TACKLING CHILD POVERTY THROUGH THE EVERY CHILD MATTERS AGENDAAT MILTON HALL PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY

CONTEXT

Milton Hall is a large primary school with over 580 pupils

Due to the rising birth rates in the area the school will be expanding to take almost 700 pupils

It is situated in one of the most deprived locations in Southend

Mobility is an issue with over 50% mobility in some year groups due to Domestic Violence, Housing issues, Family issues and pupils returning to their home land (Often returning at a later date)

CURRENTLY Over 50% of pupils are from different ethnic

backgrounds Around 48% of these pupils have English as

an additional language with many coming to school in all year groups with no English

Nearly a third of our pupils are from an Eastern European background (with 64 of these coming from a Roma background)

Around 47% of pupils currently receive Free School Meals

School Meal debt is a huge issue for the school (currently £2,325), with those falling just below the threshold for FSM really struggling

CURRENTLY: The school has pupils travelling from as far as

Southchurch and Shoeburyness but majority come from Milton and Victoria wards

20% of pupils are known to live in over crowded households and we believe this figure to be higher particularly amongst our Eastern European families

There is conflict between the different communities outside of school. This is not seen amongst pupils in school

Over 40 languages are spoken, with English, Polish and Bengali being the most popular

130 pupils have family/learning mentor intervention and 66 of these have Social care intervention. There are currently 6 looked after children on roll, 6 children with CPP and 3 classified as Children in Need.

CURRENTLY...

We have a large Roma community Many of these pupils have poor attendance,

live in very overcrowded conditions, live in an extended family but not necessarily with parents

There is racial tension between this community, the Polish community and the White British community (not seen in school)

Many of these families do not value education as they have had bad experiences in their homeland (persecution, segregation)

Families do not always declare themselves as Roma

SUCCESSES FOR OUR PUPILS

Pupils start the school at very low levels but make great progress

By the end of KS2 FSM pupils make better progress and attain more highly than our non-FSM pupils bucking the National Trend.

2011 SATs tests show: 80% of FSM pupils achieving a level 4+ in

English compared to the National average of 67%

85% FSM achieving level 4+ in Maths compared with a National average of 67%

80% achieved a level 4+ in English & maths combined compared with 58% nationally

SO WHY? HOW ARE WE NARROWING THE GAP?

BREAKFAST CLUB

BE HEALTHY...A HUNGRY CHILD IS A CHILD NOT READY TO LEARN Healthy Meals Fruit for every child funded by school Pupils grow fruit and vegetables in school

garden and cook and eat them Joint cookery sessions with Chase High School Family cooking and eating together sessions ‘Cooking on a shoestring’ sessions for parents Enterprise projects including ’Healthy recipe

books’, Breakfast club free to pupils funded by Greggs

bakers Family breakfast sessions funded by school

TAPPING OUR WAY TO SUCCESS

BE HEALTHY....HEALTHY BODY, HEALTHY MIND Many free after school clubs including,

football, rugby, running club, hockey, street dance, modern dance, tap dance, zumba

Southend Football Club exercise and football sessions

All equipment, clothing etc required for above clubs provided by school enabling access for ALL pupils

Outdoor learning important part of the curriculum in ALL weathers

30 pairs of tap shoes! Wellies and outdoor coveralls provided for all

children enabling them access to outdoor play and learning all year round

BE SAFE Working closely with all agencies: Health,

police, IYSS, LSCB, road safety Participating in Awareness weeks, events etc Anti-bullying....whole school approach using

the SEAL curriculum E-Safety Parents.....parenting workshops Parent Support Worker employed full time

by the school to support families in need...deals with safeguarding issues, supporting families with housing needs, DV issues, accessing work, benefits etc.

Qualified counsellors on site for children, families and parents

BE SAFE

ATTENDANCE....NEED TO BE HERE TO LEARN! Full time Attendance Officer/Home school Liaison

Officer employed by school Many attendance incentives run in school Weekly attendance raffle/class trophy Half termly class attendance winners get to make

their own professional music DVD using our media studio equipment which they perform to parents.

Weekly visit from Mr. Bigg via DVD from Hawaii, a character created by our attendance team. A successful business man who attended school regularly....motivates and inspires pupils to attend school

Termly trips to Megazone/Kids Kingdom for 100% attendance, effort and behaviour.

WOW!!! SO GLAD I WENT TO SCHOOL!!

ENJOY AND ACHIEVE....WHY I WANT TO COME TO SCHOOL! Engaging and creative curriculum that brings

learning alive! Real life learning Mantle of the Expert projects.....creating

enterprises through drama Providing opportunities children will not have

outside of school: Media suite, professional cameras, green

screen technology, editing suite, music studio (instuments and tuition provided by school), radio station, Ipads, Kindles, used throughout the curriculum. Enables equal access to all learners.

Qualified film maker in residence

ENJOY AND ACHIEVE.....WHY MY PARENTS LIKE TO COME TO SCHOOL!! Support staff that speak the languages of our

learners. We have a Roma support worker, Czech, Polish, Russian, Bengali, Urdu and Punjabi speaking LSA’s.

These staff also act as translators for our parents and support them during parent consultations, help with induction, support with form filling, both for school and other purposes.

Workshops run for families in English, maths and ICT.

English classes run for EAL parents DVD’s made by pupils in own language and

shown to parents to showcase school

IDENTIFYING AND REMOVING BARRIERS....WHAT WE DO BEST 2 Full time Learning Mentors work with

pupils that are at risk of underachieving due to emotional or social issues or trauma. They also work with the families of these pupils.

3 other Learning Mentors work closely with identified pupils on a one to one basis.

Pastoral team meets weekly to discuss identified children, track progress and make recommendations

Dyslexia and discalculia screening programmes in place. Special programmes resources put in place to support pupils and parents with dyslexia/discalculia

ECONOMIC WELLBEING...

School Bank Moneysense project run in school by Nat

West Bank Making Maths fun!! Real life maths Budgets/applying for funding (for year 6

disco) Working with Children’s Centre....credit

union sessions for parents

ENTERPRISE PROJECTS!

Pupils run enterprise projects to enable them to raise money for their own school trips.

School used to pay for/heavily subsidise school trips

Lessons pupils learning? Pupils set up enterprise from scratch. Create

company, devise jobs, apply for jobs, write CV’s, attend interviews, carry out market research, work out budgets, design product, make, market, advertise and sell. Work out profit and look at re-investment of some funds

Children have ownership

PROJECTS TO DATE

‘Garden Friends’ bird table company. ‘Real Recipe company’ Recipe books

professionally bound and sold ‘Photo Fabulous’ Photo frames for special

occasions ‘Music Marvels’ CD’s. Pupils composed,

recorded, edited and produced CD’s including artwork for cover.

‘Victorian Christmas’ All gifts Victorian from Christmas tree decorations to bookmarks and Christmas cakes. Enabled families to buy affordable gifts!

ENTERPRISE Parents and volunteers are also involved with

projects This has enabled pupils to pay for school trips

to: London, Adventure Island, Le Touquet in France, a residential experience at Belchamps Scout camp

The sense of achievement the pupils feel is immeasurable.

Parents do not have to worry about finding money for trips, alleviates stress, feelings of failure etc. Children do not have to worry because their parents have not paid.

Children begin to recognise the sense of achievement that comes with ‘working’ Too many live in families stuck in the ‘benefit culture’ It’s about changing attitudes as well.

MAKING A POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION...

Joint projects with Buckingham House, valuing our older community (WW2 documentary)

Special lunches, dinners etc prepared and served by pupils to members of the community

Special events such as : ‘Love where you Live’ joint project with Southend Council community and enterprise department celebrating all cultures and communities within our school

Cultural weeks, valuing all cultures in school and the contribution they make to our school and local community

Family sessions: art, cooking, dance etc Charity events to raise money for children in

‘poverty’

WHY DOES IT WORK? Working on Maslows Hierachy of needs, we

ensure the lower level needs are met first. Children cannot learn if they are hungry, thirsty, tired, worried, cold, don’t feel safe, have witnessed violence, have been the victim of violence, don’t feel valued or loved. If they are unable to learn they will get caught in the poverty trap that so many are in currently.

Once we have addressed specific barriers facing the most disadvantaged groups of our children, we make learning real, exciting and inspiring. Our children experience success!

Our pupils want to come to school, they want to learn, they look to the future with excitement. They want to make a difference!

INCLUSION AND BELIEF!

It is our duty to enable all of our pupils to achieve their potential by improving their attainment, aspiration and progression at all stages of education.

At Milton Hall ‘We Can and We Do!’