Computer Classroom Report

Thanks to BBC Children In Need funding the Computer Classroom Renewable Energy Training workshops (phase 3) will be able to continue until March 2006. The funding provides childcare, training, renewable generation and fuel expenses to cover up to 10 training events per year. We began Phase 3 in June 2003, immediately after the close of phase 2. Up till now all of the training events have been focusing on renewable energy as mobile power sources. In 2006, if further funding and human resources permit, we hope to begin additional training to compliment the power and maintenance packages.

Subjects to be covered could include;

Word processing
Desktop publishing
Email and the Internet
Website design

Thirteen successful training events have been held to date at various locations in the UK.
We have placed five of the TSC laptops out onto sites on permanent loan in the following regions;

Pembrokeshire, Norfolk, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Herefordshire.

Each one is running from renewable energy and all of the people responsible for the equipment have attended a training event.
Feedback forms at the training events give us the information needed to assess whether the training has been successful and to the necessary standard to enable the adults concerned to use and maintain the equipment successfully.

We have only a small amount of equipment, which means that we are unable to distribute laptops to everyone who asks on a first-come-first served basis.
Various factors are taken into consideration when allocating a computer;

• IT skills
• Mobility
• Access to services
• Ability or potential for sharing with other people in the community.

The first computer we allocated was to the Herefordshire Travellers Play Scheme in August 2003. They had just been awarded £250 from the Travellers’ Aid Trust for a solar panel and our training helped them to install it safely and put it to use immediately with the laptop. The Play Scheme provides extra-curricular activities at the weekends and in the holidays for all types of Traveller children in the area. They are often collected by minibus from site and taken to village halls where activities are organised, they usually prepare and share a lunch together and our software was very popular as we took the other laptops and did a workshop in the afternoon. The Travellers Play Scheme has been running for 25 years and as we had already worked with them on phase 2 we knew they were going to use the laptop effectively.

Two of the laptops are now on the Canals with Bargee families, both are using them in a community setting and other children and parents have access to the equipment. They already had their own renewable energy equipment, as many cruisers do and we considered the access to mainstream services in placing these machines. During a 200+ lock miles journey last summer one of the families were able to liaise with people on sites as they moved to Newark from Huddersfield, discussions on renewable energy took place as well as sessions using the educatonal software. Cyber-Pilots mentor from FFT (Friends, Families and Travellers) also liaised to help this process and the family visited a fair in Mansfield in the Autumn.

In Pembrokeshire, a particulaly rural and isolated site took on a laptop in the winter of 2004/5.
The family are hoping to get their own panels soon but were unsuccessful in the latest Traveller's Aid Trust Travelling Light programme. Travelling Light has awarded 100 solar panels and battery systems to Travellers who have no access to National Grid electricity. When the kits go out in the spring of 2005, we will be able to arrange training for people who need help installing them safely.

Through re-allocation of funds we can produce a workshop manual, we hope to be able to distribute this free to the training event attendees. The workbook will be for both adults and children backing up the information from the training. Four pages will be allocated to wind power, this is a subject in great demand.

36 adults and 217 children have taken part in the Project so far.
The monitoring and evaluation forms show that the training is effective and gives people more understanding of
electricity than they thought they would be learning.

Happily, securing three year's funding in the second year has extended it into a five year project and this makes it a more relaxed and
positive outlook with time for planning, evaluation and development.

Thanks to Sustainergy electrical engineers for all their dedicated training and expertise and also to all the staff and volunteers who make it happen.

How the TSC Computer Classroom Training Workshops benefit children.

The children whose parents are of a nomadic habit of life benefit from this project in the following ways;

? Using IT to experience more educational software
Children are able to use educational software on CD ROMs at home and have support from their (trained) parents.

? Learning to provide for their own electricity needs
This is a very important concept for children living on the move who will in the future have a need for electricity in their own homes.
Solar and wind power are modern technological solutions to providing a mobile power source.
By understanding the basics from and early age and being accustomed to the principles
of renewable energy these children are safeguarding their future sustainable solutions.
This project is therefore, investing in these children’s future and increasing its stability because they are developing skills.

? Becoming aware of environmental issues
A child has a need to see parents and community members tackling important issues.
In this way the topic is brought into open discussion within the family unit.
If an adult is unable to discuss a particular topic with a child through a lack of understanding then the child is likely to attach less importance to that issue.
Environmental awareness is crucial for all children in the world today and by increasing awareness levels within the whole family the children are able to discuss topics appropriately.

? Relating IT skills to financial security
A child will benefit from increased stability within the family if employment prospects improve.
Parents who aim to use IT skills to benefit their business for example may;
a) Have more time to spend with their children, therefore increasing their children’s confidence levels.
b) Be able to secure financial gain and invest in their children’s future.

Computer Classroom Phase 3 quarterly report form

Travellers' School Charity Report Form (Computer/Solar Panels)

Name(s)..........................................................................................................

Quarter period.................................................................................................

Location(s)......................................................................................................

Equipment ......................................................................................................

1.Can you specify the advantages experienced from having this equipment?
.......................................................................................................................
2.What ideas do you have that would improve things for you?...........................
3.How many young people have used the equipment in the last quarter?............
4.How involved in the power source did they want to be? Did they find it interesting/exciting/boring or any other relevant points?............................................................................................................
5.Can you list any environmental issues young people have been made aware of as a result of using the renewable energy power source?................................................................................................
What advantages do you think IT can bring you, your family, young people or the community you live with? (economic, social??)
.......................................................................................................................

7.Have you incurred any expenditure to keep this system operational? If so how much?
.......................................................................................................................
8.Are you satisfied with the level of support the Travellers School Charity have given you and if not can you specify what you require.....
Technical assistance -Piet: 01226 764279
Project co-ordinator - Kaye: 01239 810759 mobile:07717055378

Computer Classroom Renewable Energy Training Event Feedback Form:

Computer Classroom Phase 3 Training Evaluation

1. Can you list new skills that you learned during the training ?
.......................................................................................................................
2. What aspect of the training did you find most useful ?.
.......................................................................................................................
3. What areas were missed, i.e.; what things did you expect to learn but didn’t cover ?
.......................................................................................................................
4. Have you ideas of future training that you would like to pursue?.
.......................................................................................................................
5. Do you respond well to group training sessions or do you need 1:1 to better absorb new information ?………
.......................................................................................................................
If for example you want to expand your renewable energy system or you experience difficulties with operating it call TSC staff who are committed to supporting you as much as possible. If they are unable to help you with a specific problem they will try to find someone who can. Thank you for taking part in the Computer Classroom and good luck.

Regional Contacts - an assessment.

Each regional area marked contains at least one Traveller Education Service with whom we either have regular contact or subscribe to our newsletter.
We distribute the quarterly newsletter to these organisations and some of them receive a bundle to distribute to Travellers in their area.

Each region on the map with a figure rating incorporates sites and groups of Travellers who receive the newsletter, take part in projects and liaise during ongoing policy work. For example FFT in Brighton - (Friends, Families and Travellers not only do we exchange regular newsletters but we also send extra copies for distribution and any relevant notices to pass on to mobile people "passing through". We do send the newsletter electronically to those who request it, however as few Travellers have this facility at home we send as many paper copies out as we can as they are the best format to get onto sites.

Approximately 90% of our queries come via email, this means we are dealing with the general public most of the time as our research has shown that only 10% of Travellers have regular access to the internet (computer classroom project phase 1- 2001) We do get emails from Travellers but more often phone calls and letters. We get a lot of emails from the following groups of people;
youth offending team workers, probation officers, Traveller Education support workers, students, television companies and teachers.

The majority of requests are for information regarding the education of Travellers, the issues that affect them in and out of schools and what services are likely to be effective to promote positive change. In the last year we have had numerous requests from people who have new posts in Traveller support services and don't know where to start when looking for literacy resources.

The regional map is indicative or reflects;
a) The concentration of New Travellers who make up approximately 60% of our beneficiaries.(Bargees make up 20% and all other Traveller groups the remaining 20% - Fairground, Gypsies, seasonal workers and non-specific travelling performers, students and artists etc.)
b)The levels of toleration by Authorities of Travellers groups in their area.
c) The levels of communication means that Travellers have access to. In some cases (eg. Greater London) this scenario does not apply, having little resources we have to prioritise and often rural groups receive priority because they have marked limited access to cultural services.
d) The distribution area of TSC Trustees and staff - with the exception of Yorkshire. The three areas of highest concentration of activity are also the three areas where the majority of TSC Trustees are based or have specific knowledge(as in Scotland). This also indicates a direct relationship between the furthest away regions and the lowest figures on the map. Core funding that was raised in December 2004 will hopefully generate and support new contacts in these areas - N.Ireland, N.East, N.West and East of England. A lack of funds to cover travel has precluded people getting involved who would have to travel more than 100 miles and meetings have had to be held in locations within that limit for the Trustees to be able to manage their out-of-pocket expenditure.

TSC website report http://www.travellersschool.plus.com

Summary

The TSC website contains most of the information relevant to the charity. The news page is updated monthly, not only with projects being carried out by the charity but is also used to publish stories regarding Traveller issues. A lot of this news recently has been to do with Gypsy evictions and the continuing inability for Travellers to find a place to live. All news items are moved to the Archive page when new news is uploaded. Due to the high number of issues arising from the evictions we created a campaigns page which is updated periodically.

Every quarter the charity produces a newsletter, this is uploaded to the website a week after the postal version has been sent out. The newsletter is reformatted for the website though we do provide the newsletter as a downloadable pdf if people want to print it out but only do this when requested to do so by email or phone. All mission reports are posted to the website and when the computer classroom is out and about we provide
a running commentary on the mission (Blog).

Usage

The website receives on average 10,000 hits a month and seems to get more hits when the newsletter is uploaded, this suggests that people take an active interest in the charity and gives us much encouragement. Bearing this number of hits in mind we are looking at ways of making better use of the website.

To this aim we have tried to encourage Travellers tohelp us decide what information they would like people to see. We think the website is a forum for raising awareness about Traveller issues. The traffic is just as likely to be a member of the public as it is a beneficiary looking for educational resources. Travellers interest in the website is one of accessibility, not apathy – very few Travellers have access to the internet and as our computer classroom missions have shown computer literacy is also very sporadic within the Traveller community. Research showed (2001 to 2004) that 1% of Travellers have internet access at home.

Future and on going projects

The website is under going a face lift, the changes being made are mostly cosmetic and all of the content will be kept. A few more pages are being planned, one of these will be dedicated to providing online resources. At present we have downloadable coloring books but we are researching what other resources we could supply. We have the ability to write educational software that will run on any Windows computer and can also create animated web pages which could also provide education. We have already created some simple educational tools like ‘Picture Matcher’ which we use in the computer classroom to asses pupils reading skills so we can set them up with the best software for their level of ability. We have found that the process of creating these educational tools/software is quite time consuming and requires as much time spent on research and graphic design as doing the programming.

This project could really do with some funding as we would need to employ a researcher / graphic designer to assist our in house programmer. Another page we are working on is a ‘Legal Page’ this is still in the concept stage and hopefully will be online in the new year. A form to provide feed back is also planned. We have tried to make the website as accessible as possible by including alternative text tabs to pictures and links and have considered other accessibility considerations like removing links that say ‘click here’ with a description of the link ie. ‘to go to the news page click here’ whilst these changes are virtually unnoticeable to most users they are very important to someone who is say blind and uses text to audio programs to navigate the website. When we are satisfied with the changes then we will submit the site to an organisation that checks websites for accessibility and provides suggestions on improvements.

Strategic Development - An Assessment

Reviewing the aims and objectives set out by the charity in May 2001has shown that we have achieved the majority of our aims in the last 3 years. The main reason for not attaining these goals has been a lack of funding and resources.

Here is a breakdown of aims and objectives that haven't been achieved and why.

• Research the needs of young people
  -Lack of funding and a transient user group has precluded this. the last TSC research project was carried out in 1999.
• Website has no new downloadable resources
  - This has been due to the rapid changes in new technologies combined with the lack of funds and skills within the organisation.
• Publish Home Education Packs
  - At present less home education support is needed due to changes in Traveller education, it has also not received any funding.
• Have a presence at festivals
  - This has not been attained yet due to lack of resources and the commercial environment that now surrounds festivals making it more difficult to gain entrance.

On a brighter note these are the aims and objectives we have achieved and how they have been attained:

• Core funding has been successfully raised. £3,900 has been raised for an administrator for the period of Nov 04 - Nov 05, also the sum of £14,750 for the running costs of the Charity has been raised for the period of Dec 04 - Dec 05.
• Two new trustees and two new volunteers have been recruited and it is hoped with new funding more support will follow.
• A Newsletter is now published quarterly and we have an extensive subscription list. Also due to extreme dedication the Newsletter is always on time.
• The Website is up and running and is gaining an average of 10,000 hits per month.
• There was a review of existing publications in 2002, it was decided by a majority vote that all the publications needed to be replaced
• We have advised and supported many families having to deal with home education and Travellers in school legal problems. This has been done by providing model letters for schools and signposting parents to Education Otherwise.
• All the donated materials received have been distributed to Travellers, with priorities given to those who are highly mobile either through continual harassment by local authorities or through vocational necessity.
• Finally both the Computer Classroom Project and the Cloud 10 project have met the criteria in the strategic development plan 2001.

As can be seen there is much the charity has done and will continue doing, although there is still plenty more that we could achieve which will only be made possible by gaining more funding, staff, volunteers and knowledge.

Strategic Development - The Way Forward

During 2005 all the TSC policies, Aims and Objectives will come under full review. The order this happens is:-

Aims, Objectives and Projects.
Each board meeting reviews 2 policies in the year, the aims and objectives are assessed at the first meeting after the AGM and the projects are assessed during management committee meetings and by referral to the board of trustees.

• In addition to this the following are existing proposals directed by the board and in consultation process at present:-
  Researching the needs of young people
  In 2008 the TSC will be 20 years old and an event is proposed to celebrate this long term achievement. During the event, where young people will be attending there
  will be a young peoples conference and media venue. This will provide an opportunity to deliver their opinions about how the charity has helped them, what needs
  they may have that could be addressed and any proposals they would like to see happen. These proposals will be recorded in the medium of their choice e.g. video,
  audio, etc.......
  Until this time feedback is used during projects to determine how short term changes can be implemented to better meet needs directly.
• Downloadable resources on the website
  Now that an amount of support has been attained the webmaster is making plans and proposals to encompass the following changes to the website:-
  > New format, easier navigation
  > Research into running our own server
  > Upgrading the website to make it more interactive and user - definitive
  > Developing downloadable and on-line resources, e.g. build your own wind generator using drag and drop techniques (software creation)
  > Developing the website to make the charity more sustainable ( e.g. advertising and sponsorship)
• Publish Home-education Packs
  Education Otherwise a National home-education support group is producing home-education packs for LEA's. TSC is currently looking at a proposal for supporting
  this initiative in the form of sponsorship.
• Festivals
  The TSC has regularly attended HESFES (Home Education Seaside Festival) and provided workshops on renewable energy and education software.
  two or three Travelling families have expressed an interest in attending other suitable events on behalf of the TSC to set up an information stall to raise
  awareness about the organisation, discussions are in progress about what events are appropriate and attractive to those families concerned.

Strategic Development - Fundraising Plan

The Core Costs we have successfully fundraised are for a period of twelve months, this realistically means that by March 2006 we will again require a full years' administration budget or a total of £52,833 spaced over three years. In addition to this the Administrator's salary is required at £15,000 for three years, this is a modest salary and would hinge on the fact that the Administration could be kept between 16 and 20 hours per week and the potential impacts of maternity/paternity leave were taken into account.

Publications - these are presently being researched. A salary for a Project Development Worker is being sought and concurrently this would, in effect have a substantial effect on the publications segment of our work. At the time of writing three different publications are being worked on, they are expected to be available during 2005 but as all of them are being produced by volunteers deadlines have not been agreed.
The three publications currently in progress are;
Maths Mandalas - junior mathematics and mandalas to colour in one volume produced by The Holistic Education Community
Spelling book - by the Holistic Education Community
Renewable Energy Training Workshop Manual - produced by PP3 Communications, Sustainergy and Community Biofuels - to compliment the training workshops on the Computer Classroom Project (adults/children's sections in one volume)
Although small amounts of funding have been acquired to produce and print these resources, it is likely that the new stock will run out very quickly once it has been produced. A further fundraising strategy is needed to ensure that they can remain in print and be distributed to all those that need them - an estimate of between £5-£10,000.

The Computer Classroom Project has 14 months left to completion date in March 2006. It is estimated that £43,000 is needed to bring the project up to the designated outcome level and ensure twelve months support and maintenance budget for all the equipment maintenance and upgrade after the finish date. What started out as a three year project in 2000 has developed into a five year project the main reasons for this are;
1) The project started before all the fundraising had been completed and deadlines could not be met resulting in slower delivery of work schedule
2) the project received three year's funding in the second year.

The enthusiasm and direct feedback have made this project into one of the most successful projects delivered by TSC with more than 250 children receiving IT opportunities, approximately 40 adults attending Renewable Energy and laptop training and 4 new computer classrooms now operating with TSC equipment on permanent loan.

Cloud 10
Applications are underway to initiate a Health Awareness project in Wales with young Travellers living in rural communities.
For a full twelve months of project the sum of £22,600 is needed, this project will not begin until the full amount is raised. Also included in the above figure will be a salary for a Project Development Worker, they will manage the Welsh Project and take on some of the outreach development work with other smaller, TSC National projects around the UK.

In 2004, in direct response to requests from individuals the TSC Board of Trustees decided to begin fundraising in 2005 for Individual Travellers in Need. The setting up of a fund is proposed so that people in exceptional circumstances can be assisted. A total of eight applications to Grant-giving organisations have been sent out, to date not one has provided a positive response and indeed many have not even replied. It is a possibility that by using the website as an advertising and marketing tool for Renewable Energy Technology and Engineering companies we can generate a small but consistent income to meet a proportion of these requests for assistance.

Discussions about resuming Children's Camps have taken place with Magical Youth, a company based in Wales that specialises in putting on events and facilitating performances for young people. At this stage it is not clear how quickly this idea might develop, however past experience has shown that a single camp can cost in excess of £30,000. If a camp is to happen in 2005 the funding needs to be fully in place by August.

10,918.00

Traveller's Aid Trust

Approved on. O6.11.04………………………………………………(date)

Signed...................................................................................................(chair)

.............................................................................................................(Hon. Secretary)

.............................................................................................................(Hon Treasurer)