Glendower Parents Volunteer to Read with Afghan Children at Park Walk Primary School

Throughout the summer term, a group of Glendower parents very generously volunteered to read for a minimum of an hour each week at Park Walk Primary school, supporting Afghan evacuee children in Years 2 and 3 with their reading and English development.

Parent volunteers were given an introduction to the children’s reading levels and then spent time weekly working with and listening 1:1 to a small number of children reading.

Aims

To support Park Walk Primary school to provide additional 1:1 support to the Afghan evacuee children in their school as they develop their English language skills and reading comprehension.

Background

As a result of Glendower partnership work with Park walk Primary school and GlenPark Club weekly, where Glendower Year 6 students ran activities with Afghan evacuees at park walk primary school, it became clear that the Afghan evacuees were struggling with their English language development and that additional support 1:1 would be helpful. 

Glendower Preparatory School decided to reach out to its parent community to see if anyone would be able to support Park Walk Primary by volunteering weekly to read with the children. Understanding what they were reading was a problem for the Afghan children, given how new English was for them, but the more time they have to practice with an adult the better their comprehension became.

Resources

Resources required:

Volunteer time and commitment, adequate training and introductions for volunteers, DBS checks for parent volunteers to enable them to fully support the classroom teacher at Park Walk Primary.

Impact

Parents reported at the end of the summer term that they had seen a remarkable improvement in the children’s reading and comprehension skills.

Pupil Involvement

Approximately 10 Afghan students were involved from Park Walk School, aged 5-10 years.

Frequency

This activity ended in July as Afghan students were rehoused to other parts of the country.

Glendower and Park Walk Primary are planning to start a parent volunteer programme to support reading at Park Walk Primary school next year.