Update from the Family Learning Team

The new term has got off to a busy start; we are teaching Family Learning courses in seven schools and three Children’s Centres , and running the national Certificate for Adult Literacy and Numeracy in four primary schools. We have a particular focus now on work with young parents through the Early Start programmes for parents with their children at Honeycroft Under Fives Centre, and at the Roundabout Children’s Centre, but are now developing linked accreditation routes through the ‘Stepping Stones’ courses at Tarner Children’s Centre. Students on all these courses are able to take NOCN Progression Units at Level 1 and 2, but can also access a wide range of other support services for families.  Our goal this year will be to further develop progression routes for young parents so that they can be supported to access appropriate learning and training opportunities when the time is right.

Our ‘Building Bridges’ European Social Fund programme came to a conclusion in the Summer; in the Brighton and Hove part of the programme, we doubled the target number of enrolments (from 44 to 87), and of these, 49% attended at least two courses during the project period, and 92% completed at least one unit of National Open College Accreditation. 47% completed at least one level of the National Certificate for Literacy or Numeracy. This represents a real achievement for adult learners who are often taking the first steps back into learning and future employment. We are now working with partners in East and West Sussex to develop a new strand of ESF funding; this will give us the opportunity to work with other partners to support adult learners from an initial learning episode to further learning, training, volunteering and work.
 
We were also successful in our application for ‘Family Learning Impact Funding’ – which will enable us to develop and deliver an additional 34 Family Learning courses this year in four areas – the Early Years Foundation Stage, Family Numeracy, Financial Capability and Wider Family Learning.  We hope to work with partners to develop an exciting range of new courses for targeted groups across the city, and to extend the reach of the current programme to support more families.
 
Gill Meyne
Family Learning Programme Manager