Primary school parents head back to the classroom

A group of local parents have been following timetables of their own at their children’s school.  The six mums have been attending Whitehall Nursery & Infant School as community learners on a study programme delivered by Walsall College.

The supporting children’s maths and English in school was a specially-developed six-week course to help the group to develop their children’s reading, writing and maths skills during everyday family routines and activities.

Rachel Davies, Faculty Director for Adults, Foundation and Community at the college said: “Following discussions with the school, a need was identified to help parents take a hands-on role in their child’s development of literacy and numeracy skills; doing so in ways that would be proactive, effective and of course, fun.

“It’s not necessarily about parent and child sitting together in front of a book or device.  Mealtimes, bath times and being out and about all offer the potential for great conversations about phonetics, multiplication and measurements, making learning more fun and engaging for everyone involved.

She continued: “We’ve received some fantastic feedback, with the mums saying how much they enjoyed trying out different learning techniques and seeing which ones work best for their child.  What’s also great to see is these mums are inspired now to explore other learning activities in a college setting, including English, maths and IT as well as sewing and beauty courses.”

Headteacher Lee Kilkenny said: ” We are really pleased that we were able to facilitate the college in this important undertaking. We are so happy that the parents who attended found it beneficial and would certainly look to participate in the future.”

Charisse Blair is one of the programme participants and a lunchtime supervisor at the school.  She said: “The more closely we’ve looked at different learning techniques and processes, the more confident I’ve become about being able to teach and support my daughter.  She’s enjoyed the activities we’ve been doing too.

She added: “I really hope to keep studying with Walsall College, working my way into a job as a teaching assistant or nursery nurse.”