Council launches free online webinars to support parents of primary age children

In association with ‘Literacy Counts’, a successful and experienced training provider for promoting literacy skills in young children, Cheshire East Council are running a series of free online webinars for parents focusing on different topics, offering support for those who are home-schooling and helping children to catch up on their education.

The sessions will be hosted on the video conferencing application, Zoom, and have been introduced to help parents and their primary age children to develop strategies to promote literacy skills. The initial session will focus on a love of reading, encouraging positive interactions around books.

They also offer important, innovative support for parents, which will help them to understand how they can help their children to progress and succeed in their learning.

The first of the three scheduled sessions – ‘reading adventure for parents’ – will take place on Thursday 11 February at 3pm, before being repeated in the evening to fit in with parent availability at 7pm.

During each webinar, parents will have the opportunity to ask  questions they may have related to their child’s learning, while receiving a series of takeaway activities that can be carried out in their home.

The upcoming sessions are another initiative introduced by the council, who throughout lockdown, have offered schools across the borough a rich menu of support programmes to ensure children of all ages can access the best education during these uncertain times.

Up until now, programmes have focused primarily on training opportunities for teaching staff in schools to assist in ‘catch-up’ strategies, as well as making the best use of remote learning throughout lockdown.

Councillor Kathryn Flavell, Cheshire East Cabinet Member for children and families, said: “We are so pleased to be able to reach out to parents and carers and offer these remote sessions, at a time when they are facing difficult circumstances, with many people juggling working from home alongside home-schooling.

“Reading is so important to not only develop the learning and literacy skills of young children, but to help nurture their concentration skills, imagination and vocabulary. 

“Reading for leisure also offers a great form of escapism that can work wonders for children’s mental health, which is something we must continue to prioritise during this increased lockdown period.

“I would encourage all parents of primary age children to attend these sessions, to not only get help and learn how to support and encourage their child’s learning, but to link in with other parents and take the opportunity to ask any questions they may have.”

Attendees are encouraged to leave feedback to inform the content of future sessions, so that a programme of valuable and useful content can be delivered, all of which will really make a positive impact on the learning and wellbeing of children in Cheshire East.

To join the 11 February  3 – 4pm Zoom session, follow this link: https://zoom.us/j/91478883218?pwd=V3VVQVdPdG5wVTNyT3d3SmhieW5vQT09 using the meeting ID: 914 7888 3218, passcode: 777418.

To join the repeated session on 11 February at 7 – 8pm, use this link: https://zoom.us/j/97442367663?pwd=Tk16Q0IrQk5sSVN0YUN2MEdpVmVLdz09 using the meeting ID: 974 4236 7663, passcode: 489265.

Please note that prior registration is not necessary.

Those who are not able to access these sessions online will still be able to receive handouts and activities from the webinars.

To request an activity pack, please email schoolgovernance@cheshireeast.gov.uk and one of the team will be in touch to coordinate this.