Parcel Force
Category:
08 / 09 / 2009 | Author: dnorris
Parcel Force
I went out, the postman called, I was not there, so he left a card which said that my parcel has been returned to the depot.
Such incidents are one of life’s problems nowadays, but in my case it was made all the more irritating because the depot of ‘Parcel Force’ – the company that deals exclusively with posted parcels happens to be 35 miles away.
Such a system seems positively absurd, especially as the round trip of 70 miles to collect the parcel can often be a longer journey than the distance that the parcel had to travel in the first place. But just as I was about to get irritated with everything about Parcel Force, up popped a piece of educational information that made me forgive them everything.
In 2003, a foster carer working with Leicester City Council noticed that foster children often missed out when it came to getting any post addressed to them personally. Birthday Cards, presents, comic subscriptions just didn’t have their name on the front.
Rose Griffiths changed all that. She set up ‘The Letter-box Club.’ Her initial project took a sample of 20 young children. She set up a 6 month pilot scheme which involved sending out a jiffy bag individually addressed to looked after children. A typical parcel consisted of 2 books (one fiction and one non-fiction) a maths game and perhaps some fun stationary and a letter.
It wasn’t rocket science but it did have an emotional effect. Children felt they were getting a present. Children felt they were getting something that they didn’t get at school and children in turn felt motivated.
Administratively it was aimed at children so as not to involve foster carers in much extra work. They had plenty of that already.
It worked. Reading scores in school increased. Maths levels did too. Of course not all of it was attributable to the parcels, because obviously the schools continued to play their part as they always had, but the fact that the scheme has outgrown its tiny start is proof that it worked.
By the end of last year 900 looked after children in 50 Local Authorities were getting Letter-box Club parcels, but they don’t come cheap. The costed-out subscription is about £115 per child per year. Penguin Books have helped with some books and some marketing advice. Charities have also helped but the most significant help has come via a government initiative called a personal educational allowance. This offers £500 to any looked after children whose educational attainment is below that expected of them at that particular age.
As it happens that includes all looked after children.
Will the financial help continue and thereby sustain the scheme?
Nobody knows, but it has had one significant outcome. Whenever I miss the post man and come back to find that ubiquitous card on the door mat, I no longer give out a curse. I realise that my anguish is of nothing compared to that of children in the letter-box club if they didn’t get their parcel.
