Meet you at the 'virtual' school gate

  

Meet you at the ‘Virtual School Gate’ 

The school gate has traditionally been an important meeting point where gossip, myths and some facts are exchanged. But what if you can’t make it to this important rendezvous?

Netmums, the UK’s leading parenting website, has launched the first virtual school gate, the ‘Parents’ School Network’ in conjunction with DadTalk and supported by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). It has an individual forum for every secondary school in the UK, giving six million parents access to their child’s school in an open and interactive environment.
 
The new initiative comes as a result of concerns voiced by Netmums’ members about the difficulties that they currently face in discussing and sharing information with other parents at their child’s school. It is also hoped this initiative will help parents engage better with secondary schools.

The Parents’ School Network, was described by the Education White Paper ‘Your child, your schools, our future’, and the aim is to promote the networks in three pilot areas: Southwark, Hillingdon and North Hertfordshire to see to what extent they catch on and are helpful. An external evaluation will determine whether this promotional work would be rolled out to other areas.

The aim is that each school will have its own community of parents who are able to keep in touch online, providing individuals with a personal support network. The sorts of topics already being discussed are school meals, extra-curricular activities and sharing of advice on bullying.

It is hoped that schools will support the project as it provides a great way for them to engage with parents. It will enable them to understand some of the concerns and issues facing parents as well as potentially helping them to identify areas where there are information gaps. Schools can be relieved of having to answer small queries as parents sort out minor questions amongst themselves. In addition, they can benefit from having a receptive audience when they wish to promote parent support or learning initiatives. 

The network can be used not only by teachers but also by other support roles working in schools. For example, a Catering Manager responsible for school food in 10 schools in Lowestoft, Suffolk, has joined to say she’s available if anyone has questions about school meals in that area. This type of engagement is exactly what the network is about and should help both parents and schools.

Of course, there has been understandable concern that networks might be hijacked by irate parents who want to air their views on individual teachers. Netmums is upfront in explaining that this would be unacceptable and all posts that are added to the boards are moderated to ensure standards are adhered to. With nine years of experience in building and moderating positive local communities, this should be a natural extension of the already mutually supportive environment. 

Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children’s Schools and Families comments: “I'm very pleased that we are funding Netmums to run this project in partnership with DadTalk. We need to find innovative ways of involving parents in schools, particularly in secondary schools.  I like to think of it as a  'virtual school gate' - where parents can chat to each other on line, find out what is happening in the schools and pass on useful information to each other. Netmums are in touch with thousands of parents who use the web for their main source of support and information which is why we have asked them to pilot this work for us.”

Sally Russell, co-founder of Netmums continues, “The Parents’ Schools Network has the potential to provide a vital means of communication for parents and secondary schools. Our hope is that it will become a hub for every secondary school in the UK to create a dialogue between the school and parents, and also to ensure that parents themselves are engaged in providing support for each other about schooling in the same way that thousands are already doing on a more general level in the Netmums Coffeehouse forums.”

Netmums is the UK’s biggest online parenting organisation with a million users each month. It is distinct because it works around local communities and is made up of 150 local sites. This enables each site to be tailored to local services and information – sections include What’s on Events and a Local Noticeboard. The School Network is featured on every site and lists all the secondary schools in that local area.

Interested in joining the Netmums’ School Network? Simply go to www.netmums.com and log into your local site - from there you can find the relevant school under the “Older child & school” section.   

Lucy Chahil
School Network Co-ordinator, Netmums
www.netmums.com