Pam has dementia. Marion is lonely. But sending them to primary school has given them a new lease of life (and the children love it too!)
PAM and Armeen are enjoying lunch together and the conversation is flowing. Armeen is speculating that when Pam was young — ‘way back before the 1980s’ — they didn’t have mobile phones.
‘The elderly were born many years ago and compared with now there wasn’t much technology,’ says Armeen. Pam agrees that life was very different when she was growing up and a pupil at a strict girls’ Catholic school. ‘We didn’t get the cane at our school, but boys would have done,’ she tells Armeen, who also wants to know if women had yet got the vote in those days.
Here, Pam’s memory is a little vague. ‘I’m not certain,’ she says. ‘Do we have the vote now?’ Armeen assures her that today’s women certainly do.
Pam is 71. A retired teacher, she is lively and articulate, but her occasional lapses in memory signal the early stages of dementia. Armeen, meanwhile, is eight years old. Even though more than six decades separate their births — and the gulf in their experience and cultures is wide — these two have formed a friendly alliance.
They chat about their families. Pam lives with one of her two daughters and has a couple of grandchildren. She taught for 30 years in nearby Leytonstone before she retired.
Armeen, whose favourite subject is maths, is the youngest of three sisters. She has a granny, too. ‘She’s 72, only I don’t call her granny. She’s called Dadi, which is granny in Urdu,’ she explains.
That Armeen and Pam enjoy each other’s company is evident. The little girl and the pensioner have been introduced thanks to an innovative scheme pioneered by Armeen’s East London school.
Six months ago, Downshall Primary School in Ilford, East London, launched the country’s first long-term project bringing together old and young to improve quality of life and opportunities for both.
Similar schemes have only ever transported youngsters in to visit care homes — and have been temporary. Downshall’s project is unique in that its elderly participants attend school — and even lessons with reception pupils — up to three times a week, and it is intended to be permanent. THE scheme is already proving a success. Of the school’s 616 pupils, 89 per cent do not speak English as a first language. But those who have taken part in the scheme have made faster-than-expected progress in their language skills.
Project co- ordinator Maria Zatat says: ‘When one little boy started school he was completely mute, but within three weeks of coming to the project he’d bonded so well with the elderly people he’d started talking.
‘We have children with social and language difficulties and this project is a perfect opportunity for them to build up these skills and interact with adults.’
Meanwhile, the elderly are discovering a fresh sense of purpose and a reason to get up in the mornings. ‘They look forward to coming in,’ says headteacher Ian Bennett. ‘It brings them back to life. They get to know each other and the children.’
On the day I visit, a lively song and dance session is taking place. Nine elderly participants, some with carers, join two dozen four and five-year- olds. ‘ One, two, three, four, five, once I caught a fish alive,’ they sing. Next, there is a chorus of The Wheels On The Bus. Everyone, it seems, knows the words and the actions. You cannot help but feel uplifted.
‘I’m old and doddery and I have the early stages of dementia, which is a bit frightening,’ says Pam. ‘But it’s so nice and friendly here and the children are just lovely. They’re so . . . (she searches for the right word) . . . forgiving. They don’t judge you for being a bit muddled.
‘I’m always trying to think of the right words now, and some of the children are just learning to talk. So if I speak to them and they say one or two words to me it’s an achievement for all of us.’
‘It’s just wonderful here!’ agrees Patricia, 74, smiley and smartly dressed. It’s difficult to believe she has suffered from depression. ‘The children seem to love it and we love it. I thought perhaps we’d be intruding, but the teachers are so accepting of us and the children get to know us. They’re such a joy. I think they genuinely enjoy having us here.’
The scheme is the joint initiative of Mr Bennett and consultant old age psychiatrist Dr David Hinchcliffe, who works with the North East London Foundation Trust and refers patients to the school, among them those who are recovering from depression, suffering social isolation or have the early stages of dementia.
‘The older adults really missed the project over the Christmas break so we’ve already set up “summer school” events to bridge the holidays,’ says Dr Hinchcliffe. ‘People have said they can’t wait to get up in the morning. Before, they didn’t know what to do with their day.’
The project is cost- effective, with most of the modest funding coming from social services. Charities, including Age UK, also contribute. Moreover, because the school provides the premises, the upkeep of a costly day centre for the elderly is saved.
The idea is borrowed from Japan, which has the world’s fastest ageing population. In Britain the number of people over 65 is projected to increase by 64 per cent in the next 14 years, when they will make up almost a quarter of the population.
There are currently 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, with numbers set to rise to over one million by 2025.
Introducing the morning’s activities, project leader Ms Zatat tells the elderly participants that they will be joining reception classes to learn Chinese calligraphy and make a dragon to mark the Chinese New Year.
‘Is anyone an expert in Chinese?’ she asks the adults.
‘Yes, of course I am!’ jokes Marion, 77, whose sense of fun has not been diminished by dementia. A retired shorthand typist, she has two grown-up daughters who are keen — as she is — that she remains in her own home. She is looked after by carer Jo, who accompanies her to the school.
‘Marion absolutely loves it here. It makes her happy,’ says Jo. ‘She might not remember what she’s done when she gets home, but as soon as she sees the children, her face lights up.’
‘I love it a lot,’ confirms Marion. ‘The children are our future. If everyone is nice to them, they’ll grow up being nice to others. All we want to do is make them happy, and if they are, we are, too.
‘When I was at home on my own, I was getting quite lonely. I didn’t want to watch telly all day. I recognise everything here now — it all falls into place. It’s lovely. You just walk in and feel comfortable, and we have lots of laughs.’
Patricia, meanwhile, is with Bridget, 72, and four-year- olds Samit, Ihaya and Ishae. They sit at a little table with paintbrushes and pens, all ready to learn. BrIDgET explains she joined the project initially as her husband Pat’s carer. They’ll have been married 50 years in April and Pat, 74, has vascular dementia.
‘To begin with I intended to leave Pat here and go, but he became a bit anxious,’ she says. ‘Now I stay and actually I really enjoy it. At the start Pat was always on my shoulder. Now he’s happy to be separated from me, even in a different room.’
Patricia and Bridget ask Samit about his birthday. He’ll turn five in a couple of months. ‘I’ll cut my cake with my dad and you can have a slice,’ he tells them. ‘You can come out for a pizza, too!’
Samit, a high-achiever in lessons, has advanced language skills, but still benefits from the adult conversation of these sessions. ‘I want to be a doctor when I grow up. Then I can check everybody; even my teacher. I can look after you, too,’ he says, smiling at Bridget and Patricia.
Patricia smiles back. ‘I’d like you to be my doctor,’ she says.
An atmosphere of quiet industry prevails. It’s hard to believe Mr Bennett, 52, who has been headteacher at Downshall for 14 years, took over a school under notice to improve. ‘ Behaviour was the big issue when I arrived,’ he says. ‘There was bullying and fighting; you’d hear teachers
shouting. Now we have a school with an entirely different feel to it. It’s a nurturing school and we care about the development of the whole child.’
Academic standards have improved, too: the progress pupils make puts the school among the top 10 per cent in the country.
The caring ethos is pervasive. Teacher Gabriela Morar has welcomed retired nurse Sara, 72, along with Pam, into her infant class.
‘I need three very sensible children to make a scary dragon using paper, string and glue,’ said Ms Morar. ‘And we’re very fortunate in this class to have a Chinese child to help.’
Five-year-old Zishen steps forward to take his place at the dragon-making table with Laila (four) and Yasin (five).
‘At home I speak English and Punjabi,’ announces Laila, as she sticks and cuts with Sara. ‘What are you going to do when you grow up?’ Sara asks her.
‘I’m going to eat my food all by myself,’ comes the reasonable reply. There is laughter. Then they all remember how last week they made gingerbread men. ‘And I did that all by myself, too,’ adds Laila proudly.
Sara explains how the project has helped her. ‘I’ve started forgetting things a bit, and I do feel low sometimes,’ she says. ‘But these children are like my grandchildren. I love the singing and I’ve asked to come twice a week. Since I started coming I’ve been so much happier.’
The school’s culture of care spreads out to the wider community. ‘Pupils’ parents who are concerned about their own elderly parents come to us to discuss provision for them,’ explains Mr Bennett, who hopes the project will become permanently ‘embedded in school life’ — and the first of many throughout the country.
At lunchtime there is more evidence of the scheme’s success. I speak to eight-yearold Isman and seven-year-olds Zahran and Hafsa. Isman tells me: ‘I’ve not been able to talk to old people before because my aunties and nannas are in Bangladesh. I really like talking to them about the past.
‘One of the people I met was a mining engineer. I’d like to be an engineer — or an astronaut.’
Zahran, too, can see the merit of talking to ‘old people who can tell you about the jobs they’ve done, so you can think about doing them, too.’
‘They inspire us all,’ puts in Hafsa. ‘That’s a word we hear a lot at this school.’