FAMILIES AND SCHOOLS TOGETHER (fast)

FAST family in Belfast

WHAT is FAST

• FAST stands for Families and Schools Together

• Award winning UN endorsed early intervention programme

• Developed in 1988 by Professor Lynn McDonald – underpinned by substantial academic research and science

• Focus of FAST is improving educational achievement

• 85% of a child’s success at school depends on the support and stimulation their parents provide for learning in the home

• FAST was developed to give parents the confidence and skills needed to

support their child’s education.

Programme goals

• Helping children to succeed in school and in the community

• Increasing parental involvement in school

• Reducing the stress of daily routines for children and families

• Strengthening family cohesion and reducing family conflict

• Helping to intervene and prevent against substance abuse

Who is FAST for?

• FAST is for children age between 3-8 years and their whole family

• FAST is delivered in primary schools

• Each FAST programme is 8 weeks long – we run two cycles of the programme in each school

• Each FAST session is delivered after school and has a cycle of activities which are repeated every week

• Following the completion of FAST the parents continue to meet as a group for the next 22 months

how is FAST delivered?

FAST is a community programmes which is supported by team made up of approximately 20 people – this includes:

•School staff – to help staff get to know parents and build links to school•Parent partners - to provide peer support•Community partners – to provide links to other services

•The team is fully trained over two days and supported by a dedicated FAST trainer

WHAT HAPPENS DURING FAST SESSIONS

• Each FAST group is made up of 40 parents and 80 children• Families are split into smaller groups of 10 – know as a hub• We aim to run four hubs for each FAST group • At least one of the children per family is between the age of 3-

8 years.

During the sessions families:• Sit down to eat a meal together, cooked by one of

the families each week.• Play and learn together• Win a resource hamper which includes learning resources

such as books and toys).

WHAT HAPPENS DURING FAST SESSIONSEach FAST session is 2.5 hours long and comprises the following elements:•Family Flags ~ 15 minutes•Welcome ~ 5 minutes•FAST Hello ~ 5 minutes•FAST song ~ 5 minutes•Family Meal: Children serve the parents ~ 30 minutes•Scribbles ~ 15 minutes•Feeling Charades ~ 15 minutes•Parents’ Buddy Time/ Parent’s Time/ Children’s Time ~ 30 minutes •Special Play: one-to-one ~ 15 minutes •Lottery ~ 10 minutes •Closing circle and RAIN ~ 5 minutes

Family Table LotteryEntire Team

Closing Circle Announcements & RAINEntire Team

Siblings continue Kids’ Time

19/04/23 8

Family Unit at Family Table•FAST Hello & Singing•Meal•Scribbles•Feelings Charades (Entire team facilitates these activities)

Parents’ Time•Buddy Time•Parent Self-Help Group(Only Parent Partner and Mental Partner)

Kids’ TimeChildren divided by age group for group activities(Alcohol & Drug Partner and school partner)

Peer GroupTime

Special Play One-to-One Time(Parent & Mental Health)

Evaluation process

Parents and teachers complete questionnaires before and after the eight week FAST programme

Evaluation of these questionnaires involves various measures to investigate changes in:

1. Improvement in family and parent child relationships2. Improvement in behaviour of child at home3. Improvement in behaviour & academic performance in

school4. Improvement in social community relationships5. Improvement in social support and reciprocal exchanges6. Improvement in parent school relationship

Fast outcomes

• Teachers reported a 10% improvement in children’s reading, writing and maths after just the initial eight weeks of the programme

• Children’s disruptive behaviour in school reduced by 40% and at home by 52%

• Parents involvement in their child’s education increased by 73%

• Family conflict was reduced by 23%

• 63% of parents had more local social support

• 26% of parents enrolled in further training or adult education.

How fast is different• Focus on experiential learning

• Builds child-parent, parent-school and family-community bonds

• Multi-agency working/fostering trust amongst professionals

• Sustainable – Training of Trainer/development of local trainers and parent led FASTWORKS

• High retention rates – average of 80%

• Middlesex University accreditation

• Builds social capital and the whole community benefits

Fast – any questions?