Skills for life planner

Two members of staff have completed their Step in to Learning training and are now skills for life champions with responsibility for skills for life in the school. The school offers parents and carers a range of courses, including Family Talk (a speech and language course), Family Yoga and Fun with Food. This allows nursery staff to develop a close relationship with parents and carers.

At the end of the courses, they are invited to take the national tests in literacy and/or numeracy at the school. Although some parents are anxious about the tests, they feel the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. “I am really scared, but I don’t want my son to end up like me – not being able to read and write properly,” explained one.

The school believes that it is not enough simply to signpost learning opportunities: learning must be offered on site so that people can take their first steps in familiar surroundings. They give the example of one mother who told them that she would not have had the confidence to go to college and would have dropped out of the programme.