Support for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers (GRT)
- What we do
- Scope of service
- Working with schools : Partnership
- Working with schools : Access
- Working with schools : Pupil Support
- Working with schools : Promoting Understanding
- Working with schools : EMA Network role
- Working with schools : School role
What we do
The aim of GRT pupil support is to:
- promote access to education for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils (GRT) residing permanently or temporarily in Milton Keynes
- provide support to schools and families to
- enable GRT pupils to attain their full potential
- promote awareness of this minority group
Scope of Service
The term GRT used within this provision incorporates
- housed, sited and mobile Gypsies
- Travellers
- Irish Travellers (holding ethnic minority status)
- Roma
- Fairground, and Circus families
- Barge families (living on waterways)
- New Travellers
Working with Schools: Partnership
The EMA Network works in partnership with schools to identify the needs of GRT pupils and offer support related to the following areas:
- Highly mobile pupils who typically attend a number of schools for short periods due to movement
- Fairground or Circus pupils
- Families initially residing in the authority
- Pupils residing in the area with little or no previous school experience due to movement
- Pupils approaching or experiencing cross-phase transfer
- Pupils under-achieving in relation to their peers due to previous gaps in education
- Attendance issues
- A reflective and inclusive curriculum
Working with Schools: Access
Access to education for roadside GRT is facilitated through:
- Offering admission to local school
- Maintaining close liaison between family and school
Working with Schools: Pupil Support
Pupils are supported within school by the EMA Network through:
- Advisory support to ensure GRT culture is positively reflected within the school
- Termly review of each pupil's attainment and attendance by the school's GRT coordinator.
Working with Schools: Promoting Understanding
EMA Network - promotes understanding and awareness of Traveller history and culture to all school pupils by:
- Introducing GRT lifestyle to pupils through fiction and non-fiction literature available in the EMA Resource Centre.
Working with Schools: EMA Role
EMA Network will:
- Encourage school admission for GRT new to Milton Keynes
- Respond to a referral from a parent, school or another agency to begin the initial admission process
- Offer support during the initial stages of admitting and integrating GRT pupils to school
- Provide resources to help promote GRT culture across the curriculum and, if required, advise on differentiation
- Provide support to GRT families to promote home/school relationships
- Contribute to inter-divisional and multi-agency working groups
- Work in partnership with school and family to encourage regular attendance
- Ensure the school is informed of any alteration to provision
Working with Schools: School Role
The school will:
- Contact EMA Network if a timetable change or pupil absence is known
- Provide attendance figures each term
- Enable EMA Network to work with identified pupils as arranged
- Make use of resources offered by the EMA Network
- Promote whole school awareness of GRT history and culture by accessing EMA Network class teaching sessions
Last Updated: 27 March 2020