Family Learning

Castletown Primary School has been working in close partnership with Sunderland Foundation of Light to deliver an engaging and impactful family learning programme. This collaboration has created valuable opportunities for pupils and their families to learn together, build confidence, and strengthen relationships both at home and within the school community.

Feedback from families was overwhelmingly positive. Many parents and carers highlighted how much they enjoyed the sessions, particularly the opportunity to spend meaningful time learning alongside their children. The relaxed and supportive environment helped participants feel at ease, encouraged active involvement and open discussion.  Parents also appreciated the opportunity to meet others in similar situations, share experiences, and exchange ideas. Working alongside other parents helped to build a sense of community and mutual support

The partnership between Castletown Primary School and the Sunderland Foundation of Light has demonstrated the powerful impact of family learning. By involving parents directly in education, the programme has enhanced children’s learning experiences while empowering families with new skills and confidence.

Castletown Primary School looks forward to continuing this successful collaboration, building on the strong foundations already established and further supporting families to thrive together.

Summer Term 2026 - Future Makers (careers)

This programme is a new, engaging 10-week project-based programme, funded by the Premier League, designed for adults and children to explore the world of work. It promotes at-home conversations about careers, uses technology to introduce different industries, raises awareness of local and national job markets, and shows how hobbies and interests can influence young people’s future pathways. 

Spring Term 2026 - Cooking around the world

Our parents and children enjoyed learning to cook recipes from around the world over a period of eight weeks.   This included Jamaican jerk chicken, Polish Pierogi Dumplings and Phillippine Chicken Abodo. 

Autumn Term 2025 - Christmas Cooking on a Budget

This was an opportunity for our families to discover how to prepare tasty, budget-friendly festive meals.  Great fun was had by all, and there were some fantastic Christmas themed meals cooked.

Summer Term 2025 – Healthy Cooking

Following the huge success of the first family learning sessions with the foundation of light, many of our families were delighted to sign up for the healthy cooking sessions.

This course offered our family learners the opportunity to cook alongside their child/children in school, and learn some healthy and budget friendly recipes which they were able to recreate at home.  These sessions also enabled our families to take part in Jamie Oliver’s Largest Cooking Lesson World Record at the Beacon of Light, joining 10,515 people across the globe in making pasta and a no-cook tomato sauce.  An amazing experience to be part of setting a new world record!

Spring Term 2025 – Family Wellbeing

These sessions focussed on the mental health and wellbeing of families.  Parents and carers were invited to work together initially discussing their own mental health, followed by sessions working collaboratively with their children.  The families took part in physical and fun activities with their children, and explored ways of improving wellbeing for the whole family.

These sessions culminated in a day of celebration at the Stadium of Light, where the adults and children enjoyed fun activities on the football pitch before the Sunderland game started.