1.5 million viewers for episode 1 of ‘The Write Offs’!
Being the on-screen and offscreen expert and working on the after-care package for the ‘Write Offs’ was so much fun.
The wait was finally over!!!!
The video was set, and we had arranged for two interviews, the first with Becky Hayes for BBC Sheffield and the second with Tony Fisher BBC Essex. The day that we had been waiting for, ‘The Write Offs’ program, was finally to be aired.
I had been shown 5 minutes of the filming in March of this year, whilst filming in Camden with Shine TV. I was pleased to see that the focus was on the learners rather than the teacher. The last filming in 2008 was with Phil Beadle on Channel 4 Can’t Read Can’t Write. Over the three weeks this was aired I cried at every show. I was appalled how he spoke to adult learners with dyslexia. A very good friend of mine who is an educational consultant had watched the program and admitted to me that he was spitting feathers. He commented the program did not highlight the issues that we were facing, and nobody had taken the opportunity to get behind it to make a difference, enough though we had 5 million people with low literacy at the time, today we have 8.5 million.
The countdown of the day began with me talking to Becky and we had arranged for Jean Merchant, a learner from The Cascade Hub, to talk about her experience during her time there. The interview was very emotional for both Becky and the staff who were so engaging to listen how a life can be changed in such a short time. I have just been told that they placed the whole interview again later in the day.
The afternoon interview was about the technical way you set about helping a learner, and my dream to change the world!
We had brought every newspaper and magazine, and I had found one of my quotes in the Daily Telegraph, saying that 8.5 million people had low literacy. The learners were playing a prominent part in promoting the show. Craig and his family had appeared on the ‘Loraine Show’ and Emily had appeared on the ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch’. They were each given the opportunity to share their story.
Whilst Boris’s speech had put all the programs back 15 minutes, there’s my mum, Candy the dog and myself watching ‘The Bake off’. Texts were coming in, saying good luck you will nail it, and the 8 learners from the show were counting down the minutes. I sent a text asking to see how they were feeling. Deano said he was nervous, Viv had butterflies. They were all apprehensive how the audience would perceive them.
Filming in London in September was different to the original filming in March from the way the program was showing the events. It started with an initial assessment first and it became apparent how nervous Craig was. He had walked out from the assessment and I was asked to sit and spend some time with him. He had admitted how many tutors had tried many ways to teach him and nobody could understand how he processed information. He felt that everyone would gain knowledge and he would be left behind. I explained about my own dyslexia and my projects, I asked him to trust me and see where this program could lead too.
Deano teamed up with Craig and they formed a brilliant friendship. The Travelling Activity showed the genius ideas they used. They could not read the timetable of the buses, or find the train station, so they hired a car. Amazing. They solved the problem to get to Sandi Toksvig, arriving safely on time 30 miles away.
Texts and messages were coming through fast and furious. Everyone was inspired and falling in love with the learners, their stories and their struggles. Even our Chairperson Richard had a tear for Tommy when he read his letter out to his work colleagues.
I retired to bed to watch the second show, which I will blog about next week. By the morning we had so many emails congratulations us for being on the show. The viewers had found out that I had started a charity and they were reading the blogs and achievements of my work in prisons and the community. One lad asked if he could help me, he was an unrepresented illustrator also struggling with dyslexia. A teacher in the north stated that he predicted that the children he was working with would end up in the 8.5 million low literacy bracket.
Later in the day I got an email from a researcher from the BBC 5 Radio, he told me how Jim Davis had been so impressed with the show and would like to have a phone in discussion from 1.00am to 5.00am on Friday morning. We pre-recorded the show at 11.00pm prior to it being aired. We spoke about the show, and the learners how they engaged with the different types of learning. I also shared our figures of prisoners with learning difficulties, and the correlation of crime with SEND. This really shocked him, his program was to talk on four subjects over the morning, he started talking about ‘The Write Offs’ and how he felt for Tommy.
The audience was to ring in with their stories, one after another speaking about their issues at school, dealing with depression, feeling a failure. One man started crying as he told his story, saying teachers had tried to help but had not had the training to work with special needs. My pre-recording came on at 4.30am, one 77-year old man phoned me and told me that he felt that I was speaking to him and he just had to found me. Details of our website had been given out, but he could not access a computer and was unable to read. He begged the radio station for my number just so that he could share his story. The sadness in his voice was so hard to hear, a grown man still not being able to read or write. He became very emotional when he told me that both of his sons had a place in University.
Jim Davis did not expect that level of calls and interest in just one subject. I told him how I had spent the last 20 years travelling up and down the country to help people. Jim’s quote on twitter was thanks Jackie such an informative interview – Good luck with all your work.
We have also had a conversation with our MP Rebecca Harris and looking at the next steps to take our projects forwards!!!
