'Urban vs Rural': Children's enthusiasm engages parents
Titled 'Urban versus Rural', this project developed at Windy Arbor Junior & Infant School (Solihull) provided a platform for Year 5 children (two classes totalling 43 children) to connect with their environment and engage with their parents.
The creative practitioners involved in the project used street dance as a means to engage; working with staff to deliver aspects of a thematic curriculum, drawing on a number of curricular areas. Parents were invited to participate in sessions supported by their children as well as to see a final sharing of the work created. The students also forged a link with St Patrick's, a rural school, so they could share experiences and ideas. Towards the end of the project a third practitioner who lives locally, began an after school street dance club to continue the legacy of this project.
Impact
A Cre8us Council comprising of six vulnerable children was established to work alongside staff and give voice to the opinions of the pupils.
Street dance became the inspiration for their artwork and has helped to improve literacy; when they had to work on recounting text they did so with purpose, able to draw on the real experience of their city centre trip. They also exchanged emails with St Patrick's and used this content in their recounting text as well.
- After only the first parent workshop with the practitioners, attendance at parents' evening increased significantly from 15% to 95%.
- The sharing event had huge support with over 90 parents attending, much greater than expected or seen in the past.
- Attendance of the after school street dance club exceeded expectations; there are now 20 regulars, twice as many as had been targeted.
- Before the project, the school had been struggling to make contact with a particular child's family; four family members attended the performance.
Results
One child, whose parents rarely came into school, came to the performance. The child said "I enjoyed it when we was doing the performance in front of my parents."
"We have learned much about how to involve parents, what language to use, what activities will bring them in and the role of the children within that."
"The boys were dancing and smiling... one boy who usually takes the day off with anything similar, turned up and was fully involved."
"One boy who rarely showed emotion, smiled during this project."
"They enjoyed working with the other school, going out and experiencing 'urban versus rural' and not just talking about it."
"The children feel their parents are more involved, especially with brain builder homework and inspire workshops, and they said their homework has improved because of this."
If you are interested in this project and would like to find out more about this and other projects, please visit www.cre8us.org.uk
