Part of Lambeth’s Raising Achievement Project is the Re-Integration Project at Stockwell Park school, jointly funded by Section 11 and the LEA. Teachers work with 18 Afro-Caribbean boys who have been excluded, some of whom are violent.
The project reintegrates them gradually back into school by offering positive feedback.
Mike Vance, who co-ordinates the project, explained: “We have to demonstrate clear expectations to the pupils about academic achievement and behaviour, we have to give genuine rewards when they achieve something and we have to deliver stimulating, entertaining lessons. Since oral ability is valued so highly in our community, we use oracy as a bridge to give them academic self-confidence and lead them into writing.”
Short-term objectives are negotiated between the pupil, the mainstream teacher and the project teacher. “We have to be genuine partners with the teachers. To move pupils on, we have to move the teachers on, too,” says Mr Vance.
