Parents seeking help with a variety of problems will soon have access to a Bradford-wide directory of groups.

Children's charity the NSPCC is funding the Parentaid scheme, which will offer primary school teachers points of contact for groups which can help families with all sorts of queries.

Jenny Lanigan, liaison teacher at Farnham Primary School, has been seconded to spend half a day a week at the city's NSPCC offices, compiling a pack of contacts.

She said parents of primary school children often turned to schools for help with problems they encountered, not only on education matters. They had often built up a relationship with teachers and went to the school each day, so trusted staff to help.

"There's evidence that school is almost as popular as the GP for parents to go to with enquiries. But schools often don't know where to refer parents to. This document will be a point of referral," she said.

And Ms Lanigan, who has been a teacher for 25 years, appealed for groups to contact her with details of services which might be of help to families.

"Anybody who has found somewhere useful or who works somewhere who knows they're a valuable service, please get in touch. It can be anything from a national helpline to a small local group. This will be an authority-wide resource."

Pilot projects for the Parentaid scheme were set up in Dudley in the West Midlands, and in Northamptonshire. They were developed by the national Community Education Development Centre.

In Dudley, a survey showed that the directory had been used 61 times in ten primary schools, with family problems, bereavement and domestic violence topping the list of reasons for using it to find the right contacts.

As soon as the directory is complete, it will be piloted in two schools in the Newlands area as well as two other schools in the city.

Anyone who would like to pass on details of a group can contact Jenny Lanigan at the NSPCC's Bradford office on Tuesday mornings on (01274) 769800, or write to her there at NSPCC office, Horton House, 117 Little Horton Lane, Bradford 5.

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