Family Information Service
Family Information Directory
Our Family Information Directory is a fantastic resource for both parents and professionals. You can easily search for childcare providers, children’s activities, local events and family days out. There’s also details of various support groups for parents and support and services for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Searches can be filtered by various categories, including type of service or activity, location, child’s age and more.
Visit the Family Information Directory website
Local Offer
Dorset’s Local Offer is the one-stop place for parents, carers and professionals to go for information on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Our Local Offer can help to explain how children and young people are supported in Dorset and signposts to further help, activities and services available.
We post important news and updates for parents, as well as local events, activities and plenty of fun stuff. Like our page to share our posts and help encourage parents to follow us too.
Parent newsletter/ SEND newsletter
Our monthly newsletter has all the latest news and updates for Dorset families. We include articles about a range of subjects, including health and wellbeing, reminders for important deadlines such as applying for school places, information on childcare funding schemes, activities for school holidays and much more.
Visit the Family Information Service website here.
Childcare funding (focus on TFC)
Our website gives a clear overview of funding schemes available for parents to help them with the costs of childcare. Tax-free Childcare can be useful for working parents with school aged children, as it can be used to pay childcare costs for 0 to 15 year olds. The scheme can be used to help pay for a range of childcare options, including holiday, after-school and breakfast clubs.