Free parenting courses

The Family Support Service offers a variety of parenting programmes to give you the confidence to parent your child in a way that meets their needs and reduces stress and arguments at home.

Different courses specialise in different things like:

• an age group or life stage (like starting school or becoming a teenager)
• a topic (like nutrition and communication)
• children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND)

All courses run in a confidential, supportive and non-judgmental environment. They are also evidence-based which means they have been shown to work.

The people running the courses are trained to teach them and are experienced Family Support Workers. This gives them lots of knowledge of Family Support.

Incredible Years is a 12 to 14-week programme catering for Pre-school ages (3 to 5) and school ages (4 to 11).

Litter Talkers is a 5 to 6-week programme for parents of children between 18 months and 3 years who are concerned around their talking and understanding of language. It’s designed by Buckinghamshire Speech and Language Therapy service and is a fun and relaxed session for you to attend with your child where you can learn useful ways to encourage your child’s talking and listening skills.

Stepping Stones Triple P is a 9-week programme for parents of children with disabilities and covers all ages.

The STOP programme is a 10-week step-by-step course for parents with pre-teen or teenagers aged 10 to 16-year-olds.

Talking Teens is a 4-week programme which focuses on relationships within the family, communication, negotiating, decision-making and strategies to reduce conflict.

Register online for parenting courses and include which course or courses you would like to attend.

If you’re interested in a course but can’t see one that suits you yet, you can still complete the form to be added to our ‘Register of Interest’. This helps us plan our future courses in areas of demand.

If you have any questions or need help in registering email: [email protected] or call 01296 383 293.

The Parenting Together Support Programme can help you if you feel that stress and conflict in your relationship is affecting your family.

The programme offers parents support to suit their circumstances to address conflict within their relationship, as well as strengthening parenting skills to bring up their children. Support takes the form of one-to-one or group sessions.

This programme is funded and managed by the Department of Work and Pensions and is coordinated by Hertfordshire County Council on behalf of Buckinghamshire Council and other participating local authorities.

To get involved in the Parenting Together Support Programme speak to your family worker, keyworker, or enquire online.

Search for other parenting support and courses

Local schools, churches, teachers and groups also run parenting support programmes in Buckinghamshire. You'll also find online courses by the likes of Netmums and Family Links.