Updated 22nd. October 2000.
Autumn Newsletter 2000
Fiona writes:
Hello,
Happy Equinox!
Welcome to the last Newsletter that I will edit.
I've a new project which I hope will enable me to produce many more resources,
and distribute them much more widely, the project, Educational Advice for
Travellers, is supported by FFT. Basically, I'll be able to focus on resources,
without the added responsibilities which have gradually become mine whilst
being TSC co-ordinator....like recording subs, responding to formal Charity
Commission Business, forwarding mail to TSC officers, organising meetings
etc... I want to be more active in the debate about traveller children's
right to an education that suits their needs and lifestyles, and to develop
liaison with TES teachers, playbus workers, EWOs etc., as well as working
more closely with families delivering their own children's education and
setting up more efficient distance learning packages.
Trustees are still needed, so if you're reading this and want to get involved,
write to Rachel at the TSC address, which we will share for the immediate
future.
We all hope that the 2 groups will be complementary, and therefore improve
provision. On which subject, if you have pictures or stories or successful
activities - send them in!
It is eleven years now since I first became involved with the TSC, and I
feel privileged to have taught on the Skool Bus throughout 1990; as well
as teaching in my caravan classroom for 2 years; taking the TSC dome to events;
and working in teams to produce workbooks and readers. I have met many fantastic
people, and hope that I'll meet many more. This summer has been especially
rewarding when I've caught up with kids I first taught 10 years ago, or met
people with whom I've exchanged correspondence.
I hope that everyone reading this will support both the TSC and EAT.
Donations to either project are welcome. News of EAT will be included in
the FFT newsletter although anyone who wants a quarterly A4 news update directly
from me can send some Stamped Addressed Envelopes.
So it is good-bye from me for now, but I look forward to the development
of both EAT and the TSC over the next few months.
The home educators' seaside festival took place in May at a beautiful location
in Dorset. Andy had hired a complete campsite for the 200 or so families,
so all the infrastructure of a successful event was already provided. The
sea was only 15 minutes walk away, and the furthest fields were perfect for
dog walking.
Although it is not a traveller event, home educating traveller families were
welcome, and there were several.
I took the Dome, and set it up as a toddler play space next to the playground.
Much of the old equipment had vanished through the winter months, so I set
up initially with my own kids' toys. However, a number of generous parents
had promised toys and games during previous phone calls; and I was grateful
for the donations they brought - including a Brio train set, Duplo blocks,
oinky blocks, books, baby toys... and much much more.
The event was fun and busy, with a range of workshops for adults and children
both on and off site. It was a very positive start to the year, where I made
new friends, met old ones.... and sold lots of resources!
The First day at the FFC, I put the dome up with the help of Fiona's very
useful diagram, some helpful advice, and repair work on some of the poles
by people who had the necessary tools.
Engine trouble had delayed the resources, (been there before) so in the meantime
I offered the dome as a space for people to use. I did some child minding
for people running workshops, which was greatly appreciated; and worked with
children onsite as a kind of freelance, outreach worker, nursery nurse.
Then the rest of the crew arrived with the ideas, energy and resources; and
the dome was in operation.
The TSC crew included Ed, Sarah, Janet, Lucy, Griff, Cath, and Liz, who all
helped out in various ways.
activities included: making musical instruments from scrap metal, face painting,
decorating inside a marquee for a kids talent show, making party clothes
and neon face paints for the disco, sand and water play, painting and playdough;
as well as general play with the resources.
The dome was a very popular area for children, where they could be in a
supervised, free play environment.
The camp as a whole was very child centered, and I found it an enjoyable
experience to share in the children's energy, and the adults' as well.
Using the dome and resources over the summer and seeing how children thrive
in such an environment has been inspiring, and I hope to be involved with
its use on sites later this year.
Michael
The national Playbus Association has long supported the TSC, from a grant
to buy the original dome over a decade ago, to dispensing advice about health
and safety measures, etc. now. This event in Bristol was a Millennium
celebration, with the member projects invited to bring play busses to the
site.
There were about 40 buses, I think, and a huge marquee which rather dwarfed
the dome and lucy's striped marquee. Friday was a networking day, with our
projects on show. I was busy most of the time in the main marquee, discussing
traveller issues with anyone interested - quite a lot!
The party that night left many of us pretty tired, but the event was open
to the public for 8 hours each of Saturday and Sunday. The weather deteriorated
on the Saturday night, so I was pleased, however, to make contacts on play
busses working with travellers, and also met 4 people from very different
sites, who took boxes of resources for distribution..
Thanks to the hard work of Luck, Griff and Michael, we had a successful weekend.
Arriving to a queue and a panic, as the queue snaked onto the A350. Ed introduced
himself as we waited, telling us where the dome was parked. Then he took
the children proudly holding out their tickets, into the BGG well before
Griff and I got in.
Ed and the rest of the crew, Sarah, Tony and Cath, were not parked near the
dome, but we squeezed in behind it. We could then pop in and out as needs
be.
Griff put up our little striped yellow and white marquee, adding a red pennant
to stream out on top of the windy hill that is the BGG. The dome squatted,
camouflaged touchingly amongst the large, grand marquees. It made an ideal
toddler space, all the kids feeling comforted by the familiar toys inside...
Brio railway, Duplo, puppets, chalk boards and plasticine. All donated at
the HES FESO. Outside, we filled a tin bath with sand and small toys. Adults
idled away many mornings and afternoons while their children played happily.
Faces were painted; most children wanted to be wild animals of the savannah,
following the theme of the beautiful show, "Plight of the Black Rhino"
(reminiscent of the famous Lion King performance).
Children came in; and out trooped tigers, lions and crocodiles; Michael and
I painting ferociously.
The older kids worked with Tony, Cath, Andy, Katy and Sarah, making fairy
wings of willow and tissue paper; and fish out of plastic pop bottles and
papier mache.
Ed networked, and raised £80 for his trailer classroom for this winter.
TSC donations in a bucket outside the dome amounted to £65 - which included
donations for resources. bucketing on Sunday afternoon raised £52, £28
from travellers.
Fiona did a separate publications stall. Some of the teenagers from the drove
outside the festival site did an on-the-spot fire show on Sunday, Cave, the
computer wizard fixed the installation driver on a TSC laptop computer, powered
by solar panels, 3 of which are now part of the TSC resources.
ANYWAY, we had a good time.. and all look forward to the future.
I love the NGG. it's got no fences, no chemical toilets, no police, dead
nice security, and you can take your dog! What more could anyone ask?
We'd actually have liked a little more space in the kids' area, which was
totally dominated by a circus which performed on only 2 evenings, and took
up most of the area. Whinging aside, the TSC managed to establish a really
sound enclosed space where toddlers could play safely all day. The sand was
popular, and the pushalongs trundled all day. The dome toys were constantly
in use, and I'd taken baby toys, too and kept them in the shade. We were
lucky to include in our circle a dome from Brighton, and the tape of "Harry
Potter" was played to enraptured audiences, often half way through the night,
as well as all day.
We made some good friends amongst the other people providing kids' entertainment;
and it was a welcome relief to find so much more diversity in the provision
for kids at the NGG... there were fairies and elves, trampolines, a gyroscope
and a craft marquee - as well as the kids' discos at the the bar run by Ed
and his mates.
I was meant to have gone independently, to meet travellers and discuss education,
but got sucked into the whole TSC experience. Lucy, Griff, Michael, Janet
and I kept the space up and running for the 5 days; but I did manage a couple
of evenings of meeting some really interesting people and distributing materials.
I love the NGG!
Fiona.
Covers:Educational need among New Traveller children, background and
context, the people, family structures, the children, sites - camps, co-ops,
sustainability initiatives - homes, the "scene", occupations, school or
otherwise, patterns of schooling, reasons for home educating, site stability
and school attendance, issues in current provision, New Travellers abroad,
ideological and practical issues, affirming features.
Published June 2000. 35 pages. Price £5.00 to individuals, £7.50
to institutions. Cheques payable to Travellers School Charity
Academic Researcher at the University of Bath would like to interview New Travellers to discuss contact/residence arrangements with separated parents (whether travelling or settled) and look at ways in which people negotiate ways of keeping in contact with their children when parents' relationships end, and the impact of separated parenting on Travelling life.
The sort of people we want to talk to, and the things we want to talk about, are:
Did you come off the road when you became a lone parent? Was this because of practical problems or because your ex-partner objected to you Travelling with Children? Did you start to Travel with your children when you were on your own? Did your ex-partner or other family members put pressure on you to settle with the children? Did the law or social workers become involved (divorce, residence of children)? Or the Child Support Agency? If you Settled, would you still like to Travel if it was possible?
have you ever had problems with keeping in touch with children who don't live with you? Has Travelling had an impact on how and where you can see your children? Or on you ex-partner's attitude to your contact with them? Have you come off the road to make it easier to see your kids? Or do you take them Travelling with you sometimes? Did you talk to a lawyer about getting contact with your children? Could you get Legal Aid for Family Law Advice?
Most people negotiate their own arrangements for seeing their children or deciding where they should live. Did you do that (with the help of friends and family or between yourselves)? Does the arrangement work? Or did you have to go to law? If so, how did lawyer and social workers behave towards you? Do they understand the Travelling life? Did you feel that they were prejudiced towards you?, or did you avoid the courts? If so. why? Did you ever seek legal advice and then decide to drop the case or settle it between yourselves? Do you co-parent, and how does this work in practice? If you, your ex and any new partners are in an extended family, who shares care of the children?
Whatever your story about post separation parenting patterns, it is of interest, and I would like to hear it.
Interviews are tape-recorded for later analysis. Anonimity guaranteed.
I preferably want to talk to people in the West Country, Herefordshire, and Yorkshire/Lancashire. I would particularly like to follow any cases which might go to court, or are settled before court, with a view to changing the way Solicitors, Courts and Social Workers think about Travelling Children. Will anyone who contacted me in the past, please get in touch again, as my address book has been lost/stolen.
Please contact: MARGARET GREENFIELDS on 0 1761 435983
(home)
or 0 7788 545777 (mobile).
Have ambulance, can travel...
Once upon a moon, a little girl called Rosy was going for a walk in the woods.
She was running and running along, when she fell and hurt her knee quite badly on a bramble. It was bleeding, and she was crying. Then her mummy came along and put her arms around her. "There, there, it will get better".
Just then a bird high in a tree sang, diddle-dee, diddle-dee. "Look, Mummy, birdie is talking to me", said Rosy.
"Thank you bird for making my little girl better" said her Mum.
When they bent down to pick up the stick she had fallen over, they found even though just a small bit was showing, it was a long one, hiding under the leaves. Rosy picked it up, put it on her shoulder and carried it home where she broke it up to put on the fire and made a cup of Chamomile Tea.
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The Travellers' School Charity,
P.O. Box 2, Goodwick,Pembrokeshire. SA64 0ZQ
UK Registered Charity No. 327731