Working with Lambeth families to provide support

Oval Learning supports as many people as we can within our school communities including children, young people, parents and carers.

Pink line

We know they are facing many challenges, including concerns around finances, food, mental health and wellbeing. Keen to respond to affected families needs, our schools have co-designed, with them, the following range of activities:

  • Parent driven coffee mornings & signposting to services
  • Early Words Together sessions
  • Face painting workshops
  • Signposting sessions
  • Focus groups with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) where parents are given vouchers for attending
  • Parents trained in food hygiene
  • Recycled uniform and book swaps

  • Racial Justice Champions (RTG) as a point of contact for parents
  • Literacy Support sessions (with Literacy Trust & Bookmark Charity)
  • Parent Events (quiz afternoon)
  • Community Food support group (working with Magic Breakfast & Felix Project)
  • Black hair workshops
  • Bespoke Racial Wellness training
  • Allergy awareness sessions

Help us to help you

We’d like to make our activities and projects as effective as possible – particularly in reaching those who need most help but who don’t always know who to ask or how. Statements like, ‘I am unsure how to go about it in practice ; I can’t financially afford to; I find the idea of getting involved intimidating; I am not sure what skills/knowledge I could offer and I haven’t been asked” are taken from the Centre for Education & Youth, Giving Parents a Voice on Schools and Education Report 2022 which outlines the barriers parents or carers face in engaging with their child’s school.

To help our families access as many opportunities as they can, we’re going to set up a parent’s forum to break down these barriers. This would be to discuss the work we do, and to hear from our families about what we need to do to better support them.

If you are a parent or carer at one of our schools and would like to find out how you can get involved, or to talk about anything mentioned above, please get in touch with Anne and Laura.

Useful resources for families

  • Activities for Young People
  • Anna Freud Centre: Advice and guidance for parents and carers to help them support a child or young person experiencing poor mental health or wellbeing.
  • Free bilingual support in Portuguese & other languages / Suporte bilíngue gratuito em português e outros idiomas: Stockwell Partnerships offer FREE bilingual support for Portuguese Spanish & Italian speakers making welfare benefit claims or needing help with their finances. They can also help you develop the skills to improve your chances of getting a job—or a better paid, more secure job. Their priority is to support clients in the Stockwell neighbourhood but they also help people in Lambeth. For Portuguese speakers looking for help with benefits, email Maria. For Portuguese, Spanish and Italian speakers email Gustavo
  • Lambeth Families Information Services
  • Lambeth Early Help Services: Aiming to ensure that children, young people, and families receive additional support at the earliest opportunity to prevent difficulties.
  • Lambeth Emergency Support Scheme
  • Lambeth Cost of Living support: Find out how Lambeth is supporting the local community through the cost of living crisis.
  • Lambeth Larder: Connecting local people in financial need to emergency food and other services, like advice, debt, and mental health support
  • Lambeth early action partnership (LEAP): Support for families in Coldharbour, Stockwell, Tulse Hill, and Vassall wards, from pregnancy up until a child’s fourth birthday.
  • London Events
  • Love the game: Join Girls United for free football sessions for girls in South London. Have fun, make friends and feel empowered
  • Parent Kind: A trusted voice for parents in education
  • Repair cafe Lambeth: Promoting the culture of repairing and re-using. Go along, and with help from a volunteer fixer, you can bring back to life your broken things while sharing a cuppa.
  • Share Community Cafe: Providing FREE, tasty meals to ANYONE in need in the community. This service is co-produced and run by a group of adults with learning disabilities and autism, giving them the opportunity to build employment, catering and hospitality skills. The food will vary throughout the week including both vegetarian and meat options. Available Mon-Fri, 3-5pm. Black Prince Trust Community Food Hub, 5 Beaufoy Walk, off Black Prince Road, Lambeth London SE11 6AA. Email Phoebe or call: 07549 367039 for more information.
  • Thriving Communities Lambeth: A network of local people, projects, resources and organisations across the borough. These are designed to connect you to the opportunities in your neighbourhood and support better local health and wellbeing in the process.
  • Under 5s Dads and Influential Males (AIM) Stay & Play: Every Saturday, 10:00-12:00, starting 11th November during term time. At the Brockwell Children’s Centre (One O’clock Club), Brockwell Park, (next to the playground), SW2 2TA7
    – An opportunity to meet other local dads and share fatherhood experiences
    – Have fun learning through play
    – Find out and share what is going on locally
    Please call or email For more information call or email Angela Russell: unitymatterscic@gmail.com or 07508 074921, Jubilee Children’s Centre: bthcc@jubilee.lambeth.sch.uk or 020 8678 6530

Activities for families

PDF containing list of low cost or free family activities taking place in London over the weekend of the 2nd to 3rd December. Updated regularly