Case Study

Introduction

James Watt Primary School in North West Birmingham has been offering community language classes to its own students since 2002. Part of the existing extra-curricular after-school clubs, classes are currently run in Urdu and Bengali, although the school seeks to re-start Panjabi due to popular demand.

The project takes place on the school premises and is managed by the Deputy Head Jacqui Walker with support from Amilla Patel who also carries out all the administration. Currently the school offers one Urdu course, held twice a week on Tuesdays & Wednesdays and one Bengali course on Fridays. All lessons take place from 3.30-4.30pm. Bengali is only offered once a week as there are not enough Bengali students to open a class and it is difficult to find a Bengali teacher available to teach two evenings.

The arrangement for a community languages complementary school

The school employs teachers directly using a Birmingham Local Authority Supplementary Schools grant of around £1,500 a year. The school is happy to contribute stationery, some funding for books and the overheads for the use of after-school facilities. Parents are charged £4 per child, per term which is used to supplement teachers’ salaries and provide extra language books. Charging this nominal fee has also helped to secure a commitment from parents and, without it, it would be difficult to maintain the viability of the school.

There is no academic relationship between the maintained and the complementary school which is treated as a language club similar to other activity clubs held at the school. The classes are only open to students attending the school as there is insufficient capacity and funding to allow non-James Watt students to join.

History of the project

The school was inspired and driven by community parent power. After-school clubs were already in operation and enquiries came from parents who wanted their children to learn about their culture and have an opportunity to develop skills in reading and writing the Panjabi, Urdu and Bengali script. As the children were already in a secure environment, with teachers and support staff they knew, it made sense to offer lessons on the school premises.

Initially a Panjabi teacher, who was also a parent at the school, offered to teach a class, followed by an Urdu and a Bengali speaking parent. The School Head welcomed the initiative as long as parents underwent CRB and Health and Safety training procedures. As for the course content, teachers produced their own basic schemes of work and gradually developed the programme through experimentation.

Monitoring progress

There is no formal monitoring by James Watt staff of classes, teacher observations or student attendance. However, teachers are encouraged to attend training sessions provided by the Birmingham LA to develop their teaching skills. Jacqui and Amilla are quite relaxed with confidence in the abilities of the teachers and the popularity of the lessons taking the level of fees collected every term as a gauge of the success of the project.

Each year, James Watt is visited by a Project Officer from the Birmingham Supplementary School Forum as one of the conditions for receiving the grant.

Successes

The parents have expressed delight that their children are leaning about their culture and mother tongue in a safe and secure environment. Jacqui wants to continue to promote James Watt as a caring school with a community spirit that gives something to the parents as well as the students.

Challenges

Although there is a demand for Panjabi classes, it has been difficult to find teachers and retain them. Previous Panjabi teachers have left for a better paid teaching position or because they were unable to commit to the afternoon lesson time. The ideal teacher would be a parent with passion for the subject, teaching qualifications and the necessary availability. There are plans to advertise in the school newsletter and there is hope that word of mouth within the community will reveal a Panjabi teacher.

While the limited funding from the LA and course fees is not at present deemed a threat to the programme, extra funding would allow James Watt to offer teachers a better salary thus helping to attract better qualified staff and retain them in the long term. More money would also buy more books.

Expansion is difficult due to a lack of space. Classes currently take place in the old library converted into a classroom and the hall and other classrooms are often in use for other purposes.

Future plans

School capacity and staff availability generally limit provision of further community languages beyond the current Urdu and Bengali and the restart of the much awaited Panjabi classes. However, Jacqui has put thought to offering Somali to help the fostering of community relations, but unlike the other languages, Somali is widely practised at home with parents who often speak very little English. Therefore, there is unlikely to be the same need or interest to rediscover the language and culture lost to second and third generation children born in the UK.

Jacqui feels the provision of community languages greatly enriched the school and the local community and she would continue to operate the complementary school as long as there was a demand from parents.

About the School