Interesting Times!

Thursday, 11 September 2008

I spend lunchtime today at the Civic Hall with a group of parents who had been through our INVEST programme...

The INVEST programme is the volunteering programme developed by Jane Haswell in our Families and Schools Together Team. I was there to present certificates to a group of parents who had completed the volunteering course my colleague Jane has developed and which now can be accredited through the Open College Network. The event started with a DVD showing the impact this programme is having across Leeds with What have you done today to make you feel proud as the musical background.... and this event made me deeply proud to be part of the team here at Education Leeds.

The parenting programmes in Leeds are brilliant and reaching groups of mums and dads who missed out on qualifications and courses at school and it is wonderful to see and celebrate their successses. This event celebrated the achievements of parents, mums, at five great Leeds primary schools and a wonderful Children's Centre:

Cottingley Primary School;
Five Lanes Primary School;
Harehills Primary School
Hovingham Primary School;
Raynville Primary School;
Hawksworth Wood Children's Centre.

These programmes are changing lives and clearly having an extra-ordinary impact in some of our most diverse communities. Chris Bennett, Val Cain and the FAST team are doing a brilliant job. I hope that we will have some photos later.

Chris

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Thanks for attending the celebration yesterday Chris. I know in my speech yesterday I mentioned that some of the ladies there yesterday were receiving their first qualification since leaving school and also the lady from OCN echoed that in her talk. In your blog you have also mentioned this,
I would like to redress the balance a bit by pointing out that many of the parents who attend INVEST, including attendees yesterday, are in fact graduates and that the course is inclusive and there really is something in it for everyone.; 12 September 2008 at 12:57
Anonymous said...: Just a quick note to say thankyou so much to Jane Haswell for all her hard work she puts into the Invest programme. I am one of the mums who did the Volunteering in schools programme and was at the celebration last Thursday.
Jane has been so supportive and a wonderful teacher and I was very proud to stand up and give a speech about my experiences of doing the programme. Through her, not only have I learnt a lot about how volunteers fit into school life but also I have learnt that I can be brave and stand up infront of people and talk!!!! thanks for the support Jane, the hug was very much appreciated!!
I am now looking forward to going into the classroom to start volunteering and also will be looking to do more courses in the future.

yours Deborah Priestley; 16 September 2008 at 18:51

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“I must accept life unconditionally. Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition.”
Margaret Lee Runbeck

“Happiness is not in our circumstances but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are.”
John B. Sheerin

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William L Shirer

“The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase: If you pursue happiness you'll never find it.”
C.P. Snow

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Charles R. Wiers

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Paul Tournier

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Francis C. Kelley

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Sydney Smith

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Charles R. Swindoll

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Turkish proverb

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William Faulkner

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Eric Hoffer

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John Lennon

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Robert F. Kennedy

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Mahatma Gandhi

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Abraham Lincoln

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Martin Luther King Jr.

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Norman Vincent Peale

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Albert Einstein

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Anonymous

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John Quincy Adams

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Ralph Waldo Emerson