The Bud-Wiser Project is funded by the DfEE and is intended to encourage the development of innovative and exciting projects that will stimulate quality out of school time learning initiatives.
The Family Education Development Trust ( FEDT) is a charity based in Exeter that sets out to provide opportunities for Parents and Children to play, learn and grow together, QECC and Bow Community Primary School together with the Investors in Parents Groups working with each school have successfully obtained some funding to develop the Bud-Wiser Project over the next twelve months.
The Project has the main theme of Promoting Communication between pupils, parents, teachers and the communities of Bow and Crediton. The Project will develop these themes through two areas of work.
Theme 1
Pupils in year 6 at Bow Community Primary School will develop buddies with pupils at QECC through E mail and possibly video conferencing. The pupils will have the opportunity to E mail each other on a regular basis to ask questions about the schools and what goes on in order to be confident that when they transfer to the ‘big’ secondary school they will have a lot of informal as well as formal information on their new school as well as having established some older ‘buddies’ before commencing studies at their new school.
In addition each school will have its own web site where information will be available for parents to find out what is going on and improve links between home and school.
Theme 2
Pupils at Bow school will contribute to the development of a community website for Bow. The intention is to encourage pupils to find out what is going on in their communities whether it is relation to clubs and organisations, local business or any other activities. There will be opportunities for all these organisations to promote themselves on the web site and through it generate more business or attendance at opportunities that exist for local people.
Through exploring what is going on and working with these groups we hope that the pupils will become more involved in community life and participate more in the ‘learning opportunities’ that are out there within their local community.
The Project is being managed by the Family Education Development Trust through Nigel Hillier who has many years experience including working for Devon County Council heading up both Family Education and Youth Work.
Alison Smallacombe and Maggie Bridgeman will be working with us as the Project Support Workers and will have responsibility to co-ordinate and pull together local activity.
Nigel and Alison will be working with a ‘Learning Team’ consisting of teachers, parents and pupils from the two schools who will advise and provide direction to the project. The project has the full support of both schools and the FEDT has been working closely with them in establishing what the project is setting out to achieve.
The project officially ended in July 2002 but Alison and Maggie are continuing to maintain the School and Village Websites.