mother tongue and supplementary schools partnership
London
The Mother Tongue & Supplementary Schools Partnership (MTSSP) arose from a
'review of supplementary and mother tongue education in the London Borough of
Islington', (Dec. 2001), conducted by the African Schools Association on behalf
of the Supplementary Schools Support Service. The report stated that the '
education department benefits from an active, enthusiastic, diverse and
well-established body of supplementary and mother tongue providers'. A key
strength of our sector is the strong community base in which our organisations
reside. However, the review revealed the need for support and development of '
specific quality assurance systems, training, funding of MTSSP providers and the
development of more formal links with the statutory sector'. The positive
response to the review led to the decision to develop a more formal structure.
Since then we have adopted a constitution, with clear objects and have a
management committee. In terms of achievement, the MTSSP partnership is on the
cusp of realising one of our objectives, namely that of establishing formal
links with the mainstream school sector. We continue to receive great support
from London Borough of Islington.