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 and events:

Connected together

You might have heard about Oval Learning at your schools, come and find out how we, and others in Lambeth, can support you. The ‘Connected together for children and young people in North Lambeth‘ event takes place at The Foundry, SE11, on December 4th 2024.

  • 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.
  • First5Lambeth: Free activities and support for pregnant parents and families with children under 5 to give children the best start.
  • London Events
  • Love the game: Join Girls United for free football sessions for girls in South London. Have fun, make friends and feel empowered.
  • Love Lambeth: News from Lambeth council.
  • Naturevibezzz: A charity which offers free family focused activity programmes of Forest School, environmental education and practical nature conservation, running sessions at various sites across Lambeth. The ambition of Nature Vibezzz is to facilitate residents’ engagement with, and education around, the conservation, protection and improvement of our local environment.
  • 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: a registered charity dedicated to empowering those with learning disabilities, autism, and mental health needs and provides a range of programmes and activities for families and carers as well as a cafe at the Black Prince Community Hub, SE11.
  • Southwark: Activities for children and young people
  • Unity Matters, Fathers And Influential Males (FAIM) Under 5’s Stay & Play:
    Come along to connect with other father figures, share experiences and talk about parenthood! Discussions can be around changing dynamics in relationships, looking after yourself, managing stress, tiredness, parenting expectations vs reality. Free afternoon snacks are available.

    • Saturday morning (term time only)
      Brockwell One O Clock Club, Arlingford Road, London, SW2 2TA
      This is a great opportunity to meet other local dads, share fatherhood experiences and have fun learning through play. There’s also lots of opportunities to find out and share what is going on locally.  
    • Monday afternoon
      Dads hub at Jubilee Children Centre. Tulse Hill. London SW2 2JE, 2-4pm
      This is a safe space for all dads, father figures and their family.

    Contact information

Activities for families

PDF containing list of low cost or free family activities taking place in London between the 17th - 23rd March

Click to open the latest PDF