October is a particularly important month for parents. A number of national and local initiatives come together to promote the important role parents play in the lives of their children, living and learning together.
Parents’ Week, now in its ninth year, is a national event, running from October 20th to 26th it offers an opportunity to celebrate and evaluate work with parents and families. In Wiltshire, ask, a locally based charity which supports parents and carers through the provision of information, advice and services, will be promoting their work with parents. Staff from the charity will be visiting towns across the county during the latter end of the month, providing information about the services it provides. In some areas there will be a leaflet drop but there will also be stalls set up as follows:
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Weds 29th Oct - Tidworth - Tesco 10am - 2pm
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Fri 31st Oct - Bradford on Avon Westbury Gardens 10am - 2pm
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Mon 3rd Nov - Malmesbury Leisure Centre 10am - 2pm
Wiltshire families are also being invited to join in with the Family Learning Festival across the county this autumn. It began as a day in 1998 and has evolved into a 9 day celebration of learning as Family Learning Week with an estimated 300,000 family members joining in the fun.
This year, to celebrate 10 years of activities, Family Learning Week will take place over the whole of October and spilling into November with the Family Learning Festival 2008. To coincide with this occasion, Wiltshire County Council and the Learning Skills Council have come together to organise Family Learning Fortnight. Events will take place across Wiltshire from October 11th to 25th and will give families an opportunity to share some free, fun and exciting activities together.
There are a variety of events happening at Schools, Sure Start Children’s Centres and community venues across the county, including willow weaving, banana split building, book crawls linked with the National Year of Reading, making music and cookery workshops.
Family learning offers people a chance to learn together, discover new skills and encourages them to pursue further learning in a supportive and friendly environment.
Lucinda Murray, Family Learning Development Worker at Wiltshire County Council, said: “This is a terrific opportunity for families to discover something new together. There are many wonderful, fun and exciting activities for all family members to take part in across Wiltshire.”
People are encouraged to log onto the Campaign for Learning website where there is a diary of events happening across Wiltshire.
Family learning festival, co-ordinated nationally by the Campaign for Learning, is designed to reach families of all ages and backgrounds.
For further information call the communications team at Wiltshire County Council on 01225 713114/5/6 or the county council’s community learning team (Lucinda Murray) on 01225 785689.
