Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Partnership launched to support school children in Leeds
The Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett will be working with Ujima, an education centre providing English and Maths support for primary and secondary Afro-Caribbean children via the Mandela Centre on Chapeltown Road.
The new partnership sees trainee teachers at Leeds Beckett providing one-to-one support to the young people. Ten final-year students will visit the centre twice a week for six months, starting in October, allowing more pupils to gain support.
Student, Lucy Chatterton-Deacon, third year BA (Hons) Primary Education student, has already been teaching at the Centre for two weeks. She commented: “It’s been a very good learning opportunity, I work with individual groups, twice a week, so I get to know the children really well. I tutor them, mainly one-on-one, helping to support them and giving them extra homework.
“I love it: it’s such a supportive environment, the kids are lovely and you feel like you’re making a real difference. I’m also tutoring a year 11 girl which is really rewarding and has opened my eyes to teaching older children as well.”
The Ujima children will visit Leeds Beckett’s Headingley Campus and take part in activities to raise their awareness of higher education. This will include the children working on creative performance projects with students on the MA Creative Writing and Drama course at Leeds Beckett. This work will then be performed for the local community at the Mandela Centre and at Leeds Beckett.
Lisa Stephenson, Senior Lecturer in the Carnegie School of Education, who is leading the partnership for Leeds Beckett, explained: “The partnership with Ujima Education is a fantastic opportunity for our students as it allows them to teach in, and contribute to, a culturally rich and diverse community setting and also to make a real difference to the learning of young people there.”
Social worker, Marina Active, runs Ujima Leeds with primary school teacher, Adele Trew. Marina said: “This new partnership means that we can offer education support to a large number of students. It’s a great support and having Leeds Beckett on-board means that we can cater for a lot more children and make a difference in more children’s lives: we can now help up to 25 secondary students and 40 primary school pupils. The idea is to be an educational support, working with the children on whatever they are working on at school, and enhancing their learning.”
Additionally, academics within the Carnegie School of Education’s new Centre for Race and Diversity, led by Professor Shirley Tate, will work in collaboration with staff at the Ujima centre on new avenues of research and provide mentoring to the children.
Top image back row l-r: Adele Trew, Lisa Stephenson and Marina Active