Guest Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 We have a three year old girl who lives with her family an old double decker bus on an unauthorised “travellers” site. The “travellers” have a hard time locally, get much bad press and are constantly being harried and moved on. The families are anxious to remain in the area as the children are settled in local schools and as there are no authorised sites locally this results in them finding alternative unauthorised sites and the process begins again! Recently the camp has been split up and moved on yet again and the little girl is showing all the usual signs of stress. We are currently doing a topic on ourselves and our homes. I have trawled the Internet trying to find any suitable materials about children living on such sites (I hesitate to use the term “travellers”, they only ‘travel’ as they are forced to move on! and I am not sure they would accept this label) I have trawled the Internet for suitable materials that I could use with all the children, so I can include this little one without particularly highlighting her differences. The few books I have found are about Gypsies living in caravans. Has anyone got any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_3139 Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 She could end up as the most envied little girl ever. Living on a bus?? Where are the bedrooms, the kitchen, the bathroom? Do you ever go to sleep in one place and wake up in another? How many curtains do you need? How exciting compared to a three bed semi. Could you visit her site to get ideas from parents? Found these sites travellers - Wikipedia Travellers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_64 Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 You might find these websites useful. http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/database/travellers.html http://www.gypsy-traveller.org/education/ http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/ethnicmin...cations/763027/ http://www.scottishtravellered.net/teachers.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_3735 Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 I dont know the area you are in but we have the Travellers consortium we are able to borrow resources which are very good, and they have come in to give us training about travellers, as many are now beginning to become 'home ' based, but still retain their identity as a traveller as it can be classed as a way of life with its own principles not just because they are 'travelling'. We have had traveller children who lived in houses, and this is how we came involved with the consortium for a while.. we still have contact and they offer help when needed. In their case they found no suitable books so have produced their own, we have Melissa to the rescue and one of the Mikela books, which they gave to us, but you may be able to buy them from the service. May be worth a call to them. we have some resources at work, so cannot remember what they are, but some are simply pictures of people living in caravans, and buses, and horses, etc, we made a couple into a jigsaw, perhaps find an image to use which would be suitable. This site has lots of images , if a bit stereotypical.. there may be one you could use Inge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_3307 Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Your LA will have a traveller education service or similar named section for Gypsy, Roma and traveller education/support. Cx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Also the Devon site (often cited I have noticed) has some information and links as does the Kent NGfL. Links are: http://www.devon.gov.uk/travellers_education http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/subjects/literacy/traveller/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts