When thinking about ‘education’, it is important to bear in mind that this does not simply refer to lessons in schools, and indeed there is a whole host of broader activities and organisations that support children’s development directly, or through increasing their parents’ skills and confidence. Families with young children often rely on play groups and activities led by community organisations to support their children’s development and also to meet other parents, creating a support network for themselves in which they can discuss ideas and concerns about their babies’ development. Two of the mothers interviewed expressed concern about their children’s social and verbal development. They directly linked their concerns to the lack of socialisation due to absence of playgroups and opportunities to communicate with other children during periods of lockdown. One mother also commented that she found it difficult to make friends with other mothers as she was isolated at home and didn’t know any other people with children.
Furthermore, the children’s library and local libraries are essential resources for families to borrow books and engage children in reading from a young age. Some libraries also have children’s centres in them and run play groups. With the introduction of national lock down, the libraries closed and these activities stopped.
In addition, school-aged children also attend extra-curricular activities and after-school clubs in line with their interests. Families commented that sports clubs were greatly missed by the children during periods of lockdown. One mother said how her daughter enjoyed dancing and she really wanted to take her to dance classes, but had to wait for more than a year before she was able to do so.
Another family commented that maths and additional language classes continued online throughout the pandemic, but martial arts classes stopped completely. In one case, a child needed to engage in regular physical activity to treat an alignment issue in his legs, however, since the Covid-19 pandemic and not being able to take part in sports, the child’s condition has worsened and he now needs to have an operation.
In addition to activities for children, many of the organisations who participated in this project run activities that mothers and families take part in, with the benefits of developing their confidence, reducing isolation and facilitating life-long learning. Family Voice run a range of classes for vulnerable women, including English and art classes, Food Hygiene Certificate, English for Driving Theory and many more. The New Beginnings Project supports refugees and Asylum seekers to integrate into life in the City through volunteering, education and employment support. They also work with refugees and asylum seekers to help them participate, plan and lead activities, for example, before the pandemic they had been planning a Valentine’s ball, a trip to Bridlington and a trip to York museum. Often, the families they support cannot afford to do such trips, therefore, these families get to have fun experiences during the holidays and children can go back to school with something to write about. Learn for Life is a community-based hub that runs courses such as English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), English functional skills and digital inclusion. In addition, Learn for Life run social events such as football and trips. All these organisations, and the activities they run, had to stop during periods of national lockdown.
Even though the libraries were no longer offering activities in person, the central children’s library provided a service where people could reserve a book online and collect it without entering the building.
As with lessons and educational support, many of the activities that are listed above took place online. Learn For Life found that some of their activities were not able to continue, such as football, however, many of the teachers quickly learned to teach using Zoom. As outlined above, Learn for Life went to great lengths to get digital devices and data to the clients that needed them, and took extra care in teaching people how to use Zoom.
New Beginnings had a particularly strong emphasis on engaging whole families in virtual activities, working with the clients’ talents. For example, one client is a chef-in-training, so he ran a few virtual cooking sessions. Other sessions run by New Beginnings included Fimo clay art sessions, mindfulness and baking- all run by clients. The volunteers and staff at the New Beginnings project bought the necessary ingredients or equipment and delivered these to the participants’ homes, so that they could participate in sessions.
Family Voice took a different approach and made up hundreds of activity packs from donations they received. Family Voice set up a donation point at the local school and then teaching assistants and people from the school helped to sort out the donations into activity bundles and these were distributed to families by a team of fifty volunteers. The task was even more impressive as they ensured each pack was bespoke, so as to avoid creating a stressful situation for the families. For example, they would make sure that the items were age appropriate, e.g. no small toys or felt tips were sent to toddlers, and culturally sensitive. In addition to activity packs, Family Voice ran classes online, including Zumba, Yoga and Bollywood dancing.
Another success story from Family Voice was that, as soon as the Covid- 19 restrictions allowed, they collaborated with Highfield Adventure Playground to host a playgroup for free. They trained some of the parents on how to run the group, including about how to conduct risk- assessments and the parents continued to lead the group even after Covid-19 restrictions ended. Family Voice said the lovely thing about playgroups is that it is one of the few spaces where asylum-seekers, vulnerable women and local British women would actually mix on an equal level. Once you’re a mother, you’re all equal. As a result, the mothers grew in confidence.