A birmingham primary has successfully tackled parental indifference to education, by introducing a series of hands-on workshops, offering adult versions of timetabled lessons.

Warren Farm Primary serves an area of high deprivation: one in six adults in the surrounding area is unemployed, and 78 per cent of pupils receive free school meals. The area has the highest levels of teenage pregnancy in the country, and education is generally seen as unimportant.

But since adopting the International Primary Curriculum, staff have seen parental attitudes shift dramatically.

The curriculum is made up of individual units, each lasting approximately six weeks. Every unit is accompanied by a workshop for parents and grandparents, in which they participate in some of the tasks that children will be set.

Attendance at the workshops has now risen to 97 per cent of parents and grandparents. And the classes have resulted in renewed parental interest in education: Warren Farm now runs a series of adult-learning classes as well, covering topics such as basic skills, sign language and ICT. ab.