Frequently Asked Questions

Building partnerships

i Dec 22nd No Comments by

One of the brilliant things that’s come out of Gathered Together’s work has been the opportunity to build relations with groups. In Falkirk we ran training for community champions (http://gatheredtogether.bemis.org.uk/?p=330) which Megan Farr from Falkirk Council was also able to attend. This helps to build links between the council and one of the groups our community champion Sofia was running. From that meeting they are now working together to start going out to school to visit primary school classes to speak about Islam.

We have also been able to help some of the community groups we are working with to get the support to develop as organisations as well as apply for the Multi-Cultural Homecoming fund http://bemis.org.uk/project/multicultural-homecoming-2014/. It is great to be able to help groups like the International Women’s group and Rainbow Muslim Women’s group to do more and build relations.

In our videos we’ve also been able to showcase and celebrate good practice- there are so many schools and Parent Councils who do a wonderful job and have developed a real ethos of working with families. We’ve tried to make sure we promote good practice as widely as possible so that they get the recognition they deserve.

And finally through our steering group we’ve been able to open up opportunities to work with Skills Development Scotland to promote their website for parents http://www.myworldofwork.co.uk/section/parents-and-carers to parents from ethnic minorities, help communication between local authorities on how to engage parents and start conversations on how the diverse members of the group can work together.

We’ve got lots of partnership work planned for the new year, including with Education Scotland and Bilingualism Matters- these are exciting times!

Meet our Central Belt Community Champions

i Sep 16th No Comments by

We ran our second Community Champion training session in Falkirk at the end of August.  This session was marked by having participants from a couple of different local authority areas (Stirling and Falkirk) who brought their interesting experiences with them, as well as their different perspectives on being an ethnic and cultural minority parent in Scotland.

In addition to this, we were lucky enough to have Megan Farr from Falkirk education department attending too to hear the experiences of delegates.  Gathered Together promotes that the results of its sessions are passed on to Local Authorities, but in this case, it was self-evident.  The experience appeared to be useful for both the delegates and for the council, so this was great for all of those attending.

We are really excited to continue to work with our Community Champions – hopefully you’ll be hearing from them on our blog as they share their experiences as parents.

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Calling Community Champions in Falkirk

i Jul 21st No Comments by

After our incredibly successful first training in Edinburgh we have decided to keep the momentum going and start gathering champions all across our pilot areas. This next training will be in Falkirk and we encourage all those in the Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire who are interested to come along!

We need passionate and dedicated parents from diverse backgrounds who are actively involved in their community to volunteer with Gathered Together.Champions through the support being offered will empower ethnic minority parents to be more confident to get involved in their child’s education and school community.

Champions will gather evidence of parent’s experiences, share stories of parental involvement and be our link to the grassroots communities through the work they are already a part of and be able to engage with other local community groups and schools. They will gain skills to further their personal and professional development but most importantly have the opportunity to make a genuine difference.

Through the support being offered the volunteer will empower ethnic minority parents to be more confident to get involved in their child’s education and school community. 

Gathered Together are running training sessions for individuals interested in becoming Community Champions. Lunch will be provided and we can help with travel costs. Our second session has been booked for:

28th August at 11.00am

CSREC, Community Education Centre, Park Street, Falkirk, FK1 1REX

If you are interested in coming along, or if you have questions about the role or training in other areas then please contact Richard, our Training and Development Officer at Gathered Together who will be more than happy to speak to you  on 0131 474 6154 or email him at richard.bloodworth@bemis.org.uk.

Calling Community Champions in Falkirk

i Jul 17th No Comments by

Come along to Training for Community Champions

After our incredibly successful first training in Edinburgh we have decided to keep the momentum going and start gathering champions all across our pilot areas. This next training will be in Falkirk and we encourage all those in the Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire who are interested to come along!

We need passionate and dedicated parents from diverse backgrounds who are actively involved in their community to volunteer with Gathered Together.Champions through the support being offered will empower ethnic minority parents to be more confident to get involved in their child’s education and school community.

Champions will gather evidence of parent’s experiences, share stories of parental involvement and be our link to the grassroots communities through the work they are already a part of and be able to engage with other local community groups and schools. They will gain skills to further their personal and professional development but most importantly have the opportunity to make a genuine difference.

Through the support being offered the volunteer will empower ethnic minority parents to be more confident to get involved in their child’s education and school community. 

Gathered Together are running training sessions for individuals interested in becoming Community Champions. Lunch will be provided and we can help with travel costs. Our second session has been booked for:

28th August at 11.00am

CSREC, Community Education Centre, Park Street, Falkirk, FK1 1REX

If you are interested in coming along, or if you have questions about the role or training in other areas then please contact Richard, our Training and Development Officer at Gathered Together who will be more than happy to speak to you  on 0131 474 6154 or email him.

Successful First Community Champion Training

i Jul 16th No Comments by

We had a great day with Shazia, Vivienne, Kouser and Zainab a few weeks ago. Can’t wait to share more of the great work we are doing in Fife and Aberdeen City.  Gathered Together are really lucky to have such an exciting group of people working with us!

Community Champions will be a positive force in their communities promoting why Parental Involvement is so important for your children. They will bring Gathered Together closer to you so we can help ALL parents have a voice. 

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