I am a trainee head teacher and would like to know what makes a school good or bad at communicating with parents and getting parents involved in the wider school community

[HastingsJo]

HI I'm an experienced Primary teacher and am undertaking the NPQH - head teacher qualification. As part of my learning I'm looking at what, for parents, makes schools good or bad and communicating and building a relationship with parents. I want to make my school, when I become a head have the best relationship with parents as possible to enable to maximise their child's learning. If you have any experiences or thoughts you'd like to share I'd really appreciate it - I've also put together a 5 minute survey which I'd be really grateful if you have time to complete. Many Thanks
Jo
www.surveymonkey.com/s/parentschoolcommssurvey

My dd was only at primary school for one term, so my suggestions may not be as valuable as others'. However...

Communication was brilliant. Weekly newsletters emailed out, which were also on the school website and were archived there so we had access to old ones. A copy was also posted in the area where parents were hanging around waiting to pick kids up.

Don't forget, however, that Mumsnet parents are very likely to have good access to the internet, which may not apply to all of the parents at your school. And as someone else pointed out here, plastering notices around the school only helps the parents who pick their own children up.

Yes, school often think they have communicated stuff by putting it up at the school gates or in the classroom window - they haven't. If you don't pick or drop your kids off you don't see any of that stuff........

Please give at least 2 weeks notice of needing to provide food for parties dress up etc. Remember that not all working parents work regular hours so saying well we gave you notice before the weekend means Tut if you the parent who does all the organising are on call all weekend so can't even get to the open all night supermarket.

My DS's school is fantastic at communication.

They send letters home regularly + the Friday newsletter + operate a very good text service from the school office which updates and reminds you of everything from 'Year 6 bring in your PE kits tomorrow' to 'Parents evening next Friday - put it in your diaries'. Always get very good notice of key dates and then reminderd, which are much appreciated for us busy working mums.

Teaching staff are also VERY good at getting back to parents via phone or email promptly.

The HT really sets the tone, though. She has a genuine open door policy and is a very visible presence in the school - she knows everyone by name, is at every event big or small, and always talking to parents and children. A fabulous lady.

dressing up days - who actually derives any pleasure or educational benefit from this? nightmare, and the children are hyper all day

reports - I know they are all cleverly computerised, but I would much rather have 'DS score 23; average score 37 - this is because DS has not mastered the past tense of etre' than reams and reams of bumf about what they have done

end of term - I do understand that a certain relaxation at the end of term is inevitable, but two weeks of watching videos is taking the piss

yyyy to VISIBLE head teachers. I am sure that many of them hide in the office at the end of the day because they don't want to talk to parents, in case we actually want to SAY something to them. also very good for DC to see parents and head teacher talking together as a united front

playgrounds and playtime - nightmare for a lot of children. organised games, play leaders and football in only one area can help, but you know that bullying, being deliberately left out and loneliness are common then, and a reason why some children hate school, but like the lessons

endless requsts to support this or that charity - please don't! much better if you pick 3 charities to support all year and that is IT. countless leaflets about heart-tugging situations are a pain and tend to make me want to give less. a focussed 'This year we are supporting XY&Z and this is what we have done for them, much better received

please update the website DAILY with EVERYTHING. If there is a PTA member who can help with this, so much the better. they can tell you what parents need to know

My sons school sends e mails and text messages (which are optional obv)

Great way to communicate IMO

The other thing to remember is that playground-based communication may work well for infant school kids but as they get older, more of them may start walking to/from school on their own, so that their parents have even less of a reason for coming to the school.

We (as a Parent Council) do try to use other parents to get key messages around - but are conscious of the fact that the older kids' parents don't loiter in the playground (if they are there at all) in quite the same way.

We only run one major fund-raiser a year which is the Winter Fair. It is well established and there is a clear template about what to do. We run it very much in partnership with the school - all the teachers come in that Saturday and help, whether it is on the stands or counting the money or being one of Santa's elves. It costs 50p to come in (I think - 'cos I've always helped at it, I've never had to pay) and even locals who are non-parents will come along and pay. It makes about £2000, the bulk from the toy stall (a great chance to get rid of your kids old tat - but don't give them too much pocket money or they will just come back with more ) and the home baking stand (mince pies, fairy cakes, pakora, other indian snacks and mini spinah rolls). There is also a book stall, a tat bric-a-brac stall, an auction (for the bigger/better of the donated items). When the new head teacher started, she wisely didn't change anything.....

We have been fortunate to experience two good head teachers. The first one had been at the school for 25 years, ever since it opened (and it was her first headship!) and was awarded the OBE (having already, years earlier, been awarded the MBE) for her services to education. She was a hard act to follow but the new head has succeeded in doing so which is just as well as I was involved in recruiting her She perhaps isn't quite as good at the politics with the Education dept - or maybe the previous head was more impervious to it, like water off a duck's back.

The depute is also brilliant - in fact, she would have been a "shoo-in" if she had wanted to apply for the head teacher's job.

What they all have in common is an open door policy and a desire for a happy school. They instill that desire in all their teachers. The other thing the school is good at is "team teaching" (with a lot of EAL kids, we get extra resources) and making sure that we get the maximum from the resources we have. While we have had issues with a couple of ds' teachers, we have been happy to go down to the school to talk to them about them and if we still weren't happy, to then talk to the head or depute (who, we would find, were already trying to address those issues).

Don't ever ask parents to come into school to sign up for things on a 'list outside the classroom door' - eg: parents' evening appointments. What a total nightmare for working parents!!!

Don't expect any primary age child to deliver a message.

Don't let KS1 children put letters in their bookbags - make it a policy that they have to hand them to the person who collects them, after teacher has handed them the letters as they walk out of the door - the very last thing they carry. Then if a childminder collects, they can ask child to pop it in the bag and tell the parent when child is collected.

Make sure that it's crystal clear what arrangements are for everything you write a letter home for. I was SO fed up with ambiguous letters - you know what you mean - but I don't.

Head teacher being available at any time for "a chat". Just being seen around and polite conversation is all that is necessary. Dont mean jump on HT and expect to discuss my children.

Not to hide in the office and be unapproachable.

Good detailed newsletters that are informative.

Not have reward schemes that reward naughty children and ignore good well behaved children.

More notice for trips and demands for money. Expecting money, parent help etc., next day is not acceptable.

Communicate curriculum expectations/targets so that parents who want to know have access to information without being made to feel a nuisance.

Be clear about what the policy is for parents to talk to you. Whether you use appointment scheme, drop in centre, or whatever, make sure parents know what it is.

Be clear about discipline policies so that parents as well as children know them.

Make reports useful that tell their parents what their kids are good at and what they struggle with.

Ensure spellings and grammar are accurate in all communications from school.

Make sure all teachers follow same rules on discipline and that all children are treated the same.

Feedback from teachers and school books actually marked and mistakes corrected so that children realise that what they have done is actually wrong. If teachers dont mark the work, the children dont realise they have done something wrong.

Encourage good spelling and good grammar and dont assume that children will be relying on computers n the future

Iamseeingstars - absolutely brilliant! and the rewarding naughty children bit, love it.
Theres rewarding naughty children and rewarding bright children but not much in between really.
And i hate,hate, hate big projects to be done in the holidays and when the child takes them in they arn't marked, praised, put on show or anything

I will add my vote to the consider how you speak to the adults. I had to threaten the HO at my kids sschool with a complaint to chair of governors if she didnt modify her tone (and this was during a meeting where I was offering to help)

Dont assume because the parents is questioning you it has to do with them being against you some people will work differently to you and will need different facts to what you might want them to want

Be transparent dont try to hide anything

Ensure communcation home is polite I was NOT impressed to get a letter that went " you have not send in x form it has to be in by x date" no please no thank you and no if you have lost it/ not received it (as was the case for me) please go here"

Do not have 2-3-4 classes go on trips within the same month if you have 2+ children in school it gets insanely expensive (and consider a family discount if there is more than 2 children in the family)

In alignment with that yes its lovely to have nice things happen around christmas but remember it is also the time where most of us have lots of outgoings (one year we were asked for over "£200 in November and December from the school) the last request for £12.50 pr child for a theatre show was met with a no from me and a list of exactly how much we had supported the school witn in the last 6 weeks.

SMILE...

OH one more ensure that the "favoured" children are not all the TA kids and ensure that all kids gets a chance to put something into the newsletters.

The other thing that would really help is an introduction for parents as to what to expect at the start of each year and what is being covered in terms of topics each term.

Also, a parents evening on maths methods would be really helpful. None of us had any clue as to how maths was being taught as it has changed so much since we were at school

The head teacher at my kids school is also 'on duty' on the front steps every morning to welcome the kids and chat to parents!

I love our HT, she is innovative, strong minded always seems to be on the side of the children - not the parents or the staff. She is rarely in the playground but having come from a school where the HT was completely crap, micro-managed issues that really were so minor they could have been delegated to Year 6, she always managed to make it onto the playground though - not that her appearance had much of an impact and consequently I'm a bit surprised by the number of posters who think this is such an important point...I always thought she should be using her time more wisely to fix the school, rather than wandering around pretending to be in charge - I would call it a displacement activity as there was much real leadership needed. Mind you she talked a good deal and had some impressive ideas, she was very convincing on first meeting but her ability to follow through on an idea was severely lacking and she proved that over and over again, you're only as good as your word and when you promise the heavens and fail to deliver on any level, you will lose the faith of parents.

Ohh I think I might still be a tad bitter - it was an awful school and although the HT acknowledged the issues, she was completely ineffectual at dealing with them.

Also be equally pleasant to all teachers and parents - don't like to see a cliquey HT

Oh and another one. Be on-side with all children with additional needs - not just high profile ones. Have noticed our school have taught all the children sign language for one child, but seem to struggle with less obvious needs causing some people to leave as the school can't cope with dyslexia/aspergers.

Keep the management speak out of the newsletters. We don't need to hear about your three year plan moving forward to the next target, or the details of the political wranglings between school, education authority etc.

Just tell us what we have to do and why, as soon as possible in the year, preferably by email.

And no dressing up.

Please .

And have an anonymous suggestions box for parents who are too scared to rock the boat in case their child falls out of favour.

HastingsJo,

For separated parents, the main issue is ensuring that both are treated equally and kept informed. Despite clear guidelines from the DCSF, some schools are dreadful and only inform the "resident parent." Others are good. The excuses the bad ones come up with are pathetic.

Be visible!

My family moved schools about 18 months ago. The head teacher at the time was an acting head until a permanent head was appointed. One of the most striking things I noticed about the HT was how visible he was. In the morning and most afternoons he was present in the playgrounds talking to the children and the parents. Fantastic, made him approachable, accessible, and it felt like somehow he cared.

A new HT has since been appointed and I am not getting the same feeling .

One of my irritations as a working parent is staff communicating information too late for me to take time off. In professional jobs it is unlikely that parents will attend unless they have at least 2 weeks notice . There have been many occasions that I have wanted to attend concerts/ sports days/ trips or days where activities are open and have been unable to go due to short notice i.e. 3-4 days notice. I then hear teachers complaining about a lack of involvement and that it is always the same parents

So in answer to your post allowing plenty of time to communicate plans and request help. Most work shifts are planned on a monthly basis and many employers require 6 weeks notice of holiday. Bare this in mind

Good experiences of communication -

1/ Parents in Partnership books - small notebook in which parent and teachers can exchange important information about the children e.g. 'grandma collecting dd after school' or 'Your dd needs to practise her simple fractions'

Rather than TA's having to check all book bags each day a wipe clean board on the classroom door for parents to write down their child's name is useful.

2/ Book changing - Parents knowing the days that reading books get swapped leads to a lot less agro. Also the wipe clean board on the classroom door for parents to write down their child's name if they are ready for their books to get swapped is helpful.

3/ email / website newsletters

4/ Start of every term a letter / mindmap showing what topics are being covered that term.

5/ Teachers / HT in the playground at start / end of day.

6/ Parents being shown their children's work in the classroom by their child after school one day a half-term / term - if necessary make it clear that this time is just to look at the work and not to speak to teacher, and that if parents have a query they should make an appointment to see the teacher another time.

Bad examples of communication -

1/ Pointing out a child's problem for the first time in the end of year report - parents are a resource to help their children at the end of the year is too blooming late!

2/ Notes crumpled at the bottom of book bags.

3/ Not enough notice to parent before items need taking into school / payment for school trips etc.

Talking of partnership, we recently had a home-school agreement to return for reception intake ds.

In the light of the recent broken promises and general disregard for parental opinion I've refused to sign the blardy thing. It's currently next to my bed with a few tea cups sat on it, it makes a good mat.

That is the kind of relationship you don't want with your parents

Like

• A headteacher who actually appears to like children

• Someone who is not arrogant (our HT looks at parents like they are dirt)

• Someone who is willing to listen and who does not see parents as pests

• Deffo more notice for events , particularly inset days

• Breakdown of what areas the children will be covering at school.

• Deffo would like to see HT in playground( our HT does not do this.)

Address parents' concerns, rather than adopting a defensive attitude.