, isolated estate. Crèches
at these groups provide valuable 'me time' for the mothers,
and speakers from various community services come to tell
parents about the services available to them. Meanwhile, the
children can join in with arts and crafts, singing songs and
reading. The aim is that these groups will eventually become
self-running initiatives.
The project has also run several courses, covering study
skills, parenting, play, first aid, community action and committee
skills, all incorporating adult basic skills. These were sometimes
taught as part of the course, by an adult basic skills tutor;
in other cases (for example, a course in childcare) a separate
but related basic skills course was run in parallel. Project
staff have observed that the skills of participants in the
courses have improved, and that people have begun to access
mainstream services and take active roles in their community,
some for the first time. Teenagers who were causing disruption
on an estate were recruited onto a babysitting course run
by a detached youth worker, which looked at citizenship as
well as childcare issues and aimed to increase family support
among siblings.
Role of the community development worker
These initiatives have been established by a community development
worker employed by the project, and trained in basic skills
awareness by Oxfordshire County Council (OCC)'s training for
outreach workers. She makes contact with people in public
play spaces, on their doorsteps, at the school gate or baby
clinic, and so on. The worker finds out what is important
to people in the community and tailors the learning around
the priorities in their lives - and offers them support so
that they can join in fully.
This outreach worker is a key element of the project. She
has found that the most important qualities for the job are
perseverance, the ability both to present to official bodies
and to maintain a sensitive yet down-to-earth approach with
clients, and accessibility (by carrying a mobile phone!).
Frustrations for the worker have included working in isolation
and having to seek funding for each activity, losing impetus
as a result.
Partners and evaluation
The Umbrella Project began as a partnership of local professionals
working with children and families, and has since become a
constituted body. The first phase of the project was funded
by the Adult and Community Learning Fund (ACLF) and it is
now supported by the Community Fund. Other organisations involved
include the OCC Early Years Team and Adult and Community Learning,
the Youth Service, Connexions, Oxfordshire Community Foundation,
Didcot Family Centre, health visitors, housing associations
and Churches Together. This partnership has given the project
credibility and sustainability.
The project was evaluated for the ACLF and is now evaluated
annually for the Community Fund. The numbers of courses run
and certificates issued have been a measure of success, and
staff also judge that there are less quantifiable but further-reaching
achievements for participants. A number of the mothers spoke
at the 2002 ACLF conference about the transformation of their
lives through their involvement in an Umbrella Project group.
Link:
For more information on this project email anne.honeyball@oxfordshire.gov.uk
This course, run by FAST
LANE in Kirklees, consists of sessions which are aimed
at parents and carers to help them come to an understanding
of how early writing develops and how children really benefit
from their help. Each session looks at a different aspect
of writing development. Parents and carers experience practical
activities through the use of play dough, sand play, making
books, drawing, finger painting, bat and ball games and role
play. Accreditation is available at level one.
Fathers Inside is an approach to parenting education for
male prisoners, launched in July 2004. It is an intensive,
three-week course, consisting of drama techniques, group work
and written activities. These enable teachers to assess the
students for various awards, including Adult Literacy and
Key Skills: Communication, Parentcraft and Group and Teamwork.
In the trial stages of this project it was found that participants
regarded drama as particularly valuable because it was an
effective communication tool, accessible to all learners regardless
of their literacy levels; improved literacy skills was also
one of the positive outcomes reported, according to an evaluation
by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).
Fathers Inside was commissioned by HM Prison Service and
Prison Education (now the Offenders' Learning and Skills Unit,
OLSU), and developed by the drama-based charity Safe Ground,
in collaboration with prisoners and prison staff. It is aimed
at engaging and sustaining large groups of mixed ability learners
and promoting parenting education as a means of preventing
re-offending.
Links:
(Durham Local Authority)
Durham Local Authority's Education in the Community
programme runs four Skills for Life centres. One of these
is Focus on Learning, which runs a variety of family learning
and family literacy, language and numeracy courses in Durham
schools. Funding comes from the Learning and Skills Council
and Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) round 6. In some cases
Focus on Learning has approached schools and offered courses;
sometimes it is the other way round.
What goes on
Education in the Community, through Focus on Learning, offers
family literacy, language and numeracy courses and a range
of wider learning opportunities, including:
- Helping your child with their homework
- Making Storysacks and number sacks
- Family learning through football - which has successfully
engaged a number of dads
- Crafts
- Arts, such as making videos in partnership with an arts
project, and work to provide courses jointly with the Sage
music centre in Gateshead
- Work with museums
Most courses run during the school day, although some are
after school. Their range and reach has increased since they
first began. Courses run in around 70 schools in the county,
both primary and secondary; in general, parents of younger
children have been easier to engage in the courses, but parents
of Key Stage 3 pupils are becoming more involved, especially
in numeracy courses. Focus on Learning relies on the schools
to publicise the courses to the parents through the teachers
and pupils, and success in this tends to depend on the strength
of the school's links with the local community.
Evaluation
Several of the courses have been separately and independently
evaluated. One course, Parents And Children Together (PACT),
which ran in a number of schools with SRB5 funding, aimed
to improve participants' literacy through ICT. Evaluation
by the University of Durham showed that over the ten weeks
of the course, both boys' and girls' reading ages improved
- some quite strikingly, and that the increases were sustained
after the course had finished.
Links:
Heywood Parent
Partnership Project
(Durham Local Authority)
What goes on
Learn East is run by Durham Local Authority's Education
in the Community programme. It is based in a deprived
community and offers a number of family learning programmes,
most following the Family Literacy, Language and Numeracy
models developed by the Basic Skills Agency - such as Keeping
Up with the Children and Early Start. However, basic skills
are also introduced in an embedded way through other activities,
including:
- Children's activity packs, developed in conjunction with
parents who then "trial" them with their children,
in the process finding out more about learning and how to
support their children
- Producing a school newsletter, where parents and children
improve their literacy skills using IT
- A project in which children in care made Storysacks for
their younger siblings
- Other activities into which a literacy dimension is introduced,
such as making Storysacks and Curiosity Kits, organising
an event, and football
Most of the provision for parents takes place in schools
and involves the school teachers, although Early Start courses
are run through Sure Start and use the expertise of early
years professionals. Learn East also runs an alternative Key
Stage 4 programme for disaffected young people, delivered
through youth centres or other training agents and leading
to ASDAN (Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network)
qualifications.
What works
Community transport has been used to ensure that transport
is free for participants, which staff judge to have been an
important success factor, along with the strong partnerships
they have developed with schools and key members of staff
in them. Occasional free excursions provide extra motivation
for learners.
Funding and evaluation
The programmes have been funded by the Learning and Skills
Council, Single Regeneration Budget 6 and the European Social
Fund, and evaluated by the University of Durham. Children's
reading scores in SATs have improved since the programmes
have been running, and some parents have gone on to employment
such as helping in school. Staff also judge that the programmes
are contributing to changed attitudes in the community towards
learning.
Links:
Learning Together projects in Devonport
Sure Start and health workers at a centre in Cardiff are
running sessions for parents covering basic cookery and healthy
eating, with a basic skills element included. The sessions
came about through basic skills workers' networking with Sure
Start workers and health visitors, who all felt that low literacy
and poor health were linked.
What goes on
Courses run three times a year and consist of six two-hour
sessions, taught by a health visitor and basic skills tutor.
Four to six parents attend with their children. There is a
theme for each week, and parents write out the meal that they
will be preparing, cost, cook and eat it with their children.
Healthy eating issues are explored through discussion and
worksheets.
Each student leaves the course with a colourful file of recipes
and completed work. Parents receive a certificate and the
children receive a place mat.
Results of the project
Staff have observed that parents have gained a taste for learning
(no pun intended!) as a result of the course, and are accessing
other learning provision. Cardiff Basic Skills Service also
runs a linked, literacy-based child development course, which
tutors are able to promote to the parents. The parents also
have an increased awareness of a healthy diet and how to feed
a family. A wide social impact is the long-term aim, and small
positive changes for the better are already being noticed:
for example, a student buying fresh carrots rather than an
expensive tin. Students and project partners have also given
positive feedback.
Project partners
The course is funded by ELWa (Education and Learning Wales)
and Sure Start, which provides a crèche worker and
the food, although the sessions are not part of overall Sure
Start provision. Cardiff Basic Skills Service provides the
basic skills tuition. This partnership, and the perseverance
of those involved, are credited by the organisers as the key
ingredients of success. They plan to adapt the course for
different ethnic groups and to offer it in other Sure Start
areas.
Contact
For further information call Cardiff Basic Skills Service
on 02920 229670.
Oakenrod community
gardening project
Sure Start
- giving advice to parents
In central Bristol, Family Learning Groups from a Sure Start
local programme come on visits which aim to introduce parents,
carers and toddlers to the central Children's Library. These
were initiated by the Sure Start programme.
What goes on
The group is accompanied by the family learning tutor, and
find out about the layout of the library, how to join, the
resources available and so on. The sessions also include a
story and sometimes a craft activity, as well as time to join
the library and choose items to borrow.
Sure Start provides funding for the activities, which are
free to the participants and open to everyone.
Tips for libraries planning similar programmes
- Ascertain beforehand what the group wants from the visit
and make sure that their objectives are met
- Quite often the parents will want to join on the spot
and take books out straight away, so it helps to warn them
beforehand to bring the necessary identification with them
- Find out if the group contains people from ethnic minorities
and tailor the visit to their needs: promote dual-language
children's books and books and videos for parents in the
revelant languages
Effects of the sessions
Participants have been keen to join the library and given
positive feedback on the sessions - and library use has increased.
The parents appreciate the discovery that they can also use
their local branch library, which offers similar facilities
on a smaller scale. More visits are planned for the future.
Link:
Bristol Central
Library and the Dyslexia School
Background
Every family referred to the Sure Start Keighley local programme
receives a visit from an appropriate worker, such as a heath
visitor or ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)
worker. On these visits it was discovered that there were
a number of mothers who had ESOL needs but were unwilling
to go to college. Sure Start Keighley then took part in the
Step in to Learning ESOL pathfinder scheme, in which 17 women,
who through the home visits already had a relationship with
Sure Start workers, came to sessions at a local primary school
and made a Storysack based on the book The Very Hungry
Caterpillar.
What went on
The women themselves decided on which days and for how long
the sessions would run; they were given choices about what
they would like to learn, and everyone contributed to the
Storysack with their own ideas. This gave them a high degree
of ownership of the programme: all 17 women stayed with the
project until the end. There were also incentives for the
women such as a group trip to market to buy materials, a visit
to a pantomime, and talks by guest speakers such as a community
dietician (since the Storysack also had a health theme). In
addition, a bilingual volunteer at the programme called or
visited women who missed a session. The crèche was
also staffed with a bilingual worker, which was felt to be
particularly important as for many of the women this was the
first time that they had left their children; for some it
was the first time that they had taken part in activities
outside their home. Even though the learners were at different
levels, they were able to support each other in their work.
After the course
Each of the women had an Individual Learning Plan, mapped
to the ESOL core curriculum. All 17 wanted to go on to obtain
accreditation for their work. The Sure Start local programme
set an exit strategy in place for the women, in that a WEA
(Workers' Educational Association) worker, with whom the programme
already had links, came along to some of the sessions and
began teaching the women some IT skills. As a result, some
of the women said that they wanted to undertake an IT course,
which they were able to do with WEA. At the end of the Storysack
project all of the women received a copy of The Very Hungry
Caterpillar and a story tape, and the group went out together
for a healthy meal at a restaurant. They also read the story
to children at a storytelling session in the local library.
The same Sure Start programme has also run a Saturday morning
ESOL and IT course for dads. Staff stress that this kind of
course may always start with a small number of participants
and then grow by word of mouth, and that funders and colleges
who stipulate minimum class sizes should be aware of this:
with the latter course, there were five fathers at the first
session, rising to 12 over four weeks.
Some tips from Sure Start Keighley:
- Keep consistent staff involved in the project, and resist
the temptation to let new learners join half way through
the group. This enables good relationships to be built up
between staff, parents and children
- Dedicate time to joint planning with nursery staff
- Assess the learners before the course starts, so that
sessions can be planned at the appropriate level
- Choose a venue carefully. The school in this project was
valued by and accessible to the whole community
- If possible, run the course on two consecutive days each
week - this was the structure requested in Keighley, where
one day consisted of intensive learning and the next of
more relaxed, fun activities to reinforce the learning
- "Double start" the course: in Keighley the
first session was used to set ground rules, complete paperwork
and let parents get to know the crèche staff
- Keep sessions varied and fun, with a number of different
activities and teaching styles. Be flexible and change if
something is not working
Contact:
For more information email surestartkeighley@blueyonder.co.uk
Background
This Sure Start local programme runs weekly story and craft
sessions in two local libraries in Hull. Parents and children
are encouraged to join in with the activities, and to join the
library and borrow books. The local programme also works with
Bookstart to provide free book packs for children aged two and
three-and-a-half (through local nursery schools), in addition
to the book pack received by all babies at nine months.
What goes on
The library sessions last for an hour, and usually begin with
storytelling from a big book. There is then a craft activity
linked to the story - for example, making fish to go with
Rainbow Fish, or an activity with fruit for Handa's Surprise.
Finally there is more storytelling and the opportunity for
parents to join the library. The books used include those
in languages other than English, and books of different sizes
and containing different colours and textures, to promote
the inclusion of children with additional needs.
Engaging parents
The sessions are promoted to parents through the Sure Start
local programme and also through the home visits at which
the Sure Start Language Measure is carried out. Staff have
found that these home visits, during which one of the book
packs is also delivered, help to ease parents' worries about
opening the door to "officials". Parents who have
attended more than one session at the library also seem to
become more relaxed and willing to join in. A play element
at the beginning of the sessions was dropped in favour of
a greater literacy and library focus, and staff judge that
some parents have responded well to this. Some are automatically
choosing and using books with their children when they arrive
at the sessions, when previously they would ask for toys or
just sit and wait.
In another group run by the Sure Start local programme (a
parent and toddler group), parents have gained enough confidence
to take the storytelling part of the session themselves. However,
there has been no evaluation as yet to show any change in
library use, and attendance at the sessions fluctuates. More
families come to the programme's bigger events linked to literacy
than to the weekly events, so more big events are planned,
as well as a Storysack-making course. It is hoped that this
course will help to engage "harder to reach" families.
Partnerships
Sure Start Newington with Gypsyville is a fifth-wave Sure
Start local programme, and this work, involving the staff
and expertise of libraries and Bookstart, was written into
its plan from the start. Sure Start provides the funding for
the sessions, including for the Bookstart staff time, a contribution
to the book pack for babies of nine months, and provision
for the later book packs. A strong partnership has developed
between the three agencies.
Links:
Sure Start in West Bassetlaw has taken the unusual approach
of involving a Learning Coordinator, employed by the local
further education college, to work with the parents accessing
the Sure Start programme. Her role is to develop a basic skills
strategy to meet the objectives of Sure Start, specifically
to improve children's ability to learn and to reduce the number
of workless households. Some of the ways in which this has
been done are:
- Events in local libraries: in many families there
is a culture of keeping books "for best". Library
sessions are therefore run to introduce both parents and
children to the pleasure of books and reading. A Sure Start
childcare worker keeps an eye on the young children, giving
mums time to explore the library for themselves. This proves
valuable: one mother commented, "I didn't realise they
had a childcare section - is there anything on potty training?"
A male Children's Library coordinator engages the boys in
looking for books that interest them: 'lift the flap' books
are popular.
- Wednesday Women: a weekly meeting for a group of
Sure Start mothers. They plan their own programme, which
includes sessions on subjects like crafts, health and parenting,
run by guest speakers from local agencies. These are funded
by Nottinghamshire Adult Community Learning Service. As
a college employee, the Learning Coordinator is in a good
position to enlist the support of colleagues from the college
to run learning taster sessions. After two terms of this
project, some of the women began voluntary work and others
went on to do college courses, having only lacked the confidence
and the knowledge of what was available. The group also
provides a support network for the young mothers, and the
Sure Start crèche helps the children to develop their
social skills in a learning environment.
- Home visiting: the Learning Coordinator takes a
laptop into homes and helps parents with their basic skills
and IT. She feels that this is an excellent way of involving
parents in learning, and one that would not have happened
if she were based at the college rather than at the Sure
Start programme. For example, her involvement in parent
and toddler groups means she has developed a relationship
with the parents that makes them more likely to approach
her and ask for help with things like writing a letter.
Many parents have said that they would like to do some learning
in the evenings when their children are asleep, and as most
of the homes do not have landlines for an internet connection,
the coordinator loans them learndirect courses on CD-Rom.
Although not without technical difficulties, this has provided
parents with the opportunity to undertake basic skills assessments
and qualifications - as well as increasing their confidence
and aspirations, while providing a learning role model for
their children.
- Work Shadowing Pilot: this scheme, in which a group
of mothers shadowed jobs in a variety of organisations for
one day, aimed to demonstrate a wide range of job opportunities,
raise aspirations and help increase confidence. The parents
prepared for the day by discussing a range of issues, from
their own hopes and anxieties to the importance of equal
opportunities, whom to contact in an emergency and what
they should wear. All participants received individual guidance
from an Information, Advice and Guidance worker and were
presented with a professional CV; a celebration event rounded
off the project. At an evaluation session afterwards many
of the women said that they were inspired by shadowing other
women with children at home, and took the opportunity to
ask questions about how they managed to cope with juggling
a busy work and home life.
Sure Start West Bassetlaw also runs Sure
Tots for young children with their parents or carers.
Contact:
For further details email Pip Beasant, Learning Coordinator,
at PBeasant@Nnc.ac.uk
The Thurrock Community Mothers programme enables parents
with young children to access learning provision or one-to-one
basic skills support in their own homes from Community Mother
basic skills tutors. It aims to reach out to isolated and
vulnerable parents who are not accessing mainstream provision.
The programme is run by Thurrock Primary Care NHS Trust.
Health workers (health visitors, nursery and school nurses,
community development workers, and community mother and breast
feeding supporter volunteers) receive basic skills awareness
training and make referrals. Community Mothers train as tutors
who provide one-to-one basic skills and IT tuition using laptop
computers to parents within their own communities. Innovative
cartoon materials have been used to open up informal discussion
with parents about basic skills needs.
Health visitors have also developed a booklet called "Watch
me grow", containing very simple sentences to help mothers
record milestones in their babies' lives, so increasing their
self-esteem and enabling them to feel more on a par with other
parents who have baby journals.
Once parents have gained sufficient confidence, they are
encouraged to access other learning provision. Community Mothers
runs courses in community venues, on subjects including basic
skills, Stepping into Learning, Life Behind the Buggy (for
first time mothers) and courses in association with Skills
for Health. Some groups feed into family learning courses
delivered by Thurrock Adult Community College (TACC).
The number of parents referred to the programme doubled over
the first nine months and is increasing. Most of those referred
have received one-to-one tuition in their homes. Parents'
basic skills are assessed when they enter and leave the programme.
The programme is funded by the Primary Care Trust, Sure Start
and the European Social Fund, and operates in partnership
with TACC.
One mother says: "I am really learning a lot from this.
Also I have made a really good friend of [community mother].
I also am teaching my boy to read. It has been really brilliant."
Contact:
Thurrock Community Mothers Programme, tel: 01375 858512
Email: communitymothers@btconnect.com
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