Family Support Worker’s Report

Summer Term2015-2016

Family Support Worker’s

Report

Family Learning

I continue to liaise closely with external providers to help expand on our Family Learning programmes. These enable the parents/carers to help co-educate their children.

As many of our parents have English as their second language I came with the conclusion that to enable our parents to support their child’s learning the Academy would need to help support our parents progress in their own learning. By bearing this in mind I carried out a lot of research and made contacts with Joseph Chamberlain College, Worker’s Educational Association (WEA) and Birmingham Adult Education Service/Family Learning (BAES) to see if they would come to ARK Tindal Primary Academy and deliver classes on site to our parents.

In order to hold these classes I liaised with the external organisations and colleges and held several Information and Enrolment session and we gained a lot of interest. During these session parents/carers and members of the local community carried out assessments to see what levels they were at. By doing this we could gain a better understanding at what levels our parents were at.

At ARK Tindal Primary Academy we have been successful in gaining the following FREE classes for our parents to participate in on site;

Organisation/Colleges

Days/Time Number of Students

Number of ARK Tindal Parents that attend

WEA(Pre Entry)

Tuesday and Fridays1.30 – 3.30pm

15 13

Joseph Chamberlain College(ESOL Entry Level 2)

Wednesday and Thursdays9.15am – 11.45am

15 8

BAES/Family Learning(Pre-Entry)

Thursday1.30 – 3.30pm

14 14

As we only had the facility to run one class from Joseph Chamberlain on site we have had to liaise with other schools and centres to enable our parents to proceed with their own personal learning. The following classes run within the community and have the following number of ARK Tindal parents that attend;

Organisation/Colleges

Level Venue Number of ARK Tindal Parents that attend

Joseph Chamberlain ESOL Entry Heath Mount 5

College Level 1 Primary School

Joseph Chamberlain College

ESOL Entry Level 3

Topps Community Centre, Stratford Rd

3

I have continued to build stronger links with BAES Family Learning and Wider Family Learning who have continued to support the Academy with providing us with tutors to deliver family learning programmes. This Academic Year we have had ‘Body Matters’ delivered by one of the Family Learning Tutors. The course helped encourage parents to co-educate their child with providing them with knowledge and understanding on how to live a healthy lifestyle. The parents and children were encouraged to carryout set activities to expand on their knowledge.

In house Family Learning:

Since qualifying as a Higher Learning Teaching Assistant (HLTA) in the Spring Term I am now qualified to deliver Family Learning Programmes for the Academy. I have liaised closely with Hafsha Dadabhai-Shaikh (Head of Family Learning – Birmingham City Council) and her team and will now be delivering two Family Learning Projects in the Summer Term; Play and language in the Early Years and Dads and Lads Project with KS2. Both projects have funding attached to them which I can apply for to help us deliver the programmes successful

With the Play and Language Programme I will be working closely with Mrs Aucott (Early Years Lead) to support our families that are currently attending our Nursery ensuing that they will be prepared to join us in September when their children will be attending Reception.

In the Dads and Lads Group, we will be encouraging the dads to help expand on their child’s learning by carrying out fun activities with their children. Some of these activities will include; gardening, sports, reading

and cooking. By carrying out these activities we will also be incorporating literacy and numeracy skills within the weekly sessions.

Employability – Employable Parents Course

As we are part of the Sparkbrook Ward of Birmingham, our unemployment rate is one of the highest in the city. To help tackle this issue we have been very fortunate as an Academy to have gained funding to run a 10 weeks Employability – Employable Parenting Course with an organisation called Smart Lyte in collaboration with Birmingham City Council family Learning Department. The facilitator Salim Shaikh delivered the programme to help our parents/carers build on their confidence, gain new skills, knowledge on looking for work. He also offered support with writing a cover letter and C.V to help them get into the workforce. Smart Lyte has links with many work forces and can offer our parents the opportunity to gain experience in working in different settings.

The parents were fortunate to gain advice and information from Nyron (Flourish Education Agency) who shared tips and support with the group on what employee’s look for when employing staff.

The programme has encouraged the parents to apply for vacancies. Three members of the group have been very successful and have gained employment. One member of the group has recently joined a Jobs Agency.

I continue to support Parents with C.V support, Job Search and completing application forms to help them gain employement.

Parents First Aid Course

During one of the coffee morning sessions parents requested that they would like a First Aid Course to help gain an extra qualification. This was made possible, where they participated in a 6 hours course and all of the parents passed.

Parent Mentor’s

Some of our Parent Mentors were invited to an Information Sharing and award Ceremony in collaboration with Balsall Heath Children’s Centre, where they were celebrating the Sparkler’s Parent Mentor Programme, which recently achieved a National award in London.

We are in the process of trying to gain funding to allow our Parent Mentors to access this training and gain an accreditation for all their hard work. At the ceremony that took place on 17th December 2015, the parents had the opportunity to meet the Lord Mayor of Birmingham and Councillors Salma Yaqoob and Victoria Quinn (ARK Tindal Governor).

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Coffee Mornings

I hold weekly coffee mornings every Tuesday mornings 9am – 10am. To date we have covered the following topics in our weekly sessions;

How can ARK Tindal Primary Academy support our Parents Raising our Academy’s Attendance – lead by Mr Rahman

(Attendance Worker) Employability Information and sharing session – Lead by Salim

Shaikh (Smart Lyte)

MacMillan Cancer Coffee Morning – supported by our Parent Volunteers – we raised £250.00 selling cakes for this worthy cause.

Friends of ARK Tindal Primary Academy – setting up a committee to help support our school. Fifteen parents attended this coffee morning and are happy to start supporting the school. We will meet once every half – term.

International Breakfast – inviting parents to attend and get to know other parents whilst sharing breakfast with one another.

Bharosa Women’s Organisation – informing P/C of their services they can offer

Year 6/7 Transfer forms Balsall Heath Children’s Centre and Odara Representatives Larri – Acting Head Teacher Visit to Odara Women’s Organisation – Moseley Rd Friends of ARK Tindal Committee – organising the Christmas fair and

Summer fair Chair of Governors Inclusion Manager – Special Educational Needs Parent Governor – Introduction and Any concerns/issues

Parent/Carers Drop in sessions

These are carried out on a daily basis where the parent/carers have the opportunity to drop in to see me and gain some support with any concerns/issues they may have. Parent/ carers have the opportunity to see me at the beginning and end of the day. Some of the issues that I have supported the parents with have been;

Benefit support Applying for a bus pass Admissions (Reception and Year 6 for Sept 2016) Housing Applications Completing Application Forms for Jobs Job Search/C.V support/Application Forms

Friends of ARK Tindal Parents Committee

The committee consist of 12 parents who are committed in supporting the Academy with offering their support with volunteering their time as well as holding fundraising events. This term the committee have help two fundraising events;

MacMillians Cancer Coffee Morning Cake Sale – where they raised £250.00.

Christmas Fair – where they raised £610.00 to help support the children who attend the Ark India School buy Winter uniforms and raise funds to help Ark Tindal Primary Academy set up a Stay and Play in the Spring Term.

Summer Fair (Tuesday 12th July 2016 at 2pm) – The Parents are in

the process of organising and planning for this event.

The Parents of Friends of Ark Tindal Committee where invited by Hafsha Dadabhai-Shaikh (Head of Family Learning – Birmingham City Council) to attend a strategies meeting at the Balsall Heath Children’s Centre where they were encouraged to share the experiences, views and opinions of what support is available to welcome newly arrived families in Birmingham and what services are unavailable and that are desperately needed. A representative from Birmingham City Council was present to make notes and take feedback to the strategic committee.

Approachable Parenting ‘Guiding Muslim Families to better Parenting’ – This is a recognised Parenting Course (Can Parent Quality Mark) that was established in response to the needs of the Muslim families. The course is available to both Muslims and Non-Muslim’s where the facilitator’s draw knowledge from both psychology and Islamic principles in helping to develop the characteristics of the family which will later have a positive impact on the family structure.

Parent Governor

We have recently elected a new Parent Governor Saima Aslam who will be holding regular Coffee Morning sessions to hear from the parents and raise any concerns they may have in the Governors meetings.

Health Week

The week commencing Monday 18th April 2016, was our Academy’s Health week. The Parents were encouraged to participate in activities throughout the week to help raise awareness in living a healthy lifestyle. The parents had the following activities to participate in;

Morning AfternoonMonday Health Caravan Odara pampering

SessionTuesday Odara Health ChecksThursday Health Exchange –

Health checksFriday Positive Parenting

Breakfast Club

ARK Tindal Primary Academy continues to provide a free breakfast club to our children. We are still being funded from the Magic Breakfast organisation but this funding will be coming to an end at the end of this financial year. In April 2016 we will need to pay £1200 to subscribe to the Magic Breakfast membership on an annual basis.

Through my Breakfast Club Co-ordinator role I have managed to secure £400.00 through the Kellogg’s foundation to help support the breakfast club.

We currently have about 60 children on roll at the Breakfast Club but on a daily basis we have 52 children that attend.

We are also currently supporting the siblings of the Year 5 and Year 6 children who are currently attending the SATs Booster Groups. We are currently supporting a further 70 children. To reduce on the number of children in the main hall we are currently offering the children library club, Mathletics, dancing, board games and Art and Craft Activities.

New Starters

The pastoral Team continue to offer their support with delivering a smooth New Starters programme to ensure the children have a successful transition into school. Since September 2015 we have had over 109 new starters (including Nursery Children), from all over the world. Many have settled in the UK to get a better way of life, have fled war torn countries or have gained a scholarship and are studying in Birmingham.

I now work closely with the Registrar and we jointly carry out the New Starters interviews on a weekly basis. This has helped with the Pastoral Team gaining a better understanding about the new families joining the Academy.

On-going support:

Parents/Carers – Drop In sessions – every day from 8.45am – 9.15am and from 3.30 – 4pm.

Building Closer Links with ODARA – new women’s centre that has opened up recently in the local area.

Training;

Higher Learning Teaching Assistant (HLTA) – I have now completed my training and I am awaiting my results from my assessment.

Person Centred Review (PCR) – I am the Academy’s lead facilitator to run the PCR. Person Centered Review is a thinking tool to explore what is happening from the person’s perspective and from other peoples’ perspectives. This results in outcomes and actions for person-centered change. This enables the practitioners to work together to ensure that the child’s needs are being met.

Well Comm – This is a Speech, language and communication programme designed to deploy a unique traffic light system that clearly identifies children requiring immediate intervention, as well as those who show potential language difficulties. The innovative system has the additional benefit of banding children by placing

them into one of three categories, thus enabling the practitioner to proactively respond to any needs identified

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