Press Launch for Home Alone project today

It is the press launch for the Home Alone project today. All at MCN Ltd are really looking forward to showing everyone the wonderful work that the children have done. So I thought I’d take the opportunity to walk through the project with you.

Last year, I met with Barry the Head Teacher, who said he’d quite like to do something around the safety of children and kids being left home alone. This is because in circle time they had found out that children were scared of being left home alone. After the meeting with Barry, I went away and found funding for the project. A year later I was able to begin the project.

In the first lesson we introduced the kids to the idea and everybody contributed to a mind-map about their thoughts. Then I delivered 10 filmmaking workshops to a group of 10-12 children who had been chosen because it was thought that they would respond well to filmmaking.

The Home Alone project has gone really well and it’s been such a lot of fun. The kids were very excited about making a film. They’ve learnt how to be safe at home and had fun finding out facts, such as – the most common thing they can choke on is a grape. The children had the help of St John’s Ambulance and learnt how to identify whether someone is choking, and to administer first aid and stop someone choking.

We didn’t ask the children what age they thought a child should be left home alone; we simply asked what they would do if they were left home alone.

The pupils involved were aged between eight and 10. So it varied form wanting to play football, or having a friend around – to raiding the fridge! They discovered that there are different ages you can leave children at home alone, and that this depends on their own maturity and their own cultural background, and that why this happens sometimes varies upon the demands in a parent’s life.

As we researched the idea we discovered truths along the way. One of which was the confusion around Ofstead registration. We had a meeting with parents and saw that they are good people. It made me wonder why is it that Ofstead want to impose restrictions on these groups? Surely they would target it differently if it was just about security? Most parents were not English. It seemed that the Mediterranean parents are more Christian, if you like, than English families and so it became clear that English families faced more problems. Although, it is the non-English families who would be impacted more because of the fact of being an immigrant and having to deal with bureaucracy.

Now it’s time to get ready for the press launch today, which will take place at 1.30pm-3.30pm in the Grand Committee room at the House of Commons. As well as a screening of the Home Alone documentary, I’m looking forward to hearing some great speeches, and raising some money to fund future projects. More later!

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