Back to school for Brimsdown parents

New training courses designed for busy parents launches at primary school

Brimsdown parents Uthaya Ramanan, Stacy Manderson and Flutur Shegaj

When the morning bell goes at Brimsdown Primary School, it’s not just the children who start making their way to class.

A group of parents have been on a six-week maths course at the school, designed to teach them the skills they need to confidently tackle everyday tasks, like budgeting and helping their children with homework, while also opening the door to future opportunities.

It is the first in a series of free training courses that Brimsdown headteacher Matthew Clifford is planning to offer to parents during the school day, enabling them to learn new skills and knowledge alongside their children.

Matthew explains: “We know that childcare responsibilities and cost are barriers to adult learning and we wanted to address this by offering parents the chance to access free courses during the school day, when their children are in lessons. I got in touch with the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (Conel), which has a fully-funded outreach programme, and they offered to run courses on site for our families.

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“The maths course, which Conel offers in partnership with the government-funded multiply programme, has been really well received and our first cohort of parents have just received their completion certificates. We’re planning to offer a range of courses in the future and give parents the opportunity to gain qualifications, such as GCSEs.”

Matthew adds: “Brimsdown has a strong reputation for being an inclusive school and is at the heart of its local community. We want it to be a school for the whole family and it’s incredibly inspiring for the children to see their parents engaging in education too.”

Mum Stacy Manderson, 46, signed up to the course to improve her confidence in maths. She says: “I haven’t studied maths in years and sometimes when my daughter, who is in year five, asks me for help with her homework I don’t know the answer. I’ve really enjoyed the course and I feel more confident with numbers now. I would definitely sign up for more opportunities in the future and I’d love to try subjects like English and childcare.”

Flutur Shegaj, 31, also enjoyed the course and has just received her certificate. She says: “The best thing about it is that I can drop my son at the school nursery in the morning and then come to the class. We are learning at the same time.”

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