Examples and activities

Example - supporting Gypsy and Traveller families

A primary school in Dunbartonshire supports Gypsy and Traveller families, offering parents the chance to take worksheets and lessons with them when they travel away from the site for any length of time.  Because the school facilities are so good, many parents will stay at the site for years to maximise their children's schooling opportunities.  However, their travelling lifestyle may require them to leave on a temporary basis.  The school accommodates this by making home-based lessons available for their time away.  That way the child can return to the school without having lost ground.

This school also accommodates integration by having books in the school library that deal with the Gypsy and Traveller lifestyle.

Example - bilingual reading club

Four primary schools which are part of a learning community in an area of Glasgow with a large number of minority ethnic families worked together to set up a Reading Club initiative for parents and children where English is not their first language.

Regular afternoon reading club meetings were held for parents and children with interpreters present to translate and support discussion with teachers. Themed story packs with activities (games, soft toys and puppets) were provided in the family's own language and sessions were held emphasising the value of reading together at home. Other resources available included:

• Dual-language books - fiction and non-fiction
• Dual-language dictionaries - Urdu, Slovenian, Russian
• Translation and interpreting services.

Many parents reported a benefit to their own learning and felt that their English improved. Mothers reported social benefits in meeting with other mothers, and a general improvement in their own relationships with their children.

Staff said that they have developed a greater insight into and understanding of the needs of bilingual learners and parents. They can now enjoy much more positive, supportive relationships with bilingual parents.

Example - involving fathers - the Challenge Dad project

The Challenge Dad project in Aberdeen engaged men in learning opportunities that valued their existing skills and experience as a parent and as a foundation for further learning.

A range of activities and events was offered through the project:

• Engagement activities, such as five-a-side football
• Learning activities, such as joint parent and child events and one-to-one literacy work
• Parenting or social skills.

Challenge Dad activities were weekly or monthly dependent on the availability of the fathers. Working fathers, for example, preferred activities to happen at the weekend.