Literacy and Numeracy – Parklea Branching Out

Participants are offered the opportunity to help improve their literacy and numeracy through weekly literacy sessions held at PBO.

These sessions are delivered in partnership with Inveclyde Community Learning and Development (CLD) by an Inverclyde Community Learning & Development Worker (Adult Literacies & ESOL) with support provided by qualified PBO staff.

PBO takes a holistic approach to its education, training and employment opportunities for vulnerable adults, aiming to foster independence, dignity and fulfilment while respecting the individuality and rights of each person.

Forging a partnership with the CLD Adult Literacies team has enabled clients to access support to help them achieve personal literacies and numeracy goals through their community gardening activities at Parklea.

Through these sessions clients have worked on projects that have improved PBO’s site by preparing visitor information and signage in the wildlife garden, and collaborating on active travel leaflet for visitors to the site.

Because of the mixture of practical and creative activities that are on offer it was a nutural progression to offer clients the opportunity to achieve the John Muir Discovery Award.

This was a five week programme which embedded literacies and numeracy work, with a number of clients, staff and volunteers all taking part. Building literacy skills through a range of practical, creative and scientific activities gave participants opportunities to draw on their own experiences and demonstrate existing skills.

Since then 9 participants have completed their John Muir Discovery awards, with further participants now enrolled to take part. Sessions are currently restricted due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, but staff are still on hand to offer support to clients whenever it is required.

During the first Covid-19 lockdown it was felt important to continue engaging with those clients who may be self isolating. This was done through a variety of means such as e-mails, zoom calls, WhatsApp groups as well as the creation of a seperate website that formed part of our digital inclusion programme.

Working in partnership with Inverclyde CLD, seperate activities are uploaded regularly so that clients and their families can remain engaged and stimulated. With the activities having literacy and numeracy embedded throughout they are not only a great way to keep individulas stimulated but lessen the impact of social isolation.

Unlike its sister site, the “PBO Digital Squad” site is specifically tailored towards clients, with them being at the centre of its content, offering them learning activities as well as keeping them up to date with what is happening. The site can be found at https://pbodigital.wixsite.com/mysite

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