children

New Art School, for aspiring young artists, moves into the old Coffee Pot, 1st floor in the Guildhall Shopping Centre. Meraki Art School is a brand-new creative initiative that opened its doors on 18th September 2021 with the launch of its two Saturday classes for young people aged 5-16, Meraki Create and Meraki Inspire. After just 10 weeks of running classes at Exeter Community Centre, Meraki Art school has moved into Exeter Guildhall shopping Centre, holding the first of its classes there on 20th November. Due to the popularity of the classes, they have extended their provision to run an...

Families in Devon on low-incomes, whose children receive free school meals, will get extra support this Christmas to help them buy food during the holidays.

Over the past Devon County Council has provided supermarket vouchers worth £15 per child per week of the school holidays to families who qualify for free school meals, so their children don’t go hungry.

We’re doubling that for Christmas, with an extra one-off £30 supermarket voucher, so families will receive a £60 voucher per child for the two-weeks to help with the additional financial pressure the festive period...

The UK’s leading nursery brand, Mamas & Papas, is set to open a concession in NEXT at The Exebridge Centre later this week, bringing its range of travel systems, nursery furniture and children’s clothing to new and expectant parents in Exeter.

Mamas & Papas will celebrate the arrival of the 1,650 sq ft concession on Thursday 14th October by offering free goodie bags to the first 50 customers.

As well as offering a carefully curated range of products, the concession will provide in-store services such as personal shopping appointments, car seat consultations and...

Hobbycraft has launched a series of Paint Your Own Ceramic workshops for kids of all ages and painting abilities.

The workshop will be led by one of Hobbycraft’s in-store craft experts, with all money going to its charity partner, Together for Short Lives. The charity helps every child and family living with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition get the very best care and support they can, so they can make the most of every moment together.

The 30-minute workshops are available in Hobbycraft stores across the UK between Monday 11th October and Sunday 31st October...

RUGBY is back with a bang in England after months of frustration caused by the Covid pandemic, meaning it was an opportunity for junior festivals to take centre stage this weekend as the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup returned at Exeter Chiefs.

Crediton Rugby Club hosted an exciting Under-11 and Under-12 grassroots developmental festival on Sunday as youngsters finally got the opportunity to lace up their boots again, with a myriad of teams from the West Country and surrounding areas locking horns.

This successful series of nationwide events, now running for nearly two...

Devon’s health visiting teams will be handing out free magnetic notepads carrying safety advice this September to help families ensure that young children and toddlers are kept safe in the home.

The notepads feature key safety advice and will serve as a helpful reminder to thousands of busy families.

The notepads are part of the ‘Take Action Today, Put Them Away’ campaign to help protect children from the risks of everyday household cleaning products.

In Devon accidental poisonings accounted for 185 emergency admissions for 0 – four-year-olds between 2016/17-...

Arrests of children by Devon and Cornwall Police have been reduced by 75 per cent over the last decade, figures reveal today (Monday 23 August) in another major step forward for a successful Howard League for Penal Reform campaign. Since 2010, the Howard League has been working with police forces across England and Wales to reduce child arrests, helping to ensure that hundreds of thousands of boys and girls do not have their lives blighted by a criminal record. Data provided by police forces show that arrests of children aged 17 and under were reduced by 13 per cent last year – from 72,...

A Devon mumpreneur has just launched a multi-purpose play sofa after being inspired by her children -and it’s already attracting rave reviews.

Emily Roffe-Silvester, who lives in Mid-Devon, created the Sofee play sofa after watching her two young children trying to build a rocket while they were confined to the house during the pandemic. She said: ‘My children love building dens and forts out of cushions and sofas and it was seeing their frustration at not being able to build something sturdy enough to hold shape that made me realise we needed a play sofa. I wanted to create...

The Donkey Sanctuary Sidmouth will host East Devon’s new travelling creative space – the Creative Cabin on Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 August, offering visitors free hands-on activities and the chance to learn all about one of the UK's rarest bats - the grey long-eared-bat.

Activities at the 'Completely Batty' event include making flying bat models and bat masks, as well as putting together wildflower ‘seed bombs’, to create wildflower gardens at home.

Visitors will also be able to join a Bat Discovery trail around the sanctuary with the charity’s Ecology and Conservation...