Small Island Read 2007 Evaluation for Bristol Schools

Small Island Read 2007 Evaluation for Bristol Schools:

containing

Online Teachers’ Survey on Books and Material

Online Teachers’ Survey on Workshops

“Our Stories Make Waves” Report

Executive Summary of Teachers’ Survey

This report contains a detailed statistical analysis of the results to the online survey titled Small Island Read 2007 Teachers' Survey. The results analysis includes answers from all respondents who took the survey in the 85 day period from Monday, January 22, 2007 to Monday, April 16, 2007. 9 completed responses were received to the survey during this time.

Which book or books did you use with your students?
Response / Count / Percent
Small Island / 4 / 44.4%
Refugee Boy / 7 / 77.8%
Amazing Grace / 2 / 22.2%
In general, did your students enjoy taking part in this project?
Response / Count / Percent
No / 0 / 0.0%
Yes / 9 / 100.0%
What did they like about the book(s)?
We have used Refugee Boy- already selected as a Y9 class reader. Very pleased to have more copies. Y9 enjoy the novel- gritty, real, tough etc. Very good for raising difficult issues to do with asylum etc.
They loved the fact that they had their own copy of our class book! Some read it almost over night upon receiving it! The story really hooked them as well - they learnt a lot and it prompted a lot if really valuable and positive discussion about the issues it raised about refugees and discrimination. We have a partner school in Ethiopia that we are raising money for and so the link also hooked them.
Challenging, engaging topic.
They really liked the themes - racism, positive ideas about what you can do if motivated and determined.
The fact that it's opening their eyes to the experiences and feelings of a refugee child.
Refugee Boy wasn't popular and disappointed those who had read and enjoyed "Face" by Benjamin Zephaniah. Small Island was enjoyed by those who got through it but was a demanding read. We used extracts with teaching groups successfully as a way in to discussing issues, characters and themes and to prepare for the workshop.
The issues in the books were extremely relevant to our children. We are a 9o% BME school with many children and their families born outside the UK. The younger children nursery - Yr2 really engaged with Amazing Grace. The year 5&6 children particularly boys, particularly Somali boys, were riveted by the story of Refugee Boy.
Very simple text (for Y3) with scope for discussion, great illustrations.
The descriptions of teenage behaviour, and the way it was easy to read out.
What did they dislike about the book(s)?
Nothing!
The problem with Small Island was it was only really suitable for Y10 upwards and we had a reading group for them but we did not have space on the curriculum to teach a text of this length.
The children did not dislike any part of the story - they did not like the bullying (characters) they really empathised with Alem.
Refugee Boy: it's just not a very good book. Characters and dialogue are stiff and unconvincing, and the story arc isn't well sustained. Small Island: some find the jumping between narrative voices hard to cope with; some were shocked and in one or two cases upset by the more sexual and/or violent elements.
Nothing
Too much 'emotion' Some of my students said they would have liked a spoken word tape of the book to listen and follow at home.
Did you make use of the Small Island readers' guide?
Response / Count / Percent
No / 1 / 11.1%
Yes / 8 / 88.9%
If 'yes', how did you use it?
Have distributed to teacher for use with Y8 as a micro-unit
Several teachers in the school either are reading, or have read Small Island and the Reader's Guide was an enjoyable addition to this.
Gave to girls and used for discussion.
Used to give ideas of what to do with the text in guided reading.
Mainly as background for myself and my teaching. It's a pity there wasn't more about Bristol.
I made a displays of the photos and information in this readers guide. All three books formed the basis of our book week (27 Feb - 2 March).On the evening of world Book day children and parents came back to school for book at bedtime. I used the materials in the small island readers guide to discuss migration, stereotyping and other issues with a group of parents.
for discussion about racism and sexism, slave passage map of slave passage
Did you use the Refugee Boy or Amazing Grace activity packs?
Response / Count / Percent
No / 2 / 22.2%
Yes / 7 / 77.8%
If 'yes', how was this material used?
To help support existing scheme of work- resources which stimulate discussion and interest from the children
In our two Year 6 classes, we used the material in the Activity Pack as the basis for our Literacy learning in our International Week. It provided structured shared reading sessions of the book and of the Poetry. It was a fantastic teacher's aid and made us really use the book as part of the children's learning. The children were absolutely hooked on the story and our week produced some fantastic poetry and very in-depth discussion on the issues raised in the book and Activity Packs. (Refugees, discrimination, racism, abolition of the slave trade etc)
Some questions were good discussion points and fitted in with PSHE.
I may do so with Refugee Boy next term.
The Amazing Grace Activity packs were used with children in Y1&2 and the Refugee Boy material used with children in year 5 and 6 both in class during our theme week and in our book at bedtime evening event.
most activities used for less able Y3 children
I used the pack as a guide for creating my own stuff at entry level
Did you make use of the Small Island Read 2007 website?
Response / Count / Percent
No / 3 / 37.5%
Yes / 5 / 62.5%
If 'yes', how did you use it?
Not yet - sure we will!
We visited it as a class and, having promoted the 'Small Island Read' to our Year 6 parents, many children and parents visited it at home.
Gave some useful ideas.
We only visited it once as a class. Just to know it existed. But may visit it again next term.
Research and background; preparing display about novel to raise awareness before workshop.
Extra info on slave trade
Please give details of any other activities linked to the book(s) that took place.
The children shared their poetry during our International Week Assembly.
We had two Othello workshops and then went to see Othello. Writing workshop. Assembly.
We participated in Our Voices Makes Waves assembly and also in the drama workshop activities.
In Literacy - look at various poets including B Zephaniah. Topic - looked at transatlantic slave trade - legacies and subsequent migration issues.
Workshop led by Mike Ratnett, supplied by BCL
The theme of our book week was migration. On world book day the children worked in language groups in their first or second language eg Urdu, Somali, Dutch, Danish, German, Patois. On the Friday we had a whole school assembly and each group shared work they'd done on the theme. Many contributions have been collated in our Easton Primary School World book.
Art workshop with Gloria Ojulari Sule - pictures in April issue of Shire Newspaper.
Please add any comments on how the project was managed and suggestions for changes that might be made for future Great Reading Adventures.
We would love more books if at all possible. 30 copies of 'Small Island' please- have read it and would make a great extension work novel for able Y11 students. Please let me know whether or not this will be possible on
Thank you for the opportunity of being involved in this project. The children gained so much and were thrilled to be given books that they enjoyed so much. Refugee Boy was an excellent choice of for this age range.
Thought it was very well organised and we enjoyed all of the opportunities we were offered. Have you heard of Pirates by Celia Rees which is set in Bristol and the Caribbean at the time of the merchants and slavery? 1724.
It would be useful in the initial letter to know what year groups the books are suitable for as we were unsure about what age range Refugee Boy was targeted at.
I think this is a great initiative (the best thing that came out of the European City of Culture bid), but with respect, the books have not been well chosen (or not for secondary schools, at any rate). Gregory's A Respectable Trade would have been better for Bristol that Small Island and more accessible; Day of the Triffids is a great story but rather dated; Around the World in 80 Days is again a great story but dated and not Bristol-orientated or worth the support and publicity given to it as a work of literature. For better take-up by secondary schools, the demands of the Nat Curriculum and English (or history?) GCSE / A level syllabuses need to be taken more account of.
It was fantastic to have children and staff reading the same books. Lots of our community have read Refugee Boy and the discussions about it made a change from talking about what was on TV. Small Island was a bit difficult for some of our community who are new to English. We found a book to suit our year 3 and 4 readers for whom Refugee Boy was to challenging but Amazing Grace not challenging enough.
Very well managed project - good choice of texts- great links to art and PSHE
It was good to be involved but we felt uncertain of whether we were going to get a workshop or not until we saw that they were all arranged. Slightly clearer communication would be good

Generated: 5/9/2007 6:28:19 AM

Executive Summary of Workshop Survey

This report contains a detailed statistical analysis of the results to the online survey titled Small Island Workshops. The results analysis includes answers from all respondents who took the survey in the 87 day period from Monday, February 5, 2007 to Wednesday, May 2, 2007. 38 completed responses were received to the survey during this time. Workshops were provided by Claire Williamson, Moira Hunt, Gloria Ojulari Sule, Graham Hodson and Mike Ratnett.

Did the workshop meet your expectations?
Response / Count / Percent
Yes / 38 / 100.0%
No / 0 / 0.0%
Please provide any commentsyou have on the workshop.
Really good - all children enjoyed activities/ were able to access them at their own level. I learnt too!
We focused on Amazing Grace because it really celebrates a) stories and b) positive 'can do' role models for pupils. We had already identified elements of stories with symbols, pictures, drawings etc and Gloria was more than happy to take what pupils were bringing to the workshop and make two fantastic banners.
Good on cultural variety and influences. Good on universal nature of rhythm in poems. Good on physical aspects of poems. Needed to have a clear structure to the session planned.
An excellent morning - Claire provided an interesting, stimulating workshop. She managed to pitch it correctly for the group - 16-19 year olds with moderate learning difficulties.
The girls recognized similarities/ differences in short, fun activities.
Really helped to bring Refugee Boy book to life, and helped all to empathise with the experience of refugees.
Provided further understanding of the book - Amazing Grace.
A focused and involving opportunity for the girls to explore creatively a given theme.
We didn't really have any expectations! It's always great to have the 'outside' come into the school environment.
The workshop was very well planed, and executed with a variety of very useful activities for our students. These had all been well negotiated and discussed with the tutor beforehand. Great facilitators. Good experience.
Good variety of games - sparked children's interest. They enjoyed warm-up games and activities which made them think.
Claire was happy to communicate to ensure the lesson was suitable for age group and because OFSTED was in she communicated well with us.
Excellent ideas, well presented and at a very good pace.
Mike was very good. I think we were both a little uncertain about how the session would go as it was hard to establish what direction things should take, especially as we did the initiative with Yr 9s who were really to young for all but the best readers to have read the book – Yrs 10 and 11 are taken up with GCSE syllabuses which have no slot for studying modern fiction, and it didn’t fit in with A level syllabuses either, so it was Yr 9 or no one. What Mike did do very successfully was to explore general themes touched on in the novel; issues surrounding reading and reading choices, and brilliantly linking “Small Island” with the novel “Coram Boy”, which all the girls did know well. We were very grateful to have received this material and to have been allotted Mike for a workshop session.
It was excellent. The children were interested in the ideas/activities.
Fantastic workshop with every child able to contribute ideas. Gloria answered questions about her life as an artist and her background - a wonderful inspiration for the children. We have 2 precious works of art in our hall!
Claire used a story the children knew and drew out a number of issues from the books: racism, sexism.
Claire has a beautifully calm, focussed yet relaxed approach which is appreciated by staff and students at YES. The workshop engaged students with a theme everyone could relate to and a great deal of creativity was unleashed.
Well presented and prepared.
I liked the way that the teacher asked relevant questions about the text to make sure the students understood the difficult words, phrases and concepts so everyone had a shared understanding. I liked the actions for each of the characters Grace pretended to be and the way they were used in the workshop. The theme of the last session was exactly right for the age of children.
Great to build on work already done in classroom. Recapped issues discussed in class.