HERTFORDSHIRE TRAVELLER EDUCATION PROJECT

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HERTFORDSHIRE TRAVELLER EDUCATION PROJECT
Travellers in Hertfordshire
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• The term Travellers refers to a number of
  different groups of people who reside in or
  resort to the country.
• Travellers in Hertforshire are mainly English
  Gypsies, Irish Travellers or Occupational
  Travellers, which include circus and fairground
  families. Occasionally we support New Travellers
  and Bargee children.
• The Traveller Education Project supports schools
  in their work with school aged pupils and pre
  school children who have a mobile, nomadic
  lifestyle.

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Some Travellers live on HCC caravan sites. The
county maintains 10 fixed pitch HCC Caravan Sites
HCC Caravan Sites
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Private Sites
Some Traveller families have their own land and
spend some of the year there.
Planning permission has to be sought in order to
gain permanent siting of trailers on such land.
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Roadside Encampments
Travellers who are passing through the county
dont always have access to a county site and
stop wherever they can. The T.E.P. help to
access the children to school and ensure their
education is supported.
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Houses/ Flats
Many Travellers live in houses or flats and still
retain their cultural identity. Families may
still travel during the year. All these children
have the same access to education as any other
child. Families that have been housed for two
years or more do not qualify for support from the
Project.
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Fairground Travellers
The fairground Travellers are known as Showmen.
There are a number of over-wintering yards in
Hertfordshire to which the families return during
the close season. During the winter months
children attend their base schools and follow the
regular curriculum. To ensure continuity of
education, distance learning materials are
prepared by the school with help from Project
staff.
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Working Fairs and Circuses
Children from working fairs and circuses in the
county either attend local schools or are
supported with their distance learning by support
teachers on site.
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Due to the very high mobility of these children
and because they are carrying their own distance
learning, support sometimes takes place on site.
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The Traveller Education Projectwithin Children,
Schools Families
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CSF
Funding
SSC
MECSS
TEP
HOP
Head of Project
SnrT
Senior Teachers
STs
Support Teachers (incl School Support/Development
Early YearsSuppt Dev)
LSAs
Learning Support Assistants
TEWO
Traveller Education Welfare Officers
PA
Personal Assistant for Traveller young people
Co-Ord
Co Ordinator for Traveller Adult Learning
Core funding for the T.E.P. from the DfES covers
statutory school age work. However, additional
support enables support in both the Early Years
and post 16.
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How Support is set up and followed through
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Families arrive in the county
Traveller Education Welfare Officers visit the
families to collect information on the numbers
and ages of children requiring school places.
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Children are accessed to schools
Traveller Education Welfare Officers contact the
schools on behalf of the families to establish
where there are vacancies. Consideration is
given to distance of schools from the site,
transport issues and if possible, ensure that
siblings are kept together.
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Support agreements are set up
Once decisions on deployment have been made,
Senior Teachers from the Project meet the
Headteacher or their representative to draw up a
support agreement. The type of support and the
time allocation is discussed and
agreed. Information from the support agreement is
used to inform reports to county and the DfES.
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In class support is put in place
In-class support is supplied in the form of a
specialist LSA or support teacher for a limited
period of time. This additional support is to
compensate for gaps in education due to mobility.
It is to assist in the integration of pupils in
the classroom and in accessing the curriculum
through the introduction of culturally and
academically relevant materials.
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• The support can include
• Assessing and target setting to inform Pupil
  development plans
• Collaborative planning
• Introducing Traveller related resources
• Support teaching
• Discussing ways in which Traveller culture can be
  reflected in the curriculum
• LSA support
• Recording and evaluating
• School INSET
• Home- school liaison
• The project has produced a booklet Guidelines
  for Support which includes details for this
  support.

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Senior teacher from TEP and Headteacher evaluate
the support

• At the end of the support an evaluation is
  carried out.
• Short term pupil progress is discussed and the
  targets set and met are recorded
• The quality of support is evaluated against the
  projects Quality Definition recorded in a
  questionnaire on the Support Agreement.
• Future needs of the pupil and the school are
  looked at.

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Early Years

• The Project can offer
• Support for childrens access to Early Years
  settings
• Support for Early Years practitioners
• In class support
• Home/school liaison
• Resources to reflect Traveller lifestyle
• Early Learning Boxes relating to the
  Foundation Stage
• Book bags
• INSET

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• Connexions
• provide ongoing individual support and guidance
  for 13-19 year olds in terms of personal, social
  and careers development.
• This is achieved through
• Consulting with the young people about the type
  of support and services that they require
• Signposting them to additional services
• Supporting access to Further Education
• Providing drop-in services for advice and
  guidance
• Offering one to one support for particularly
  vunerable young people.

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Resources
The Project holds a number of Traveller-related
resources at its Hollybush base. These can be
loaned to schools for short periods to assist
with pupils work at all Key Stages and to assist
staff in schools to become familiar with
Traveller issues.
The Project will also respond to requests for
loans through the Schools Library Service
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Resources continued
For more details or a free catalogue of
recommended books and resources phone Hollybush
Centre Tel [phone]