Children from poorer families almost a school-year behind
15/02/2010
Children who are among the poorest in the UK are nearly a year behind middle-class children in terms of their language abilities.
A report from the Sutton Trust, an educational charity, found children among the poorest fifth of UK families are 11.1 months behind other children, tested by vocabulary, by the time they reach the age of five.
The charity found good parenting and a supportive home environment emerged as the most important determinants of better test scores at age five, accounting for half of the explained gap between low-income and middle-income children.
Extended services need more support to reach disadvantaged
29/01/2010
Schools need more support from government and councils to ensure their extended services are reaching their most disadvantaged pupils, according to a government review.
The Extended Services Evaluation – Reaching Disadvantaged Groups and Individuals: Thematic Review looked at the experiences of running extended services in 15 schools across the north-west and north-east of England.
The review praised schools for using a broad definition of disadvantage, looking beyond poverty to include a range of family situations such as bereavement, disability and mental health issues.
Ethnic Minority Advisory Group invites applications for membership
18/01/2010
Those wanting to make a difference to the employment opportunities of ethnic minorities and influence Government policy are being urged to apply for membership of the Ethnic Minority Advisory Group (EMAG).
Whilst the ethnic minority employment gap has narrowed over recent years, it still stands at 13.8 percentage points and recent research shows that racial discrimination still exists in recruitment practices.
Hounslow mum tells how a Sure Start children's centre turned her life around
17/01/2010
When Karol Jacquin left her home in Lebanon to start a new life here 10 years ago, she had no family, knew nobody and struggled to adapt to a culture not her own.
Soon after Karol made the move and settled in Hounslow, she gave birth to her first and only child Karen. Despite the joy felt having become a mum for the first time, Karol began feeling increasingly lonely and like “she had nowhere to go”.
Parental engagement
08/01/2010
The DCSF is undertaking research on what practitioners and settings can do to support and encourage stronger parental engagement. This will inform guidance and materials to help practitioners in schools, colleges, children's centres and early years settings to improve their work with parents.
To feed into this research the DCSF is keen to hear about your experiences. In particular it wants any evidence you have for the success of particular approaches or that helps it understand why other approaches may have been less successful. It is important that practice is included which reflects experiences of working with parents of children across the full age range, that is from 0 to 19 years.
See publication link for more information
Changing the behaviour of boys from ethnic minority communities in south London
09/10/2009
An Action for Children project to support ethnic minority boys affected by absent fathers has brought huge improvements in behaviour and family relationships
Boys from an ethnic minority and with an absent father have a greater risk of entering a life of crime or antisocial behaviour.
However, the Pinnacle project in Streatham, south London, has been successful at changing the behaviour of boys by addressing these risk factors and using a whole-family approach.
New Drive Towards Social Enterprise For Women From Ethnic Minority Backgrounds
04/09/2009
Social enterprise, a form of business with primarily social or environmental objectives, can be a useful tool to alleviate poverty amongst the most marginalised in society and has a role to play in regenerating neighbourhoods and increasing community cohesion.
The Government recognises that increasing the representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women starting up social enterprises will potentially enable many groups of ethnic minority women, such as Pakistani and Bangladeshi women who are under represented in the workplace and in society, to become more economically independent and participate more fully in communities.
There are at least 55,000 social enterprises in the UK which contribute £8.4 billion pounds to the UK economy, but evidence suggests that BAME women are underrepresented as social enterprise owners.
Children's centre offers support during Ramadan for healthier habits
19/08/2009
Muslim fathers are being encouraged to use Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting that starts on 21 August, as an inspiration to lead healthier lifestyles and set good examples for their children.
Gladstone Children's Centre in Peterborough is urging Muslim fathers to quit smoking during Ramadan.
A story from Firbank Children’s Centre, Lancashire County Council
28/07/2009
A really unusual example of the work that we do in children's centres that makes a difference to families.
A family had been attending the centre for several months and had built some firm relationships with staff. They moved temporarily out of the area to have their house renovated and we didn't see them for a while.
One day we received a message via facebook (of all places) to say that the mother and daughter had been deported to Pakistan and were in a very dangerous area with bombing close by and very fearful for their lives as their young child was British and therefore at risk from harm in Pakistan. They had to stay in Pakistan with very little contact with home, for three and a half months. During that time, they coped by talking about their time at Firbank, the little girl constantly asking Mum to repeat stories when she was very scared, over and over of nice times and memories they had from here.
Mum, Dad and the little girl came up to see us within a few days of coming home from Pakistan to say thank you and to look through our photo albums again. It was so lovely the way they talked about their emotional survival strategies being based on memories of Firbank and the team. Mum said she felt such a sense of relief when she came in to the building and it felt like 'coming home'.
Article shared by Dot Smith
Integrated Service & Partnership Manager,
Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Service
Lancashire County Council
In Practice: Frontline - find common ground
04/06/2009
Julie Lannon, children's centre leader, London Colney Children's Centre.
Running a successful children's centre can be about going with the flow, says Julie Lannon, who manages London Colney Children's Centre in Hertfordshire. While children's centres should aim to reach families that may not naturally come to them, sometimes that's about letting groups and services evolve, she explains.
One of her centre's success stories is a Friendship Group for Bengali mums. This sprang out of consultation by health visitors with families whose first language is not English.
Parents were saying they wanted somewhere to meet outside the home. A large number of Bengali mums came early on and it developed into a Bengali women's group," says Lannon.
"While we aim to run activities that are accessible to all, they did have specific things in common to talk about such as the difficulties of moving to a new country."
Click publication link for full news item.
Promoting free early learning entitlement to BME families
10/07/2008
Between 16 July and 31 August 2008, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) will be running television advertising, aimed at Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) families, promoting the 12 and a half hours of free early learning entitlement available to all 3 and 4-year-olds.
The pen that 'speaks' several languages
05/05/2008
EAST Lancashire tots can now learn nursery rhymes and read books in languages as diverse as Russian and Urdu thanks to a new high-tech resource.
Children at Sure Starts, children's centres and other early years settings throughout the region can hear old favourites such as Incey Wincey Spider at the touch of a "Talking Pen" on a printed page.