Learning from practice

The East Cambridgeshire Family Project, by making services available in local rural communities, ensured that families with young children were not disadvantaged in access to services simply because of where they lived. The project developed and encouraged self-support networks amongst the families attending their sessions.

Practical Parenting Workshops, focussed on the under-fives, took place across isolated communities where many find transport difficult. The mobile workshops run by East Cambridgeshire Family Project were located close to participant’s homes. Parents were able to access services easily and brought their children along to participate in the programme. The project addressed a range of issues that concerned parents; workshop sessions explored issues such as child development from birth, stimulating play, and childhood health and nutrition, including encouraging breast feeding where appropriate.

Healthy eating was another element in the range of workshops carried out in the rural communities of east Cambridgeshire. In a further development East Cambridgeshire Family Project have inititated ‘Tea and Toast’ sessions as a way of discussing difficult issues in an informal way unlike a more formal ‘training session’.

Example taken from Letting the future in - a celebration of innovative projects for children and young people supported by the DfES administered Local Network Fund, and compiled by Community Links - see www.community-links.org/