ABSTRACT
In assessing the take-up by parents of what was offered in the project the first source of information to consider is what parents themselves reported doing. In relation to the teaching of reading, the official school policy before the project was to encourage parental involvement at all stages. The setting for Belfield Reading Project was a medium-sized primary school for children aged 4–10, which had 240 places and a part-time nursery class. The children attending the project school were drawn almost exclusively from a catchment area, designated as a Social Priority Area. The building was typical of other modern semi-open-plan schools — except that it had a larger than usual hall, the equivalent of one extra classroom, and an adjoining public branch library. For most of its life the school had some extra staffing to enable it to function as a community school.
