VIEW issue 4 2012:VIEW issue 4 2012 29/04/2012 16:55 Page 18


VIEW, Issue four, 2012


Website: viewdigital.org


Page 18 The Sandy Row homework


Lucy Gollogly vists a homework club for children run by the Sandy Row Community Forum


Studying hard: Primary 6 pupils Megan (left) with Kayleigh and Sasha


their parents may be unwilling or simply unable to help them with homework, seriously disadvantaging them from a young age. That’s the case with many children in the small


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inner-city community of Sandy Row, one of the most deprived areas of Belfast. But help is available in the shape of a homework club at Sandy Row Community Forum. It runs four afternoons a week and is staffed by a small, dedi- cated team of tutors, led by former teacher Billy Ennis.


A homework club for primary school children has been running since 1993, mostly funded by charities including Children In Need. The project takes children from local schools including Fane Street, Donegall Road and Blythefield. The programme was extended to post-primary pupils after Alliance councillor Tom Ekin wrote an open letter outlining his concerns about educa- tional underachievement in Sandy Row in 2010. Stranmillis University College contacted Sandy Row Community Forum and a partnership devel- oped, with student teachers tutoring primary and post-primary pupils from September 2010. GCSE revision classes recently ran over the Easter holidays.


or many children, homework sessions with their parents are a rite of passage – albeit one they might not regard with much enthu- siasm. But many children aren’t so lucky –


Billy’s worked well with him because he couldn’t even write his name last September. “In school I don’t think he would get one-to-one (tutoring) like he does here. He’s come on leaps and bounds.” Kelley is one of the parents able and willing to help her son do well at school but as tutor Anna McAvoy explains, others can’t because of their own literacy problems. Anna, who is from Sandy Row and is a graduate of Queen’s University, said she was one of the lucky ones who managed to get to university.


‘We are really trying to push education and learning as the way forward’


it makes to the lives and prospects of the children. Homework was displayed on the walls and boys and girls of different ages were happily settling down to work. Kelley Audley, whose five-year-old son Corey-Jay attends the sessions, has seen the value of the scheme at first hand.


When I visited, it was clear to see the difference


She says she wants others to have the same chances. “I’m very interested in the kids in the area – they’ve got it and we want to encourage it.” Billy Ennis is a veteran, having worked as a tutor since shortly after the project started. Like Anna, he helps children with their general homework and transfer test preparation, and also runs an intensive maths club. Billy is full of praise for the student teachers in-


volved in the programme, who are currently on placement in schools.


“He’s come on really well with his writing –


“The student teachers are a good help, there’s no doubt about that. They’re placed here at the present time as volunteers. “It’s very good but I would like to see it being structured so it’s built in as part of their degree,” he said. “That’s not to disparage the contribution they’re making but that would be more worthwhile.” It runs both ways, Billy says, as the trainee teach- ers gain valuable experience and were awarded with volunteering certificates in a special ceremony last June.


one, Billy says he’s happy to help children study for transfer tests if parents ask for it. “It’s giving these children a fair chance, because if


they were coming from a more middle class back- ground they’d be able to pay the £25-plus an hour for tuition. “But they get it here for free. It’s creating a level


playing field for them.” Billy continues: “Many of the children that came


here are now at university – I wouldn’t claim all the credit but certainly I think the project can take some of the credit.” Glenda Davies is Development Manager at Sandy


Row Community Forum. She says the project has opened up a whole new world for many of the pupils. “It’s about raising aspirations and part of the link with Stranmillis has been about the idea of widen- ing participation – saying it is possible for you to go to this university. “It’s definitely refocused us in terms of putting education at the forefront of our agenda in the community. “We are really trying to push education and learning as the way forward.”


Although the issue of selection is a controversial


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