Family Hubs, Your Child and You

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October 2023

Welcome to our October half term edition of Family Hubs, your child and you. In this edition you’ll find the latest news from Family Hubs and an introduction to Food etc, a volunteer run organisation who can help families learn skills to prepare healthy meals from scratch and on a budget. Find out more below.

Family Hubs launch day

FH launch 2We celebrated a successful launch at the Queens Park Family Hub in September. It was a fantastic day with face painting, balloon modelling, a bouncy castle, fruit skewer making and other fun activities for the children.

Most importantly, we were joined by nearly 200 families who had the chance to chat to over 20 local services and organisations who help provide children with the best possible start to life.
Find out more

Local Needs Assessment

Needs assessmentWe have completed a family needs assessment is to build a shared understanding of local families’ needs, to support the development of Family Hubs in Bedford Borough.

This assessment is part of a continuing processes to draw on the experiences of parents and carers to build a picture of need and improve access to support.
Read our findings here

Parent Partners

FamilyIt is our ambition to create Family Hubs in Bedford where parents, carers and families can access information and support throughout their parenting journey. The best people to help us achieve this is you.

If you are interested in becoming a parent partner or would like more information, please complete the short form by clicking the button below.
Join us!
Food etc. delivers a variety of cookery workshops to groups across Bedford. Much of our work is in schools teaching parents and children how to cook cheap, healthy and tasty meals together.  Sometimes it’s alternatives to takeaways, sometimes it’s veggie-based cooking and occasionally it’s sweet treats. However, it’s always better and less expensive than shop bought and much more fun to prepare and eat together!

If you belong to a group that would like us to organise some cookery workshops for you or if you could volunteer 2-3 hours per week to help us bring our services to more people, even if it’s just for a few weeks we would love to hear from you.

 Family Cooking - Food Etc.
Tell me more!

The Big Ambition

The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has launched The Big Ambition, a national survey of children and young people across England.

The Big Ambition aims to hear from children across England on what they think is important! Make sure that the Government hears young people’s voices on what they think needs to be done to make children’s lives better in England.

The Big Ambition survey will be open until Friday 15th December.

 Big Ambition
Share your views!

What’s on for families…
Bug portrait The Higgins are hosting fun activities with creepy crawlies, spooky beasties and creatures of the night over half term. 1 hour workshops aimed at 5 to 12 year olds.
Libraries - Spooktacular stories Local Libraries have all sorts of spooky fun for families this half term with free crafts and Spooktacular Story Times. Also don’t forget to come along and try our Halloween Treasure hunt!
Yoga Young Minds Yoga every Wednesday 4pm at Robinson Pools and fitness for young people aged 15-19. Sessions are designed to be inclusive and relaxing, to destress the mind.
ECP autumn ECP children’s centres will are running their Autumn term timetable with lots of sessions for under 5s.
Autumn 50 things to do before you’re 11 3/4 in the Autumn– Ideas for free fun outdoor activities to do with your children from the National Trust.
50 things 50 things to do before you’re 5 – A menu of fun, free activities to do with your young children locally to help them learn and grow.
PCF logo Bedford Parent Carer Forum are hosting a range of events this term for parents and carers with children with special educational needs or disabilities.
The Place Bedford logo The Place, Bedford have productions and workshops running throughout November for a range of age groups.
Fun 4 YP image Fun 4 Young People offer a range of free or low cost after school and holiday clubs for children in years 1 to 11.
Big recycling hunt Big Recycling Hunt fun activities to complete together during recycling week on the 16th-22nd October.

Bedford Borough Family Hubs

Queens Park Family Hub

Marlborough Road, Bedford, MK40 4LE

Pine Cones Family Hub

Slade Walk, Bedford, MK41 7SA
Opening hours: 8:30am – 4:30pm Monday to Friday

Telephone ECP Children’s Centres: 0300 323 0245

Telephone Family Information Service: 0800 023 2057 (24 hour answerphone service)

Email: Familyhubs@bedford.gov.uk