Schools

Parent Support Project

"It doesn’t matter how much money we put into education if parents don’t parent." (Barack Obama) But what can we do to make a positive difference for parents and for children? At Family Life Ministry we have used Celebrating Family Funding to train Parenting Facilitators to run parenting programmes through their local school or parish community. The Family Caring Trust (FCT) Programmes we use are wonderfully affirming for parents and grandparents as well as being life changing for their children.  

So far 25 volunteers have been trained in different parishes and schools in the diocese.

Next training: Wakefield Deanery September 2011  Sorry, this course is now full. If you would like to finds out more about future training for yourself or people in your school or parish or other organisation please contact Angela Fieldhouse admin@flm.org.uk or 0113 261 8050

"Parenting classes can be life-changing because they give parents the skills to manage challenging situations, give their children clear and firm boundaries and help them learn the consequences of their actions. This strengthens families and means children are better behaved, more respectful and can achieve more at school."

Sarah Teather Minister for Education

Sept 2012

What else can FLM offer?

Visits to schools can be arranged on request:  Contact Us. 

For relationship education and young people's assertiveness programmes contact Marjorie Parker

Primary Schools

Home School Parish collaborative workshops. We made 19 visits to primary schools throughout the diocese from September 2004 to November 2005 and have met representatives of almost every school and their home and parish communities.

Note also what else is available in the diocese:

The Wednesday Word

Created from an original idea by Dannie Firth of St Austin's parish, Wakefield, in the Diocese of Leeds, The Wednesday Word is an exciting new initiative to evangelise families through our Catholic schools, connecting home, school and parish by spreading the Gospel to families. The principle is simple and effective: every family receives, from their children's primary school, a sheet every week with a couple of short reflections and prayers. It is designed to nourish family spirituality and has already made a real impact on families who have used it. It was extensivley piloted and there has been very enthusiatic feedback from families. If you would like to be part of this it is only available through schools. To find out more please email info@wednesdayword.org or go to their website : www.wednesdayword.org. The Wednesday Word is dedicated to St Joseph, patron saint of families and has been backed by prayer from Carmelites throughout the UK.

Secondary Schools

Following the ongoing success of the Home School Parish initiative based on primary schools in the diocese a planning team convened to consider how these vital relationships can be supported in the secondary school sector.  We planned for a small team,  representative of the components of the home school parish triangle, to visit high schools and sixth form colleges during the academic year to find out  and celebrate what schools are already doing that successfully fosters home school parish relationships within their communities. The good practice discovered on these visits would be shared at a review meeting as will any needs expressed via these visits during the year. If you would like to share your school's tips on developing the realtaionships between the school, parents and parishes then  contact us at flm@flm.org.uk  and we'll see if we can arrange a visit sooner rather than later.

Now that the Department of Evangelisation has made significant structural changes the Home School Parish initiative is on hold. (Watch this space!)

The Young Adult Assertiveness Programme
Eight weekly sessions to help young adults, aged fifteen and upwards, to learn the same respectful skills as their parents (if they attend a parenting programme!). This will help reinforce change within the family system. The emphasis is on growth in self confidence, saying ‘no’ to peer pressure and finding fairer, less aggressive ways of dealing with problems. The boxed kit includes a video, two leader’s guides, a pack of twenty five certificates and one copy of the participant’s handbook, Taking Charge of Your Life. 

Training in the delivery of this material in schools is available and twilight or training day sessions can be arranged for whole school or designated teachers.

The handbook for students and accompanying video proved to be valuable teaching aids. These made the course easy to deliver and helped to make the teachers piloting the course confident (and assertive!) from the start.

This really is a programme worth adopting by every school.

Sixth Form

Links with 6th forms are to be forged. The Young Adult Assertiveness programme (see above) would be ideal in this context.

Thinking about relationships:

Your Contact: Marjorie Parker  0791 351 5563  is the FLM support worker and schools outreach worker. She is will visit to discuss any aspect of relationship education in your school and can train teachers in the use of any of the above programmes. (Marjorie is also a Registered Director for Rainbows, an international organisation to support bereaved pupils.)

Remember,

"It doesn’t matter how much money we put into education if parents don’t parent." Barack Obama

"When we teach our children we teach our children's children"