Member Article

Lottery brings families together in learning

The Big Lottery Fund today launches a £40 million programme, ‘BIG’, to bring generations of families together through learning.

From today, groups including charities, community and voluntary bodies and schools can apply for awards of between £10,000 and £500,000 to help families bond whilst building life skills.

The programme aims to fund a variety of projects that will benefit families. Projects may include activities like gardening, cooking or building a birdhouse together and others might help with reading or maths, using elements of sports, arts, crafts and drama as a basis for learning.

Big Lottery Fund Chairman Sir Clive Booth said: “Family learning is a building block for children’s education. Children can absorb values, attitudes and culture, while parents and carers can gain a better understanding about how a child learns.”

Those behind the fund believe that some parents may lack confidence to learn because of unhappy school memories, or they may not have the means, language skills or the experience to get started. The three-year programme aims to support these parents and expose people to the benefits of family learning.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .