TEN years ago a number of head teachers in Bradford put forward a proposal.

They wanted help to encourage hard-to-reach parents and carers to take more of an interest in school life. They wanted to give them the chance to learn new skills that would support their child’s learning at home and improve relationships with school.

The heads approached Donna Harper, learning and development manager with the community learning and school support service at South Square Centre in Thornton, Bradford.

Donna, who has worked in teaching and learning in Bradford for over 30 years, spent time talking to parents and carers in the school playground and outside the school gates.

“Most of the parents and carers, who found it difficult to engage with school, the ‘hard to reach’ parents, were from the indigenous Bradford communities,” she says. “They felt very strongly, that they had been failed by an education system that had not provided them with the time and understanding they felt they needed as children, leaving them with a lack of trust in authority and a feeling of hopelessness, with no qualifications and a life on benefits. Many had avoided adult education opportunities and family learning events put in place by school or local community learning providers.”

Talking to them, Donna discovered that parents and carers wanted to attend creative and artistic pursuits. They also wanted to expand their knowledge of their neighbours, who had different cultures and religions, so they could make friends with and try to understand people they perceived to be ‘different’ to them.

“Parents and carers requested trips and activities in and around Bradford so they could feel confident taking their children to places of interest in the district,” she says. “So from saying they had no interest in adult education, I found they wanted to develop creative talents and get to know their neighbours. And the world around them.”

What she discovered formed the basis for Creative Threads, a project which uses creative activities to help people gain confidence to tackle new ventures themselves. The project works with freelance artists and musicians to bring together statutory agencies, communities and families through art and craft.

Learning events include activities such as painting, crocheting, needlecraft, pottery, quilt making and knitting, were held after school hours, and family learning events after school and weekends.

“People who did not feel comfortable with anything associated with school, felt sufficiently confident to engage in art and craft, share skills and storytelling time with people from different cultural backgrounds,” says Donna. “Finding similarity gave them the confidence to take part in school-based activities.”

One school in particular, Bowling Park Primary School, was so impressed by those parents who were regular attenders on family learning programmes, that some were invited to work as volunteers and later to apply for vacancies in school. Some are now working as part of the staff team.

Father and grandfather Dennis Gaffey, one of the founder members of the Creative Threads project, is now an established member of school staff, working school crossing patrol and as a lunchtime supervisor.

Expanding to other community venues, many Creative Threads groups have become self-sustaining, such as Creative Threads - Shine, whose art work is on permanent display at St Stephen’s Church, West Bowling.

Michelle Blum, one of the first group of parents and carers to attend a Creative Threads project, says: "Creative Threads has helped me to connect with people during the most vulnerable time in my life. Our shared projects made me feel empowered and has given me renewed confidence in my abilities. It has been an inspirational journey for my whole family".

She has continued to attend different Creative Threads projects in the district.

Adds Donna: “I enjoyed hearing stories and learning art and craft skills from the participants who share skills they have learned from their mothers and grandmothers as well as tuition received from professional artists and agencies who have worked with us.

“I have witnessed people from different social, intellectual, faith, intergenerational and cultural backgrounds come together to share art and crafting, especially with people who appear to be from a different culture; very quickly, when crafting together, group members embrace sameness and enjoy the fun of sharing stories of life in Bradford and beyond.”

She adds: “The project has been so rewarding, and so powerful.”

This year, for the first time, exhibits from all the projects have come together and can be seen throughout this month at South Square Gallery, Thornton from Tuesday to Sunday from 12pm to 3pm.