School-Home Support (SHS) reaches Bradford
News article from January 24, 2018
Getting children in school, ready to learn is what we’re all about at School-Home Support (SHS), and Bradford’s school absenteeism statistics are certainly a challenge. More than 5% of children in Bradford schools (higher than the national average) missed out on over a year of education in the year 2014-15 – a statistic all of us at SHS are motivated to change.
In January this year, with the financial support of Provident Financial, School-Home Support started a new project in the Bradford secondary school, One in a Million. Launching our flagship practitioner service at One In a Million with the appointment of Paula Chin is a really exciting development, one that we know will make a difference to the educational outcomes of vulnerable children in the school. As a former social worker, Paula has a wealth of experience in supporting children and their families. She’s hit the ground running in her first weeks in post, addressing issues such as poverty and the difficulties families face covering travel costs to school.
“As an inner city school working in such a deprived area as Manningham in Bradford, attending school will always remain a challenge to certain members of the students community. SHS offers an additional level of impact that the school is unable to achieve on its own. SHS provides a fully comprehensive programme that supports the school and the students and families that require extra support. I am thrilled to be working with them and eagerly look forward to evidencing the impact that SHS has on individual lives.” – Philip Grant, Headteacher
SHS Practitioners break down barriers to learning by working with the whole family. They do whatever it takes to ensure children have the support they need at home to succeed at school. Our practitioners tackling complex issues such as poverty, poor housing and poor parental engagement; problems that mean young people struggle to get to school on time every day.
It’s been incredibly motivating to see the appointment of a new SHS practitioner and we’re delighted to have One In a Million as one of our schools.
We know that we’ve got more work to do in partnership with Bradford schools. If you’re interested in helping us tackle educational inequality in schools in your community please get in touch by emailing enquiries@shs.org.uk or calling 020 7426 5000.