Part of our mission statement for Chicken and Frog is to provide affordable education for the families of our community. To a large degree we have already achieved this, as we run tuition sessions* for just £15, without any scary tie-ins which ask for long-term commitments from parents.
Although in an ideal world we would love it if our children received all of the education that they need in school, for a variety of reasons this cannot or is not always the case. We found out first hand how expensive private tuition can be and felt that it would be beneficial to offer an alternative. To this end, we run 4:1 group tuition for a less daunting fee.
However, we are all too aware that for many families, the cost is still a barrier. As well as this, some parents need to know how to support their child with school work. I wouldn’t know where to begin if our eldest was struggling with maths and I know that there are other parents out there that feel the same.
Many schools run one-off literacy or numeracy drop-in sessions for their families, and whilst they are very good, they may not be enough. So what’s the solution? Well, we have come up with a cunning plan to help combat this tricky situation. Our plan began to take shape back in August when we heard about the Brentwood Localism Share Fund.
In essence, there is a pot of money which has been ring-fenced for self-sustaining community projects. For example, Claire Mackaness developed the Brentwood Bag Project, using funding from the Council, enabling her to deliver training to local community groups, on how to make and sell bags using re-claimed materials.
There are varying rules and regulations around the funding, but the main premise is that the money is used to benefit the community in a long-term, sustainable fashion.
Our idea is relatively simple. We will offer ten families (in the first instance), 12 x 1 hour tuition sessions in English or Maths (not both), on a fortnightly basis. For now, we will focus on Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children. In addition to the contact time with the teacher, each family will have access to a chat-room and ‘ask the teacher’ section via our main website. We will also offer a 10% discount on books for the signed up families. The catch? There isn’t one, except that one parent must attend each session with their child. There is no cost to the families involved, unless they choose to buy a book! All we ask is that the families attend their allocated sessions each fortnight.
Exciting stuff heh! We are very grateful to the Council for awarding us our bid and are really looking forward to putting our plans into action once the New Year swings into view.
* KS1-A Level English & Maths, French conversation, Basic Skills for adults
Chicken and Frog Bookshop 