Intergenerational Project in Bristol
Tim Clark shares details about the BS3 Community intergenerational project at The Chessel Centre in Bristol with an aim of helping to reduce loneliness and isolation among older people.
Background
BS3 Community is a charity focussed on improving the quality of life of people living in the BS3 postcode area of Bristol. Over the past 28 years the charity has delivered early education groups alongside social care provision for older people, however traditionally these have been delivered as distinct, separate services. The 2017 television programme ‘The Old People’s Home for Four Year Old’s’, which included both BS3 Community and Bristol City Council as partners, was successful in further provoking an emerging conversation about the benefits of intergenerational interaction for children and older people in this community, and the city as a whole.
The BS3 area is home to over 3,000 people aged 65 years+ and Age UK’s loneliness ‘heat map’ (Age UK 2016) places parts of the area in the top 3% for risk of loneliness and isolation amongst older people in England. Bristol’s 2018 population report (Bristol City Council 2018) indicates that the number of people in this age group continues to increase, yet we know locally that funding constraints mean that many traditional social groups and lunch clubs face challenges. At the same time, the BS3 area has a rapidly increasing number of young families and a growing birth rate, which has seen significant demand for local services including early education and drop-in groups. Again funding constraints are introducing challenges, particularly for children’s centres, who previously delivered the majority of open access groups locally.
As part of the development of a wider programme of intergenerational activities, consultation by BS3 Community highlighted that many grandparents in the area have childcare responsibilities for their grandchildren. Despite this, the number of grandparents attending the current drop-in community family groups is low. In response the organisation set an objective to trial a play-based group specifically targeted at grandparents and under 5s. As the development of intergenerational projects is a key strand of Bristol’s Strategic Plan for Early Years and Childcare, we approached Bristol City Council who agreed to act as a partner. We were then introduced to Children’s Centre Leader, who agreed to support us in evaluating the project, and sharing our learning, and we made a joint application to the John James Bristol Foundation, who awarded funding for a 12-week pilot. The most significant work involved in starting the project was establishing connections, and learning from others, to ensure that we had the resources and understanding to carry out a meaningful pilot. This included visits with partners to similar groups in London and the Netherlands, and dialogue with local universities.
The Project
The Grandparents Play Group will operate in our community room, which is used by a variety of local groups and classes. Locating intergenerational activities in a neutral space is consistently regarded as key to successful intergenerational projects (Drury et al 2017), this stance was echoed in the study visit I made to a range of projects in the Netherlands last year. The group will be primarily targeted at grandparents, but will also provide opportunities for older people who are interested in volunteering, and the potential for children attending our nursery to have some involvement.
The group will be led by a qualified early years teacher, with experience of facilitating drop-in community activities for families and an interest in the creative arts. Her remit is to facilitate activities which encourage cooperation and interaction, as well as to use her understanding of early education to ensure that there is a sound pedagogical basis for the activities children are engaging in. Alongside the teacher, there will also be some engagement from the community development team, who have a strong understanding of supporting older people, and the ability to signpost and talk to them about other opportunities and services if appropriate. Our objective is for the group to promote community engagement and links for all attendees, as well as being a productive and purposeful experience in its own right.
Each session will include a more informal period where grandparents and children can access activity stations together in the space, a group activity focussed on working together, and a circle time with singing and stories. Reflecting on our previous intergenerational projects, including a partnership with a local retirement home, we’ve begun to develop an understanding of activities which better encourage interaction. Often these include very simple activities, for example one of our teachers highlights how beneficial balloon games have been in the retirement home, because they provide some physical challenge and need for teamwork for both groups whilst also provoking interaction through fun and humour.
As a community organisation we are well placed to promote the project, and hope that this will result in good levels of attendance. Alongside wider local communications, for example leaflets and social media, we will also be able to introduce the project more directly via community groups and groups of parents. In particular, working with local partners and publications, such as our local LinkAge network will support this. We have previously found this approach to be positive as through this some community members act as informal advocates, encouraging others to get involved.
Benefits & Evaluation
A key part of the project, and our partnerships, is to capture and share learning about the process, and the benefits, of this work. Our specific objectives for the project are:
1. To reduce loneliness and isolation through generating interactions, connections and relationships between children and older people.
2. To increase school readiness through developing a pattern of singing and storytelling with young children
In order to assess this we will be collecting evaluation responses from the grandparents who attend, firstly during their initial contact with us, and then again later in the programme. In addition to this, we will record participant numbers through the course of the project, and the teacher will keep a reflective log, as well as photographs and observations of the children’s engagement during the sessions. We are also aware that intergenerational activity is a topic of interest for two of our local universities, and we have been discussing the potential of their involvement in a more detailed assessment.
At the end of the programme we intend to report on our findings, and if the project is successful, this will also form the basis for efforts to secure further funding.
References
Age UK (2016) Risk of Loneliness in England 2016 accessed at <http://data.ageuk.org.uk/loneliness-maps/england-2016/>
Bristol City Council (2018), The Population of Bristol accessed at <https://www.bristol.gov.uk/documents/20182/33904/Population+of+Bristol+December+2018.pdf/e65be8b1-93a7-153d-da6d-62fbef265a04>
Drury, L., Abrams, D., & Swift, H. J., (2017). Making intergenerational connections: What are they, why do they matter and how to make more of them. London: Age UK
Dr Tim Clark is the Executive Head of Early Education for BS3 Community Development, a charity and community business in South Bristol. He has worked in the early years sector in Bristol for 19 years and alongside his role he completed an Ed.D with the University in Reading in 2017. Tim sits on Bristol City Council’s ‘Strategic Early Years Partnership Board’ and is also employed as a Guest Lecturer by the University of the West of England. He has an interest in narrative research methodologies, and community business models.
