Parent Engagement

Engaging Parents and Capturing Success

Supporting parents and carers to engage in their child’s learning is an important part of providing a rounded education for children. This Child File develops your thinking around parent engagement, and through the reflection at the end, it helps you to consider your current practice in this area and how you could do it better.

Thorney Close Primary, Sunderland: Engaging parents and carers

Context

Thorney Close primary school has 263 pupils on roll, with a higher than average proportion of pupils on SEN Support (16%) and also those eligible for FSM in the last six years (46%). It was rated good at its last Ofsted inspection in 2018.

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      string(4067) "Thorney Close Primary, Sunderland: Engaging parents and carersContextThorney Close primary school has 263 pupils on roll, with a higher than average proportion of pupils on SEN Support (16%) and also those eligible for FSM in the last six years (46%).  It was rated good at its last Ofsted inspection in 2018.Two target groups of 11 pupils were identified within Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Of these pupils, 73% were entitled to Pupil Premium and 32% were on SEN Support. The need to engage parents in supporting their children’s learning was a key factor. The school already worked hard to get parents to attend events such as summer parties or school productions, but when the focus was on learning, they were less successful. A core of parents did not turn up for parents’ evenings. ApproachThe school introduced structured conversations through their work with Achievement for All. The school focused the meetings on how well the child was doing and what the parents’ hopes were for their children. They identified a need for greater flexibility in offering times for appointments. A personal invitation from the class teacher was followed by phone calls, and catching them in the playground to arrange an appointment that would suit the family. In one case, a teacher had to make five different appointments with the parents before eventually succeeding in getting them there. The longer meeting time of at least twenty minutes meant that parents and carers felt their viewpoint was valued. It became clear that children needed more support to understand what they had to do to move forward in their learning.  Parents and carers were involved in short-term targets, and the school developed a visual tool using RAG ratings to demonstrate measures such as attendance, punctuality and progress by subject to show how much progress their child was making. Although parents and carers valued their child’s happiness and confidence, academic attainment was a low priority. The SLT decided to raise the profile of attainment and launched the ‘We Are Proud’ celebration. Using iPads, teachers captured the successes of each child, what they could do now that they couldn’t do before, from reading to running, and brought it together as a film. The children worked together to design a personal invitation to every parent, and other family members were encouraged to attend. Parents received a text, a phone call and a mention on the Thorney Close App (designed by the school as a communication tool via mobile technology) and in the school newsletter, The Thorney Times. The film was shown with popcorn and drinks, and parents, teachers and children talked together about their progress.ImpactParental engagement increased from 58% to 92% across three terms for the KS1 group and from 64% to 100% for the KS2 group; over 90% of parents and carers attended the We Are Proud celebration. The children are growing in confidence and some of the initiatives are used with other pupils across the school. Many teachers have adopted the ‘celebration’ initiative, capturing successes in photos on the walls of the classrooms and in home-school reports. (Source: Achievement for All) Implementing it in your classroom/ school Be flexible in meeting times for parents and carers. It is vital to work with them to agree on times.Parents and carers need help in understanding education terminology—present information in a format they can engage with.Develop and build on successful ways to communicate with parents and carers—in a way with which you are also familiar.Take time to reflect on improved practice and celebrate it with the school community.Reflect on practiceHow do you currently engage/ involve parents and carers in their child’s learning?How could you better engage parents and carers in their child’s learning?"
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Special Needs

Engaging Parents and Capturing Success

8 May 2019

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      string(5717) "Equality of opportunity starts with education. This means that no matter where one starts from, their ability to succeed is defined by their merit rather than their social status. As the leader of Kingsford Community School, a co-educational inner city Local Authority comprehensive, catering for 1500 pupils aged eleven to sixteen in Newham, an area of high social and economic deprivation, with high levels of linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity, the issue of access and inclusion is an ever-present concern, challenge and obligatory duty to be addressed. Engagement with the Achievement for All, ‘Achieving Schools’ programme has made an important contribution to facilitating improved life chances and social mobility for my pupils, as well as ensuring positive engagement with the education process, for the young people entrusted to the teaching, guidance and leadership of our staff team. 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Executive Leadership

Raising aspirations through empowerment and leadership

4 Dec 2018

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      string(5689) "‘In the short term, this work will undoubtedly give students a realitycheck of the pitfalls of crime, while also giving students an appreciation of whypartnership working is so important – and to see how that works in a practical way.‘In the long term, we are developing and nurturing a generation who will becomeuseful contributors to our society in the future.’Opening young minds to the possibilitiesThe aim of the project is to encourage children to see that education and training canand should continue after school, and to show them the appropriate training routes totake post-16. To that end, a key part of the programme involves Wakefield College as atraining provider, giving sample experiences in a cross-section of skills-based courses.The course starts at the college, with the presentation of a ‘vision’ – what we aimto achieve during the project. Children are then presented with their uniform whichmakes them unique in becoming ‘Wakefield College Cadets’.Parents and carers attend Wakefield College in support of their children at thebeginning of the course and thereafter, attend with them every other visit. In their firstsession, children and their parents are given a tour of the college and experience a newpurpose-built inclusive building and what can be offered. All children are able to accesstaster sessions at Wakefield College in the vocational areas of construction, mechanics,bricklaying, hair and beauty, and catering. In addition, there are two further sessions insporting activities.This essentially inspires children, giving them an insight into what college maybe like, and the courses that are available to them. Throughout the time that is spentat college during the course, a record of achievement is created and the importanceof further education is promoted. 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A key factor has been the parental engagement where parents haveattended various sessions of the programme in support of their children and have alsocontributed to class sessions.Think Family and Wakefield District HousingFollowing this success, partners Think Family and Wakefield District Housing (WDH),who both initially offered a small amount of funding in June 2013 as a pilot interest,have decided to support the continuation of the CHOICE project, contributing a moresubstantial sum and allowing us to begin to select the next cohort of cadets from atarget group of Think Family and WDH families.Think Family and WDH match their families with the schools which confirm thatthe correct children and their families are targeted. A Common Assessment Framework(CAF) is completed for all families involved which highlight any social aspects requiringsupport. 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Leadership

Tackling NEETs in primary school - An update

13 Nov 2014

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      string(356) "Schools need more than a good wi-fi connection and ICT lab to ensure students have opportunities to thrive and compete in today’s digital economy. Anna Doody and Ann-Marie Whelan report on a new initiative in Scotland that is helping schools maximise their digital potential and develop a whole-school digital framework to support innovation in learning."
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      string(5654) "staff to access the resources and infrastructure available and appropriate levels of support through CLPL in digital learning and teaching to ensure they are able to include technology at their level within their teaching and learning.’Digital technologies are used across all subject areas to enhance teaching and learning, from physical education using annotated filming to give feedback on performance to modern languages recording examples of pronunciation videos.According to Auld, a top priority for the school is to develop the ability of students to create, evaluate, analyse and apply at all times in their education. ‘Our main focus is on closing the attainment gap’, he adds. ‘And feedback is the biggest contributor to improving attainment.’Teachers can now provide students with detailed feedback on progress and next steps quickly and easily at any point during and after lessons when required. ‘Tracking pupil work remotely allows students the opportunity to have ownership of their learning’, says Auld. ‘Staff are able to facilitate more variety in learning experiences and ultimately enhance pupil experience.’ The teacher’s role has remained much the same, however. ‘They engage, inspire and motivate all students. But within their classes they now have the benefit of being able to engage students in a number of new, exciting and different ways through technology.’Auld says the teachers at Larbert have been exceptionally motivated and dedicated to providing all students with the best possible learning experiences and opportunities through the use of digital learning environments. ‘The culture shift within Larbert High School has been a process that has been evolving over the last number of years to ensure we are preparing all students who leave with the skills, qualities, knowledge and experiences to be successful in the future world.’Creatively improving technology in the classroomThe Digital Awards team has seen a lot of tech innovation appearing in schools, which they are happy to be supporting. In many schools the traditional ICT Suite has been replaced by a central Hub (usually the school calls it a STEM Hub but others have different names) which enable pupils to access a range of technologies, including programmable devices and greenscreens, as well as laptop and desktop computers. This enables cross-curricular working with the STEM topics and a focus on these subjects as opposed to just technology itself.Many schools have had great success engaging parents through digital technology through some creative approaches. These include drop-in digital sessions run by the pupils themselves where parents can come and learn alongside their children. Others offer ‘Brekkie and Bytes’ sessions where parents can have a breakfast roll and find out more about the digital technologies in the school. This is also an excellent way of ensuring that parents are also educated in eSafety for their children as well.Other schools have moved away from the staff being responsible for the teaching of technology and Digital Leaders/Champions, pupils who have been given this role, teach classes and in some cases run Professional Development sessions for the staff. In these schools the pupils get an excellent learning experience through their peers and the staff become more confident in their own ability with the support of the young teachers. In a couple of schools the pupils have visited the local university and taught the student teachers how to use technology effectively when they are out on their placements.Finally, some schools use technology to reach out to the community and they visit residential homes for the elderly and show them new technologies while the residents can share their own stories of the ‘olden days’. This initiative is just so inspiring and is working to develop the pupils’ confidence and digital citizenship.Other examples of innovative practices implemented by Digital Awards schools include: Connecting the learning of British Sign Language to technology via a green screen, where they have created videos that they share via online media and use social media to connect with the local deaf community.Creating films in iMovie about their community which they have then been able to share with the public on an open evening. Using QR codes to guide younger pupils to specific games/activities without the need to type in URLs.QR Codes used in Treasure Hunts around the school.Use of HP Reveal to help at transition for pupils moving from primary to secondary school.Use of Spy Quest for collaborative working – one pupil had their Quest added nationally to the provision of existing missions.Using a green screen to create a video that appeared to show that a dinosaur had been in their Primary 1 classroom that morning for part of a dinosaur introductory lesson.Although nearly 1 in 4 schools were involved with the Digital Awards scheme this year, we are looking forward to a much expanded level of participation in the upcoming year. In addition to supporting schools with improving their digital framework, it’s a great way of recognising the value of the creative practices of teachers and the impact it is having on student learning. The validation visit that is part of the award process seeks opportunities to affirm and articulate the good work that teachers do and to act as a catalyst for innovation by sharing examples of excellence they have seen elsewhere. Schools that have been involved have felt that their participation in the program was valuable"
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Digital Learning

Encouraging Excellence with Digital Schools Awards

6 Nov 2018