::Young Gypsy-Traveller:: Boring Bit! ::

- Nightingale Primary school in Hackney:
The school has many years of experience of educating Traveller pupils as the school is adjacent to a permanent Irish Traveller site. Jake Herbft, the acting headtecher, aims to maintain an ethos of care and affection in the school, wih everybody trusted in a way they would like to be themselves. He accepts that families travel and that pupils may be out of school, but welcomes pupils back when they return. He believes the key to positive relationship with the pupils is open communication with the families of the Travellers and a good working relationship with Traveller Education Services.
From "Educating Gypsy and Traveller Pupils", Click here to download order form (£5)

- In 2003 the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) produced Aiming High: Raising the Achievement of Gypsy Traveller Pupils as a guide to good practice. It recommends that schools respect and address Gypsy and Traveller pupils’ needs. It calls for training to raise staff expectations, knowledge and understanding and calls for a culturally relevant and affirming curriculum. It advises schools to include parents in the development of the school and to address race equality and equal opportunities within schools. DfES also recommends a close working relationship with the Traveller Education Service (TES) who have been successful in improving young Gypsy and Traveller women’s access to education. www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/ethnicminorities/links_and_publications

- Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnership is supported by a network of ten Community Learning Partnerships (CLPs). These provide a community voice to influence countywide strategies and also, through collaborative efforts, promote solutions to solve local learning problems. These good practice case studies aim to provide the basis for projects that can be adapted and developed for other areas with similar learner needs.

- Mole Valley Travellers

Traveller Education: accounts of good practice, edited by: Chris Tyler, Price £16.99, February 2005

This is a handbook for all schools that have Traveller pupils. It moves beyond the issues surrounding their low educational attainment and attendance in schools to outline good practice, based on proven success in schools.

Chapters deal with principles of inclusion, meeting the needs of Traveller pupils, tackling access and attendance, supporting mobile pupils. The sectors are each considered: opportunities for early years education, resources at foundation and key stage 1, Literacy for All and other curriculum partnerships at key stage 2, good cross phase practice, overcoming the barriers to secondary students effectively. Other chapters are devoted to housed Travellers and supporting distance learning.

The contributors are Arthur Ivatts; Brian Foster and Hilary Horton; Lucy Beckett; Claire Norris, Carol Ward and Sue Itzinger; Anne Jefford and Kate Stockdale; Kanta Wild-Smith; Lorna Daymond; Margaret Wood; Sue Green and Louise Stokoe; Barbara Blaney; Jim Donovan; Ken Marks; the Bucks METAS. Their professionalism and successful approaches are models for practitioners wanting to enhance the educational attainment of what is still the lowest achieving group in schools. The collection will be invaluable to everyone involved in the education of Traveller children, providers, trainers and workers in related fields.

Purchase this book from http://www.trentham-books.co.uk/ or Amazon.co.uk

And the Bad Practice!

- Show Families evicted from their land at Gotheringtob by Tewkesbury Council in January are struggling to keep their children in school as they move around from one illegal site to another. "We are determined that our children should be able to stay in the schools where they have been all their lives".
Travellers Times, Spring 2006, Issue 27, P.2

- Evicting a group of families and their 17 children from their own land at Leatherhead would be 'disastrous' a head teacher warned. Many of the children attend All Saints' School and Jane Gorescka, the head, appealed for them to be alowed to stay. "I just dont understand how the local authority can consider kicking them out. The Government's Every Child Matters clearly states that every child is entitled to a healthy, safe environment and to a good education. There is no exclusion clause for Traveller children".
Travellers Times, Spring 2006, Issue 27, P.2

- Eight Travellers are being evicted from Dalewood Gardens and Bewbush West Playing fields, Crawley. David Birtwhistle, deputy head at Bewbush School, which some of the Traveller children attend, attacked the decision. "The children are very settled into the school and if they are moved it will be to the detriment of their education. The longer they are with us the greater the benefit to their education".
Travellers Times, Spring 2006, Issue 27, P.3