Parents caught in maelstrom of having their child excluded given BIG support

Area:

London

Programme:

Reaching Communities

Release date:

14 8 2012

A project supporting parents and children facing the traumatic dilemma of school exclusion and what to do next is one of six initiatives across the capital sharing £1.5m from Big Lottery Fund (BIG) this month.

Through their Lottery grant of over £292,000, Communities Empowerment Network will support parents who face having their child excluded from school, and will aim to secure positive educational outcomes for the child. It will also assist them in reintegrating excluded children back into mainstream education in London.

Numerous issues contribute to negative school experiences and poor behaviour in school which can lead to disengagement, academic underachievement or exclusion and further down the line, crime and future unemployment. A recent survey of 15-18-year-olds in custody, conducted by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Youth Justice Board, revealed that 90 per cent of the young men and 75 per cent of the young women had been excluded from school.

Through the project's telephone hotline, parents in these situations can access support and advice on their child's rights and entitlements. Advocacy will also be provided on a caseload basis for governor disciplinary committee meetings, independent appeal panels and any other official or unofficial meetings with the school or other agencies in order to secure the best outcome for the child.

Deuan German, Acting Director for CEN, said: “Our objective is to successfully support parent(s) and child through the maze of the exclusion system to have them reintegrated back into full-time, mainstream education where appropriate. It is almost always a challenging, confusing and traumatising experience for any parent and their child.

“New regulations will come into play from the Department for Education in September 2012 and we therefore see our service being even more in demand and so we are extremely grateful to the Big Lottery Fund for their huge support for this project.”

Receiving £298,463, Youth League (UK) Limited (YLUK), will extend a programme of outdoor play and sports activities for disadvantaged 8-16 year olds in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham who have low levels of physical activity. These outreach sessions will reduce the financial barriers preventing children and young people in deprived wards from accessing leisure activities and improve their health, self-esteem and wellbeing.

Reception age children in Barking and Dagenham have the third highest prevalence of obesity in London, (14.1 per cent) according to the annual report of the Director of Public Health for Barking and Dagenham. YLUK will seek to address these issues affecting predominantly boys, including health inequalities, lack of motivation and mental health issues such as depression. Sessions will include a range of activities such as jogging and cycling, den building, tree climbing, arts and crafts, dance and drama. The project will target estates with particularly high levels of poverty and deprivation, where young people have limited access to free, outdoor and natural play.

John Wainaina, Project Coordinator for Youth League UK, said: "Barking and Dagenham have some extremely deprived areas and there are not enough activities for that target group of young people, because of cuts in government funding and things like that, so the Big Lottery Fund grant will go a long, long way. This is also an important element of the Olympics legacy for London.”

Also receiving funding is Home-Start in Tower Hamlets, which will deliver one-to-one volunteer-based parental support to families in the borough, with at least one child under the age of five. Through its Lottery grant of almost £200,000, this new project will include an emphasis on educational elements such as encouraging and assisting parents to read with their children in order to address issues with literacy in the area.

Though the parents may have a basic level of reading ability, they often lack the knowledge of how to help their children learn to read. Alongside the standard provision of weekly volunteer-led help with parenting skills, physical exercise, attending doctor's appointments and assisting parents with household tasks, the Early Learning Package includes an emphasis on weekly activities involving reading to and with the children, playing numeracy games and performing other activities which help prepare the child for school and also prepare the parents for supporting their children's education.

Today’s funding comes from BIG’s Reaching Communities programme, aiming to help those most in need and build stronger communities.

Alison Rowe, Big Lottery Fund’s Head of the London region, said: “Some of the key outcomes we strive to achieve from the Reaching Communities programme are giving people better chances in life, improving urban environments and helping people to become healthier and more active.  I am pleased these projects demonstrate this so strongly and feel sure they will make a vital difference to communities across the capital.”

A full list of London projects receiving funding today:

Further Information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund

Notes to Editors

• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
• The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £28 billion has now been raised and more than 370,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

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