FAQ's from Schools/Centres

How can we find out what courses are available?

Every year the Family Learning Team produces a Prospectus.  This year 3 copies have been sent to every school in Bradford (Headteacher, Learning Mentor and Parental Involvement Worker).  If you need a copy, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

How do we apply for a Family Learning Course?

Please refer to you process guide in your Family Learning Prospectus 08/09 or cick on the link below.

Who teaches the course?

All family learning courses are taught by one of our Family Learning tutors.  All tutors have an appropriate adult teaching qualification and subject specialism.  They also receive regular CPD and are registered with the IfL.  All of our tutors are observed using OFSTED criteria and are all of course CRB checked.

How much will it cost?

Most of the costs of the course are met by the Family Learning Team.  We pay the tutor directly and will reimburse you for the costs listed below upon receipt of an invoice with receipts:

• Crèche
• Refreshments
• Consumable resources and materials
• Staff time - if the work was done in addition to normal working hours or if a supply teacher was needed.

The main cost to you is time in recruiting families on to the course.

How can I claim what the course cost us?

We pay the tutor directly and will reimburse you for the costs listed below upon receipt of an invoice with receipts:

• Crèche
• Refreshments
• Consumable resources and materials
• Staff time - if the work was done in addition to normal working hours or if a supply teacher was needed.

We are unable to pay for room hire if the course is run in a school or children's centre.

Does a staff member need to be present during the course?

Where possible it is great if a staff member can be available during the course.  This is usually the Parental Involvement Worker or someone in school with a similar role.  This person can act as a point of contact for Health and Safety, can sort the refreshments and collect the children for the joint part of the session (if applicable).  More than this though, families often have questions about the school or centre during a course which our tutor may not be able to answer and it really shows school/centre commitment to Family Learning when there is a dedicated member of staff available.

If however, this is not possible the tutor can run a course alone.  There would need to be a contact person available for Health and Safety and someone to sort the refreshments and collect the children for the joint part of the session (if applicable).

Do we need to offer a crèche?

It is a recommendation that a crèche is offered for all 12 hour courses as this makes the course more inclusive.  It is a funding requirement that a crèche is offered for all courses longer than 12 hours.  The Family Learning team will pay all crèche costs.  Please invoice us at the end of the course attaching receipts.

Where a school or centre is unable to offer a crèche, families can be directed to use Ofsted registered childcare in the community such as nurseries or child minders.  Please ensure that you have the Ofsed registration number of the provider(s) being used.  It is the responsibility of the school/centre to pay families for these childcare costs and invoice us for reimbursement as above.

How many learners do we need to run a course?

The minimum number of learners required to begin a course is 9.  50% of recruited learners should be without Maths or English GCSE or equivalent qualification

Wider Family Learning courses are only available to families new to Family Learning.

How long do the children join in for?

There are 2 types of Family Learning courses; adult only and joint.  The normal practice during a joint session is that the children join in for the final 30-45 minutes of every session. Any variations to this need to be negotiated with your tutor during your initial meeting. 

Sessions which run on a Saturday, such as Robot Making allow for the children to join in for the whole session.

How many children can join in?

In order to allow the time with their child to be focussed we ask that 1 child per learner can join the session.  This is obviously open to negotion with the tutor during your initial meeting.

Only children whose families are on the course can take part in the joint session.

How many courses can we apply for?

There really isn't a limit to the number of courses any particular school or centre can apply for.  The Learning and Skills Council who fund the Family Learning programme set strict criteria about which learners we can count towards our targets. 

Learners need to have not achieved a full Level 2 qualification in maths and or English (this is the same as a GCSE grade A-C). 

A learner can only be counted once per academic year on a Wider Family Learning (WFL) course and once per year on a Family Language, Literacy, Numeracy course.  Therefore, please bear this in mind when applying for courses as we will be asking that you recruit new learners.

How long does a course last?

The Family Learning team offer many different types of courses all of varying lengths.  Please refer to your prospectus for full details.  The normal practice is that sessions will run once a week and will last for 2 hours.  Variations on this can be negotiated with your tutor at your initial meeting.