Schools across Lewisham are already starting to offer extended services. On this page you can find some examples of how we are doing this.
Deptford Green School / Lewisham College adult classes
A partnership with Lewisham Adult College was set up so that appropriate accredited courses could be run on Monday evenings from 4.30pm – 7.30pm.
The courses were held in the school’s community IT room and the tutor was provided by Lewisham College. Many of the people accessing the courses were parents relatives and friends of pupils attending the school.
A room in the ex-schoolkeeper’s house was furnished with desks, chairs and whiteboard and ESOL classes ran from there, during the day, that were staffed by Lewisham Adult College.
Every Family Matters sessions
As part of a pilot programme Lewisham Extended Services have been holding ‘Every Family Matters’ sessions throughout the borough.
The sessions are aimed at parents of reception age children as well as those who have moved from primary to secondary school. They are designed to complement the work schools already do, providing a ‘settling in’ session for parents as well as their children.
Staff lead discussion on how parents can effectively support their children’s learning. Then, parents and children take part in an interactive theatre piece exploring the real issues and concerns that parents have when their child starts a new school
It’s a fun and comfortable forum where parents get to meet each and, judging by the involvement of parents and feedback received, somewhere they feel able to air their views and opinions.
Social work students working in schools
Six schools in Lewisham are working with Extended Services, London South Bank University and Lewisham Social Care on a new work-placement project.
This pilot project has placed second year social work students in schools for 5 months to develop support for parents and enhance links with social services.
Students can access training from the Council and they will be supported by the Extended Services Team and Lewisham’s Practice Assessor. This helps to ensure a broad understanding of the role.
This is innovative approach requires close partnership work between a range of agencies and we hope that one of the outcomes will be an enhanced level of support for families.
Lewisham Summer University
For the last five years Lewisham has run a highly successful Summer University programme for children aged 8-19 years.
Summer University is a free, open access provision run on sites around the borough, offering a wide variety of short courses for students in areas including arts, sports, ICT, study, careers and music.
In 2007 the Summer University will offer over 40 different courses over the six weeks summer holiday on sites around Lewisham and central London. We hope to offer courses to over 800 students.
Cooking and reading classes
Children and their parents from six primary schools in the south of the borough had the opportunity to take part in classes that were provided to develop cookery and literacy skills.
Pilots were run at two primary schools, and were judged a success by the people that attended them.
The outcomes have included increased knowledge of nutrition and healthy lifestyles (for parents and children), increased parental engagement, greater use of library facilities and an increase in children’s reading.