ABSTRACT
Deighton Junior School is situated in an area of high unemployment and poor housing conditions in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. A request by local psychologists for Deighton to try to replicate work done with Paired Reading in Derbyshire was taken as an opportunity to try a different approach to involve the community. The involvement of school staff in the home visiting — instead of psychologists, as in the earlier Derbyshire projects — is seen as a vital element in the success of Paired Reading Involving Non-Teachers (PRINT). Parents are initially made aware of the project when their child visits school in the July prior to entry in September. It is stressed that all children, regardless of ability, can benefit from PRINT, since reading improvement is not the only positive outcome. Unlike the participating West Indian family units, the West Indian fathers of half-caste children have often been aggressive towards the scheme, and some have prevented white mothers from taking part.
