Parent Engagement

I read a thought-provoking article in the Times Educational Supplement over the weekend giving me cause to reflect. The following poor examples are apparently common: 1 Having reception areas that are unwelcoming and without comfortable seating. 2 Keeping parents in the dark about what their child will be learning in the week ahead. 3 Making it hard to arrange an appointment to see a teacher. 4 Not answering emails and voicemails promptly. 5 Class teachers offering a child-sized seat to a parent during a meeting but taking an adult one themselves. 6 Giving children impossible homework or deadlines and leaving parents to cope. 7 Using edu-babble and jargon. 8 Organising the PTA so that all it really does is fundraising. 9 Failing to offer parents genuine opportunities to make constructive suggestions. 10 Not acknowledging constructive feedback. I am sure that all schools get many of these wrong and we will be no exception! I will be publicising a date for the first parent engagement evening of the year this week and I must ensure that: • We have comfortable adult seats • We avoid jargon • We give time for feedback I will talk to my leadership team this week about how we can look into other improvements; I am particularly interested in no 2.