Case Study

Introduction

Thanks to the commitment and vision of the Headteacher, the school premises at Bantock Primary School have been made available on Saturdays for community languages classes for a number of years. Numbers have increased significantly since 2001, with numbers of Panjabi learners, for example, increasing from 3 to 60. There are now approximately 120 students shared between 9 teachers and 9 classes. There are 3 classes learning Panjabi and Urdu and 1 class learning each of Bengali, Gujarati and Hindi, reflecting the local community profile. Approximately 80% of the primary-age students at the Saturday classes also attend Bantock Primary School.

The learners are often 2nd or 3rd generation community languages speakers, with a wide range of competency. Some may speak fluently, but do not have secure grammatical knowledge. Some know the script for their language, but cannot write competently. Some may know the Panjabi spoken at the Gurdwara, for example, but not the spoken language tested in UK qualifications. Some Panjabi speakers may know the Urdu script to write the Panjabi they speak but need to learn the Gurmuki script.

With support from the Community Languages project at the Jennie Lee Centre, the classes are professionally run. All teachers are CRB checked and 3 have Qualified Teacher Status. Some have first-aid training and parental consent forms are required for food and/or medicine to be made available to the children. Emergency contact details for parents are also kept. All staff are trained in what to do in the case of fire and the entrance to the building is supervised by staff to ensure the security of the building and that children don’t leave the premises without written permission.

The school is open for classes from 10am-12pm on a Saturday, or from 9am-1pm on days of special celebrations. Learners in Panjabi and Urdu are generally grouped according to the exam they are preparing for; GCSE, AS/A Level and Asset Languages for the younger learners (usually aged 6 to 11). The other language classes tend to be more mixed in terms of age and level. Exam results in all languages are usually in the A* - C range at GCSE and A-C at AS/A Level. Younger learners work towards Asset Languages qualifications at Breakthrough and then Preliminary level in all four skills.

The learning environment

The classes aim to provide a relaxed setting for learning and to instill passion and pride for community language learning in the young people who attend. The teachers take a very ‘can do’ attitude to their role. Learners have an input into the way their classes are run; if there is a request for group discussions, for example, teachers will usually oblige. The teachers use songs in their teaching, whether traditional, modern or from the sound track of a Bollywood film. Video is also used wherever possible, with its power to impart cultural information as well as language. Cultural information and study are key features of the classes. The teachers use visual resources, including ICT-based resources, to stimulate discussion in the language being learned.

Learners are allowed to bring food and drink to the classes. Monitors are appointed and wear badges, and are given the responsibility, for example, of escorting children new to the school to their class. The teachers have a supply of stickers to reward punctuality and other positive behaviour. On the rare occasion that a behaviour or safety issue needs to be tackled, a special assembly can be called in the hall where teachers can address all learners together.

The school has also organised trips to the seaside, to Llandudno and Blackpool. Annual festivals such as Eid, Christmas and Diwali are celebrated together, with an extended session from 9am-1pm and refreshments are provided by the teachers and volunteer parents who participate. These are sometimes accompanied by competitions and performances, such as dance, drawing or bhangra. The young people will practice for weeks beforehand to prepare.

Community cohesion

A conscious decision has been made to promote equality of languages within the school. No religious, cultural or gender bias is tolerated. Whilst Paramjeet is the coordinator based at the Jennie Lee Centre, officially all teachers have equal standing at the school. Reference is made to ‘language classes’ rather than ‘the Hindi class’, or ‘the Urdu class’. At least 3 pupils from a Gujarati background, for example, are learning Panjabi and there are some learners with a mixed race background. All learners are expected to participate in the celebrations of all the festivals, including Eid, Christmas and Diwali, which are given equal weighting. As a result, the young people are motivated to attend Saturday classes regularly and to learn, and have a genuine interest in both language and culture.

Support from the Local Authority

The Community Languages Project at Wolverhampton City Council Local Authority recruits and trains the teachers of the classes, providing training sessions each September and November. As Paramjeet works in the Project team, she tends to make practical arrangements for weekly lessons. She organises notebooks and pencils that are provided free to students and does any photocopying needed. The teachers have access to reading books and teaching resources at the LA library and are provided with copies of the textbooks published by the LA, where available, in each language. Paramjeet brings her laptop and a data projector when needed, so the classes do not need to use those in the school, though there may be access to these in the future. Parents are not required to make any financial contribution to the classes, though some do volunteer to help when parties and festival celebrations are held.

Hopes for the future

There is the capacity to take on more students and teachers would like to hold an induction day to recruit more learners. There is also demand from adult community language speakers, who are interested in gaining a qualification in their language and need further support with the English language and exam skills needed for success. Students from the classes have collaborated with other local supplementary schools in the past on joint festival celebrations and teachers would like to run more of these fun open days. All of these ideas are dependent on direct funding, which is not as yet available.

About the School