A Birmingham based Scout Hut was selected for the venue, where children between nine and twelve years of age would be invited to take part in a course to support their maths and literacy and receive a meal. There was no charge for those wishing to attend.
The Maths and English Support Progamme was advertised by the Scouts Hut. Parents of eight children put their names forward for the course, encouraged and supervised by the Scout Leader.
Materials provided
Worksheets and workbook
Reading book
Stationery
Certificates were provided to each child attending.
A qualified cook (also a mother of one of the scouts attending) generously volunteered to cook the meals for the children. Pizza was ordered as a treat on the last session and so that the mother could join in with the certificate ceremony along with the other parents.
Sessions
The children expressed a desire to be assessed on each task so that they could monitor their progress over the course.
The course was arranged for two and a quarter hours, twice a week. All those attending were given their own work book to use and keep. A snack was provided at the start of the session and a meal halfway through. Each session consisted of a maths segment, spelling and grammar, and taking turns to read a story out loud with comprehension questions.
The final session included a certificate ceremony and the parents were encouraged to attend.
Assessment
The children were graded each session; however, no data were recorded.
Feedback
Eight children from the local scouts and cubs groups signed up to take part in the pilot programme. The course was well received by both the children and parents. We were at full attendance every week and the children were so invested they decided to put on an end-of-course play for the parents based on the book they were reading. There were no discipline issues.
Discussion
We originally aimed to limit the sessions to ages 9-12 years, however, we decided to drop the lower age range to 7 years as parents wanted siblings to attend. We were fortunate that a mother of a scout member was willing and able to volunteer the food on this occasion which reduced the cost of the sessions. We felt that the sessions went very well and were well received by both children and parents and feel there is merit in running further courses like this in the future.
Acknowledgements
We would like to say a big thank you to the Acocks Green Scouts and parents for helping this course be a big success.
