Advice, support and courses for parents with 5 to 10 year olds

Advice and support

Montessori parenting support workshops (aged 2 months to 12 years)

Montessori offer 1 to 1 home parenting support for families with children aged 2 months to 12 years.

Email: rochelle@icandoitmontessori.co.uk for more information.

Parent Talk: Support for parents (aged 0 to 19)

Parent Talk website offers articles and support on various parenting issues. There is online 1 to 1 text support Monday to Friday (no bank holidays).

Email: parenttalk@actionforchildren.org.uk for more information.

Parenting Smart (Place2Be) 

Parenting Smart help parents with typical situations they can find themselves in with their children. Advice can be found on over 40 topics including: 

• understanding sibling rivalry  
• my child is lying, what does it mean, what should I do? 
• my child has trouble going to sleep 
• my child says: ‘I hate you!’ 
• cultural identity: who am I? 

Support for you, care for the family

Support for you, care for the family offers online courses and meet ups with other parents.

Sleep Tight

Sleep tight is a pre recorded video workshop for parents of 5 to 10 year olds. It aims to help you:

• understand common childhood bedtime struggles
• learn how sleep can be disrupted
• build a positive bedtime routine
• encourage good sleep habits

Transition from primary to secondary school

Moving from primary to secondary school can sometimes feel very scary.  This transition video assists parents with helping their children make this transition.

Courses

Parent Champions

Parent Champions are parent volunteers who give a few hours a week to talk to other parents about the local services available to families.

The Parent Champions model is delivered by parents for parents, with the support of Barnet Local Authority, children’s centre, school, or other local organisations. 

Parent Champions are given full training and support to help them to help others access existing services in the community. 

If you are interested in becoming a Parent Champion, we would love to hear from you. 

Please contact by email:  EYPH@Barnet.gov.uk 

Family Links (ages 2 to 16)

This 10-week parenting course helps parents reflect on the experience they had as a child, of being parented and how this affects their parenting now. The focus is on looking after self and understanding their own and their child’s emotional needs, and to help build good communication within the family. Areas covered: praise, rewards and penalties, family rules, discipline, behaviour management, choices and consequences, understanding and managing feelings, nurturing ourselves, child development, problem solving and negotiation.

For further information please contact your local Early Help Hub

• East/Central Hub telephone: 020 8359 3460
• West Hub telephone: 020 8359 3510
• South Hub telephone: 020 8359 3590

To access these groups, you can complete a Universal Plus referral form

Solihull Approach: Understanding your child (0 to 19) 

This is a universal parenting intervention that aims to improve emotional health and wellbeing by supporting family relationships.  It helps parents to recognise emotions in themselves and in their children, helping parents to understand how emotions can affect behaviour. Parents identify personal goals and the strategies that will help them meet and reflect on their child’s behaviour and their relationship with their child. 

For further information please contact your local Early Help Hub 

• East/Central Hub telephone: 020 8359 3460
• West Hub telephone: 020 8359 3510
• South Hub telephone: 020 8359 3590

Resilience tutoring for parents

Resilience tutoring for parents is a course that offers a comprehensive ‘instruction manual’ which explains how we work as humans and as parents.

This course explains why we think, feel and behave the way we do. It also reveals where we can find more wellbeing and resilience for ourselves and our families.

Suitable for parents of all ages, with children of all ages.

Parent can refer themselves or be referred by Children’s Social care.

This course is an online self-study programme lasting approximately 10 hours.

Cost £120 per parent but we can work help to enable some parents to sign up free of charge, or very low cost.

Empowering Parent Empowering Communities (EPEC) (ages 4 to 11)

This 8-week parenting course is led by parents who have completed an accredited EPEC training and receive ongoing training, supervision and support from parenting specialists.  Courses run throughout the year in easily accessible locations across Barnet, such as schools and Childrens Centre. 

EPEC groups are highly interactive, involving an engaging and creative blend of small and large group discussion, role play, demonstrations, information sharing and reflection. Parents practice and use new skills in everyday life to achieve specific goals. 

Our parent group leaders receive ongoing supervision and support from parenting specialists and have fulfilled DBS and other mandatory requirements. 

If you would like to attend an EPEC course or train as a parent group leader, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us on:  EYPH@Barnet.gov.uk

Incredible Years (ages 2.5 to 10)

The focus of this 12-weekparenting programme is building up a pyramid of support with a strong emphasis on play and interaction with children, encouraging and supporting children’s development and understanding children’s needs. Strategies covered to support parents/carers and their children in managing behaviours: positive attention, praise, appropriate ignoring, clear communication, rewards, incentives, emotional regulation, limit setting, natural and logical consequences, problem solving and time out.

For further information please contact your local Early Help Hub

• East/Central Hub - 020 8359 3460
• West Hub - 020 8359 3510
• South Hub - 020 8359 3590

To access these groups, you can complete a Universal Plus referral form

Belifted mother and daughter group (aged 7 to 16)

Belifted is a mother and daughter group held at Saracens high school providing help on many subjects including: 

• healthy relationships and spotting unhealthy relationships
• nutrition and fitness
• spotting domestic violence and abuse

Resilience tutoring for parents

Resilience tutoring for parents is a course that offers a comprehensive ‘instruction manual’ which explains how we work as humans and as parents.

This course explains why we think, feel and behave the way we do. It also reveals where we can find more wellbeing and resilience for ourselves and our families.

Suitable for parents of all ages, with children of all ages.

Parent can refer themselves or be referred by Children’s Social care.

This course is an online self-study programme lasting approximately 10 hours.

Cost £120 per parent but we can work help to enable some parents to sign up free of charge, or very low cost.

Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) - Reducing Parental Conflict

• Would you like to reduce the arguments and disagreements in your family and cope better with stress?
• Would you like to enhance your relationship with your current partner, or improve communication with your ex or the other people helping to raise your children?

These online and in-person courses to develop better family relationship and reduce parental conflict are based on the Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities approach and draw on years of expertise of working with parents.

SFSC have two online courses available, one exploring relationship where you live in the same house as a co-parent (that could be two biological parents or it could include another key adult who helps bring up children like a grandparents or step parent); and a second where co-parents live apart in different homes but still share children.  These courses are free of charge currently

Enrolment Information

Specialist support

Against Violence and Abuse (AVA) Group Programmes for women and children: (ages 4 to 11)

We offer separate groups for children and mothers who have experienced domestic abuse. 

AVA Women’s Support Group Programme: 

An 8-week parenting course which will promote safer relationships, raise self-esteem, increase understanding of conflict and children’s needs. Course covers different forms of abuse – e.g., emotional, psychological; safety planning; the dynamics of relationships; loss and grieving; the effects of domestic violence on children, the different feelings children experience and how to support them with this e.g. managing anger. Parenting techniques are covered in the context of when children have lived with abuse. A crèche is available.

AVA Children's Group Programme:

12-week therapeutic groups for children aged 4 to 6, and 7 to 11. Children are able to express their feelings and tell their story, through play. Confidence building, safety planning and giving children a space to meet other children and talk are offered through engaging activities and stories. Parents will stay on site for the duration of the group.

For further information please contact your local Early Help Hub

• East/Central Hub - 020 8359 3460
• West Hub - 020 8359 3510
• South Hub - 020 8359 3590

To access the groups you can complete a Universal Plus referral form

Domestic abuse, recovering together

Domestic abuse, recovering together offer mothers and children aged 7 to 14 a weekly 2 hour group session for 10 weeks.

Support for adopters Coram

Coram help adoptive families and people with a special guardianship order (SGO) to find best support.

Email: adoptionsupportgateway@coram.org.uk for more information.

The Adopter Hub

The Adopter Hub is an online community of information and support for adopters, special guardians, foster carers and the professionals who work with them.

Email: team@mgeu.theadopterhub.org for more information.

National Autistic Society parenting programmes

National Autistic Society offer advice and guidance on strategies and approaches to working with young autistic children.

The programmes work on:

• understanding autism
• building confidence to encourage interaction and communication
• understanding and supporting behaviour

Cygnets parent or carer autism training programme (aged 6 to 19)

Autism Advisory Team provide a 6 week training course called Cygnets. It gives parents or carers an opportunity to meet each other and share their experiences.

The course covers:

• an overview of autism
• communication
• sensory needs
• understanding behaviour

Barnet Mencap parenting programmes

Barnet Mencap provide a range of parenting programmes and workshops for parents of children who have additional needs.

These range from specific sessions on applying for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Blue Badges to more general 'time to talk' sessions around topics such as ADHD.

Sessions usually take place online using Zoom.

Norwood Charity

Norwood are a team of practitioners and a family of services designed specifically to support vulnerable children and families, and children with special educational needs.  They offer a range of parenting programmes, courses, and services.

Parenting children with mental health issues

Partnering is about you and how you can change your behaviour to help you, your child and your family make sense of this new and extraordinary time.