Parents and carers often tell us that they feel awkward about going in to school or pre-school settings, saying they don’t know how to support their children or that they don’t understand the teaching methods being used. Some of them may have had an unsettled education themselves or had negative experiences in their own learning which has led to a lack of confidence.Family Learning’s main strength lies in the fact that we have time to listen to our adult learners. We help them to realise and build on the experience and knowledge they already have, giving them the confidence to support their children and also to tackle issues around their own learning and develop their skills. Learner feedback and research consistently shows us that this approach leads to higher achievement and aspirations for both adult and child.

We are always looking for new ideas and approaches. One way we do this is through our partnership work, judged to be “outstanding” in our last three Ofsted inspections. Our partners include school and children centre teams, Job Centre Plus, Libraries and Archives, The Centre for Lifelong Learning, the Travellers’ Trust, York District Hospital and Higher York. More recently we have been asked to support work with refugees and are working on projects with the Citizens Advice Bureau, Big Local and York City Football Club.

These courses are funded by central government through the Adult Skills Budget and as such, the primary aim is to engage with people who missed out first time around on English and/or maths qualifications.  They are funded for and so aimed at people who did not obtain a grade C or 4 in GCSEs in English and/or maths.  (As this is over half the working age population, the potential audience is quite a lot!)

To be eligible for the funding, participants need to be 19+ on 31 August 2019, have had UK or EU/EEA resident status for the past three years, or be married to someone with UK or EU/EEA resident status for the past three years. Other groups such as army families and refugees are also funded – please ask for further details if needed.  Families who are here solely for university/education purposes are not usually funded for these courses.

Information, Advice and Guidance: York Learning participate in a number of projects which involve one to one advice and guidance for individuals and many of our team are trained in delivering IAG which is offered to all of our learners.  We are also developing a wider IAG training and networking package to assist those of us working in communities to link up the work we are doing and facilitate signposting and referrals to wider support services.

Childcare:  Funding for childcare is very limited and we are only able to supply a basic amount of childcare at each venue.  Because of child-adult ratios, we ask that if you are referring a new learner with a child who is under 1, that you fund a childcare worker to support them (£450 for a 10 week course).  Alternatively, we may be able to fund childcare with an Ofsted registered provider as part of our Learner Support package, if one has been identified.

Additional Support Needs: Where an additional support need is known for an adult learner, we are usually able to organise volunteers and/or paid support workers to work alongside the tutors.  Please ensure you speak to one of our team in advance of a course starting if you feel a learner you are referring will need specific support to access the course. Similarly, if a child attending our childcare provision needs additional support, please ensure our team has details in advance of the course starting.

Participants on the courses need to have enough English to be able to follow general discussion and straightforward texts used on the course.  For those who are still learning the language, by far the best course of action is to refer them to our ESOL provision, where they will be taught by expert language tutors to develop the grammar and language they need at a level appropriate to them. ESOL is fully funded for those who are earning less that £16009.50 per annum, and part funded for others.

We have capacity to deliver Early Start and potentially Get Ready for School – type courses specifically for ESOL learner groups and if there is sufficient demand in any one venue, then we can talk to you about putting these on.

We will consider individual cases when it comes to referrals to our non accredited provision: Early Start, Family Learning short courses and How Children Learn (autumn term).  We can for example consider a young mum or a parent whose children are attending one of our host school venues.

However for accredited courses, including Keep Up and our mainstream English and maths courses, learners need to be eligible as detailed above.  If in doubt, please discuss individual cases with us before referring onto a course so that we can ensure the learner is directed to the most appropriate provision. To refer an individual onto our English and maths programmes, including Keep Up, please book a skills assessment.

Finally, Family Learning is a wonderful package, with positive impact on the adult, child and the wider community.  It’s a great “mover on” of lives.  However, we can’t provide a solution to all problems and sometimes it’s best to wait until a learner has dealt with crisis issues such as housing or drugs/alcohol problems before the added pressure of commitment to a course. If you refer someone who has anxiety issues or hasn’t previously been attending a regular group, then we ask that you arrange for someone to bring them along to the first session.  The deal is, if you can get them to us, we will do our best to make it work!