Dudley have appointed two Gypsy, Roma & Traveller Advisers, Jo Hawkins and Sallie Gurney, to lead the National Strategies agenda with regard to meeting the needs of children and families from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities.
Sallie and Jo will be the first point of contact for advice to schools and mainstream services in Dudley and will be working to enable them to meet their statutory duties as outlined in recent government guidelines*
Jo and Sallie are both fully qualified teachers with backgrounds in mainstream education each have their own specialism’s, both have the generic experience and expertise to advise and offer training in order to enable schools and services to meet their statutory duties with regard to members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities.
Jo Hawkins worked for ten years in primary and middle school education and for the past five years she has been working in Dudley for the Consortium, supporting schools and services with children from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities. Due to her background and experience, she has a special interest in early years and primary and includes in her remit transition into Secondary School.
Sallie Gurney has worked for Dudley on and off throughout her teaching career, first in the mainstream secondary phase, then with young offenders and looked after children, before joining the Consortium, where she has worked for twenty-five years. Within the Consortium Service, she developed the work with secondary aged pupils, and specialises in secondary, post 16 and e-learning.
Working within Children’s’ Specialist Services, with respect to children and young people aged 0—19 from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities, their roles will be:
To provide advice, guidance and targeted support in respect of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children in Dudley and the schools that they attend, reporting to the strategic lead within the Pupil and Access team.
To develop effective home/school relationships and a positive understanding of education by families and of families’ cultures, lifestyles and needs with colleagues. They will be responsible for developing specific, focused guidelines for good quality home/school liaison work with regard to increasing access and raising achievement levels.
To organise and deliver school based professional development and to work with colleagues in initiating and delivering Local Authority wide professional development.
To instigate the involvement of other agencies and services with families as necessary to their health, welfare and education and to liaise with them in an interagency network.
To support colleagues in developing and differentiating curriculum to ensure that pupils are able to access activities. To have a specific and targeted lead in supporting the production of relevant teaching resources that positively includes children’s experiences.
To support the prioritising of early years outreach work and transition through Key Stages 3 and 4.
Signpost to support education and training beyond 16.
Support services by involving Gypsy, Roma and Traveller adults, young people and children in consultation and decision making.
To work with other strategic personnel specifically to improve the quality of learning for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils
To promote the production of good quality, school based Distance Learning, including e-learning and provide assistance and training to colleagues in developing their skills. Liaise with and support families in managing Distance Learning.
To liaise with West Midlands Consortium Services for Travelling Children, Schools and Families (WMCSTCSF) and other non-consortium local authorities as appropriate.
To support and advise supplementary staff with responsibility for delivering additional family and school based support.
