Extended Schools - schools, families & communities working together Julie Higson Extended Services Director of Parental Support & Family Learning

Child at the heart…

Today… To determine why we need to involve parents To investigate different types of parental involvement To identify potential strategies to engage parents in each type of involvement To be clear about the purpose & intended outcome of each strategy To gain support from colleagues To begin research into different successful programmes

Who is at your table? Work in pairs with someone you don’t know and share the following information: Who are you? What is your role? What has been your most pleasing success story to date in engaging parents? Introduce your partner to the whole group

Why involve parents? ParentsPractitionersChildren Work in pairs with someone on your table. One of you needs to record your discussion. What reasons have you identified?

Dr. Joyce Epstein – 6 types of involvement 1.Parenting: - parenting skills - backgrounds - culture 2.Communicating: - home school agreements - school reports - newsletters

Dr. Joyce Epstein – 6 types of involvement 3.Volunteering: - hearing readers - classroom support - skills - translation - office/admin - fairs/fundraising/social - mentoring 4. Learning at home: - curriculum links at home but not homework - homework - male/female role models - family literacy/numeracy

Dr. Joyce Epstein – 6 types of involvement 5.Decision making: - governance - school councils - committees 6.Collaborating with the community: - co-ordinating services with family needs

Coffee

Children & YP Outcome Framework “Living in a society which respects their rights” 1.Being Healthy 2.Enjoying, Learning and Achieving 3.Living in Safety and with Stability 4.Experiencing Economic and Environmental Well Being 5.Contributing Positively to Community and Society

Share… Family Learning ICT & Share

Share aims Raising children’s achievement & attainment Engaging with parents/carers to support their children’s learning & development Parents/carers who will reflect on their own learning needs A catalyst to help schools/settings manage the involvement of parents/carers in the life of their settings

Weighing up the odds? Potential Current

Weighing up the odds? Barriers Benefits

Lunch

5 Whys (Root Cause Analysis) : Parents’ bad experiences at school Parents low skilled - no benefit from learning Why? Stays up late Parents don’t think it matters Overtired Parents don’t enforce bed time Peers do not see the value in learning Siblings stay up late Pupils do not think it matters Parents don’t value school Parents can’t control children Poor parenting skills Long term indiscipline Parents don’t understand impact on child Pupils do not see the value in learning Poor parenting by own parents Parents don’t know what good looks like Pupils do not see the benefits Their parents don’t think it matters Siblings do not think it matters Siblings do not see the value in learning Why? Lack of role models Do not experience success – poor skills Root cause analysis can be undertaken to further establish the high priority blockers and enablers of success – in this case a child frequently arriving at school too tired to learn

Why aren’t parents involved? Root cause analysis: Parents are reluctant to become involved in their children’s learning Parents do not support their children’s learning Parents do not become involved in the life of the school Continue to ask ‘Why’ for approx 5 levels to reach some of the key ‘root causes’. Be bold and honest (many of you are parents) Feedback the key root causes by table/group

ThinkingFeeling SayingDoing

What can we do now? Potential solutions to the challenges Write your ideas for things you could do & that would make a difference on Post-Its We will record all potential solutions & share them.

What needs to change? We think we know some of the causes … So what are you [or whoever] going to do and by when? WhatWhoWhen Write your own action plan to include what you are going to do, with whom and by when Share with others on your table and see if anyone else has good ideas

Ten hints Talk to others! Consultation needs to be ongoing and widespread, students, staff and community all need to have a say Don’t do it on your own! Gain support from senior leaders. Enable others to become active partners in the programme Build it in don’t bolt it on! Link your objectives to other plans i.e. SDP, school, partnerships/cluster development plans … with thanks to Youth Sports Trust Know why you are providing it! Be sure about what you are trying to achieve and that this is in the best interests of the young person, the school and the community Make sure there is something for everyone! Provide a quality programme that is accessible to, and provides opportunities for ALL (including staff and governors)

Ten hints Ensure you know you are making a difference! Evaluate your outcomes in terms of individuals and the whole school and monitor the quality of delivery Value the staff! Make sure staff are appropriately recruited, rewarded, and supported Actively involve young people! - with planning and reviewing, helping out in delivering, writing articles for newsletters etc. Find ways of giving them ownership … with thanks to Youth Sports Trust Celebrate success! Recognise and reward contributions made by pupils, staff and other leaders Shout it from the tree tops! Make sure the wider community is aware of the success of your whole programme, via newsletters, posters, media coverage etc

Feedback on the event Even better if What went well

Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. Stories of Winnie-The-Pooh, AA Milne 1989 With thanks to

Extended Schools - schools, families & communities working together Julie Higson Extended Services Director of Parental Support & Family Learning