The Official Poster for Family Learning Festival during Half-term Holidays at City College Peterborough

 

Family Learning Festival in Peterborough

We're really excited for the courses coming up during October's Half-term holidays.  Since it's so close to Halloween, everything will have a festive theme.

Look forward to the following courses - for more detail, contact the Family Learning Department at City College Peterborough on 01733 761 361:

Space is limited, so book early to avoid disappointment.  For health and safety reasons, we are only allowed one child (up to age 16) per adult

Pirate Cookery
- Family cookery with a Halloween twist.  This five-day course will include themed recipes that you can enjoy with your child.
- Monday through Friday, 25-29 October

Hollow Pumpkin - Carve it!  Cook it! 
- In this taster session, you'll not only carve your pumpkin, but make some delicious pumpkin pie as well!
- Monday, 25 October

Mummy-mals
- Get into the Halloween spirit by creating some 'mummified' animals out of fabric and other bits and bobs in this five-day course.
- Monday through Friday, 25-29 October

Ghost Photography & Photo Editing
- Create your own ghostly photos in a two-day course, using digital photography and Photoshop Elements
- Thursday and Friday, 28-29 October

Spooky Story Sacks
- Create your own story sack around one of the adventures of Meg & Mog with your child in this five-day course.
- Especially designed for children aged 2-5.
- Monday through Friday, 25-29 October

Creative Halloween Costumes
- Learn how to make your little one's Halloween Costume during this five-day course.
- Monday through Friday, 25-29 October

Search for the Mummy's Tomb - A Halloween Comic
- Create your own comic strip or booklet during this five-day course, and have it entered into a friendly competition... the winner will see his or her comic strip story published in the College Voice Magazine!
- Monday through Friday, 25-29 October

Zoolabs
- Experience the creepy crawlies for yourselves!  Zoolabs have returned with all their bugs, slugs, and other types of animals to City College Peterborough for one day only.
- Thursday, 28 October

Face Painting & Body Art
- Want to learn the art of Face Painting and Body Art?  Let the experts guide you through the different techniques to create the most stunning face and body designs for you and your child.
- Wednesday, 27 October

New Course Ideas for Family Literacy & Numeracy

Since we've had a difficult time 'selling' Family Literacy and Numeracy to the schools and community centres in Peterborough, we started asking what the needs were of the parents/children in their particular areas, and we received some really great ideas for courses which naturally embed literacy and numeracy.  We would love to hear anyone else's ideas about how they have overcome this barrier to learning

Literacy
1.  We currently do not have any ESOL tutors who can spare time to come and teach Family Learning courses.  So, for those centres and schools who need support for those who do not speak English as their first language, we have created a hybrid of a typical Literacy course with a different approach to Story Sacks to accommodate lower level literacy.  We will be piloting this course this year in a couple Children's Centres and Schools after October Half-term.

2. We're also piloting a couple of Grandparent courses.  Sometimes grandparents become the primary caregivers.  The two courses that we are piloting here are Bridge the Gap & Growing with Grandparents.  Bridge the Gap gives Grandparents the opportunity to share their family's heritage and stories as they bring in different family photos, trophies, etc. and put together a memory book that they will then display during an event during half term for the rest of the community.  Growing with Grandparents is all about teaching the Grandparents how to support their grandchild's foundational developmental stages.

3.  Family History & Scrapbooking - This course offers the parents the opportunity to work with their children on their Family research.  They'll also be making a scrapbook of present members of the family to record what's going on now.  This trip may also include a field trip to a graveyard and/or the local library's archive.

Numeracy

4. DIY with Dad - briefly discussed in a previous post

5. Survival in the UK - a 6 week course designed to discuss family budgets, shopping, and learning how to add fresh English foods to the family's menu with an opportunity for the children to try different things, etc.


 

Ideas on Increasing School's Interest in Family Literacy & Numeracy Courses

Our funding guidance advises that most of our provision should be used on standard (72 hour+) Literacy and Numeracy Courses.  However, I've found it difficult to find schools who are willing to commit to such long classes.  The main barrier they see is the lack of stable schedules/commitment levels of the learners/participants.  Historically, it's been difficult to keep the same learners in the class all the way through the year - job shifts, family barriers, time commitments, etc. 

Would appreciate any suggestions about overcoming these obstacles and how others have approached the topic, and whether or not it was successful.

Thank you!

Need Ideas for More Father Involvement

Anyone have some ideas for Family Learning courses that would appeal to more men?  Some of the ideas I had were:

* DIY with Dad - but am still searching for ideas that would be cost effective & safe for children
* Landscaping for Lads and Dads

I like these two ideas because numeracy is so heavily embedded - naturally.  I would appreciate any more ideas/suggestions for more masculine-appealing courses/lesson ideas/plans.

FL Bedfordshire

OK finally here. Very happy to provide information, ideas and resources. Just let me know what you'd like to share.

Trashion Show Event in Peterborough

As part of the Green Festival this year, the Peterborough College of Adult Education (PCAE), Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT), and ESP combined to deliver a Fashion Runway Show like no other - right in the middle of Queensgate Shopping Centre! 

In its second year, the Trashion Show has become an annual event much anticipated by all those interested in trying something new within fashion design and textiles, and those desiring more creative ways to recycle.

Over the last several months, learners from all over Peterborough have been recycling and reinventing fashion... turning the unwanted or unused into something wearable, turning the phrase: 'One man's trash is another man's treasure' into reality.

Above is a picture of our lovely judges.  They judged the clothing for its innovative design, its wearability, and the most creative use of materials ('Eco' Award).  The winning outfits for each category won a bottle of wine and a wonderful prize from Lush.

 

The dress on the right won first place in the most innovative design category.  Our family learners made the felt objects that decorated both of these dresses during a Saturday Textiles taster session a few weeks ago.

The men's outfit on the left was made out of two leather sofas.  The designer also modelled the outfit.

Miss. Peterborough wore the Family Learning Finale Dress and won first place in the most creative use of materials category!  She'll be wearing this dress in her upcoming Miss. England competition as well.  She said that when she put it on she felt like a princess.

We all had a really good time and the crowd really responded to the cause.  Can't wait for next year!

Welcome!

Today we had a Family Learning Regional Network Meeting in Cambridge.  Toward the end of the meeting, we were sharing ideas about Family Learning in our areas.  We were passing examples around, but didn't have the time to really look at any of them, and some of our friends had to leave early-not being able to see the examples at all.

It was suggested that we create a place to share resources, ideas, struggles, and triumphs with each other that was easy to navigate, comment, upload, and enjoy.

So, any and all polite comments are welcome.  Please share your thoughts, ideas, and experiences.  We want to keep this a safe space for learning within our communities and our Network.

If you would like to be able to upload posts (become an administrator) or add to the calendar, please send me an email (amartin@pcae.ac.uk) and I'll get to your request as soon as I can.