Supporting Young Children Through Change and Everyday Transitions by Sonia Mainstone-Cotton

Author:Sonia Mainstone-Cotton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Published: 2020-05-21T00:00:00+00:00

Homes that move

Some of the families you work with may be Traveller or Gypsy or Bargee families (families who live on boats and barges). Some of these families will move regularly, although this is becoming a lot harder, with people being regularly moved on and fewer places to move on to. Other Traveller and Gypsy families will live in a van/caravan/vehicle on a fixed site and move less frequently.

The team I used to work for worked with Traveller and Gypsy families in Somerset, Bath and Dorset for over 20 years. For the last two of these years, I managed this work and we had a tiny playbus that we took onto sites. Over this time we developed ideas and resources to use with the children. For early years settings that have Traveller and Gypsy families it is important for staff to have an understanding about Gypsy and Traveller needs and lives, including the differences between the communities.

A charity called Friends Families and Travellers has a useful website7 and publications with information, and The Traveller movement also has a useful website.8 Most local authorities used to have a Traveller and Gypsy education support team (or person) and were able to offer advice and support to education settings about how to best support the families. Tragically, many of the posts and teams have been lost due to local authority cutbacks. However, if you have Traveller children in your setting, it is worth enquiring whether there is a Traveller education support team or person.

I always recommend that when early years settings have Traveller and Gypsy families in their area they have toys and books available that represent different types of homes. We are often very good in early years settings at making sure we represent families from other countries and languages, but the Traveller and Gypsy communities are often not represented through books and toys in schools and nurseries. Some of the toys I would recommend are toy caravans, white vans, horse trailers, buses, barges – all these are examples of different homes that some families live in. You can buy all of these for not very much expense from toyshops or online.

Many of the local authority Traveller and Gypsy education teams used to make their own resources that they sold locally or online; sadly lots of these resources appear to have disappeared with the teams, but it is worth googling or looking on auction sites for resources – you may find some second-hand. Some of the books and resources I have are:

• Specialized children’s puzzles from Durham Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service – these have pictures of caravans and traditional Gypsy vardo wagons.

• Mikela’s Black Beauty Goes to School by Dirk Walker and Julia Worth.

• Mikela at Home by Dirk Walker and Julia Worth.

• Shaun’s Wellies from the Norfolk Traveller Education Service.

• Tess the Traveller series by Fiona Earle and Ross Huelin – a series of ten books for and about Travellers.9

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