North Primary School

The grant recipient

North Primary School is situated in Southall, one of the most deprived areas of the London Borough of Ealing. Most pupils live in the local area, 98% speak English as an additional language, 20% are at a very early stage of language acquisition and around a quarter are from refugee families, including Somalian, Afghan, Iraqi and Sri Lankan families.

The Refugee Children's Education and Family Support programme

What it aims to do

  • provide academic and social support for refugees and newly arrived children
  • raise pupils' achievement levels and self esteem
  • help parents to support their children.

How it works

Each week up to 20 children from all year groups come together with their parents for an after-school learning club. The focus is on strengthening literacy and numeracy skills and provision of enrichment activities. Teachers sign up for 'blocks' of specialist sessions and regular trips are a feature of the programme.

Results

The project is using national standardised assessments (including the Neale reading test and QCA assessment) to measure the progress of pupils:

  • average attendance was 95%
  • older students are now making progress within the National Curriculum
  • younger pupils are being targeted earlier to raise their attainment in the early years of schooling

The funding and replication

SHINE is delighted to be funding this project in partnership with The Tom ap Rhys Pryce Memorial Trust http://www.tomaprhyspryce.com

Funding: £19,955 to North Primary school, over five years (2005-10)

Contact North Primary school on: 020 8571 7749

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"The class is really useful and very important to us. I can now help my child with homework."

Mother

"I learned reading, writing and grammar and I would now like to visit a museum with my family."

Mother

"The club helps me with reading, words and spellings."

Child

"It helps me with reading different, exciting books."

Child