Feedback on the Somali Project from Somali Parents and Pupils

Parents’ Questionnaire

The parents’ questionnaire was done orally.  This was to remove any problems for parents who are not literate in Somali or English.  The object was to get their feedback on the project, and to allow them to contribute ideas for future development.

                                                                                                            Yes                No                Not sure

Do you consider the Somali website a good, positive idea?                100%                 0%                    0%

Was the Somali Cultural Evening a good, positive event?                  100%                0%                    0%

Have the website and the evening made you more positive                  93%                0%                    7%

about what happens at school?                       

The number of parents who contributed was 14.

Pupils’ Questionnaire

The pupils had a written questionnaire.  The object was to get their feedback on the project, in particular to assess if their attitude to school had become more positive as a result.

                                                                                                            Yes                No               

Do you consider the Somali website a good, positive idea?                100%                 0%                   

Was the Somali Cultural Evening a good, positive event?                  100%                0%                   

Have the website and the evening made you more positive

about what you do at school?                                                               88%               12%

The number of pupils who completed the questionnaire was 17.

General report, feedback and comments on the Somali Cultural Evening

The Somali evening was well attended and very much enjoyed.  The evening began with a welcome from Sylvia Ospina, Head of EMA, and Mohammed Adam, Somali BSW.  The Somali parents brought traditional food which everyone shared.  While everyone was eating, pupils took photos of typical Somali food and Somali dress.  Other pupils made tapes of the parents’ views about their hopes for the future and of Somali stories, poems and experiences.

In the second part of the evening Rob Adkins, Assistant Headteacher, introduced a presentation given by the pupils of the different areas of the website that they had made.  The pupils made their presentation in English and Somali.  The parents were very appreciative of the pupils’ presentation.

The parents then contributed with Somali poems, songs and dance.  This was videoed in order to use sections on the website.

Later there was an opportunity for the parents to discuss their relationship with school.  A number of issues were raised:

• It is sometimes difficult to come into school to see teachers because there are no crèche facilities.  Parents’ Evenings, for example, can take 2 or 3 hours, and it is sometimes impossible to attend with younger children.

• Letters home cannot always be easily read.  Mohammed Adam could translate the title and a sentence about the content, plus a reminder of his presence in school on Mondays and Tuesdays with the school contact number.  The children are not always reliable when transmitting news to parents.

• Parents talked about the possibility of using a book to send messages to school.  Communicating with parents in Somali about how they can use the homework diary could help here.

• Parents voiced concern about the number of exclusions.  They accepted that there had been some serious incidents that warranted serious measures, and for these exclusions might be appropriate.  But some incidents, they believe, were petty and other measures should be used, for example, detention, extra work, especially home contact.

• This project and the Parents’ Evening were very successful.  Parents felt their children had achieved something worthwhile and they felt very welcome at the school.

• Parents would like some opportunity for their children to learn to read and write in Somali.  Many pupils had missed schooling in Somalia, or had grown up in England without leaning how to read Somali.  In many cases, fathers had died in the fighting and mothers were themselves unable to read.  This situation made the older generation feel more remote from their children’s experience of learning at school.
  
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