A FAMILY learning scheme organised by three primary schools has been praised as a shining example of how such a group should be run.

The accolades were for the programme's organisers at St Helen Auckland, Close House and Woodhouse Close primay schools, Bishop Auckland, by Education Extra, a charity responsible for funding such schemes.

The praise came as a survey by PFP Publishing, which produces a school and parental resource called Learning Together, showed 70 per cent of primary headteachers want to know how to set up family learning and homework clubs.

Education Extra singled out the Bishop Auckland project, which is run at the Durham Management Development Centre, as "a wonderful example of partnership between schools and other organisations - Positive Parenting, Durham LEA, South Durham NHS Trust and social services".

The Department for Education and Employment is focusing on family learning, and Education Minister Estelle Morris recently said teachers were "most effective if they work with partners, especially parents"