Families gathered at Westwood Junior School as part of activities taking place across the country to encourage family learning.

The Halloween Family learning festival at Westwood Junior School saw parents, siblings and grandparents join pupils for a host of fun including pumpkin carving, mocktail making, It’s a Knockout events, clay crafts, film making, ipads and orienteering.

The free event was made possible due to sponsorship from the Family Learning trust of £700, Open Chest of £500, Sainsburys pumpkins for carving, Tesco with a £10 voucher and QV Foods with jacket potatoes for lunch.

The Family Learning Festival is an annual awareness campaign organised by the Campaign for Learning (CfL) since 1998.

It aims to show the importance of families and friends in forming our attitudes towards learning for life.

Family learning can lead to powerful benefits for both children and their parents, says the campaign, with children’s educational outcomes strongly influenced by parental involvement in their learning.

“Parents and carers are often motivated to learn as a result of being involved in family learning activities. This relaxed and non-threatening ethos is particularly effective at encouraging parents and carers who may not normally take part in learning activities to have a go,” said a CfL spokesman.

Each year, thousands of organisations take part putting on fun and informal learning activities where people can enjoy something different including schools, galleries, museums, community centres, religious venues, theatres, shopping centres and parks.