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By Gareth D Morewood Director of Curriculum Support, Priestnall School 15 th May 2012

Effective communication strategies and techniques to engage parents and successfully benchmark their satisfaction. By Gareth D Morewood Director of Curriculum Support, Priestnall School 15 th May 2012. What’s going to happen?.

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By Gareth D Morewood Director of Curriculum Support, Priestnall School 15 th May 2012

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  1. Effective communication strategies and techniques to engage parents and successfully benchmark their satisfaction By Gareth D Morewood Director of Curriculum Support, Priestnall School 15th May 2012

  2. What’s going to happen? • Give you a context where including young people with SEND has recorded some success (OFSTED, 2004, 2008 & 2011) • Highlight some of the barriers to inclusion and engagement that need to be challenged • Offer some ideas on how to communicate with parents/carers effectively and benchmark their satisfaction

  3. Does Every Child STILL Matter? • Being Healthy • Staying Safe • Enjoying and Achieving • Making a Positive Contribution • Economic Wellbeing

  4. Time to think... ‘The state should only wish for children what a wise parent would wish for their child.’ R.H.Tawney Is that always the case?

  5. ‘You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back.’ William D. Tammeus

  6. The Lamb Inquiry – key themes • Greater focus on outcomes • A stronger voice for parents • A more strategic local approach • A more accountable system • National Framework Have we moved on???

  7. The Lamb Inquiry – challenges • Low expectations • Poor outcomes • Parents search for ‘someone who understands my child’s needs’ Are these addressed in your schools???

  8. An increased focus on outcomes... • School leadership • Achievement for All • Pupil and parent guarantees • Early access to multi-agency teams • Development of skills and expertise • Teaching Assistants • teacher skills: advanced and specialist • children’s workforce • Tackling bullying and exclusions

  9. A better understanding of challenges... • Statutorily required information not published – website ? • Inaccessible information – language/type of information ? • Poor communication – at all levels – in school and out ? • Not enough listening to parents – when do you ask for opinion ? • Support doesn’t reach enough parents – how do we know information is received ?

  10. With challenges also come misunderstandings... • ‘Parents left policing the system’ [Lamb] • Lack of understanding • Misinformation • Vague provision and unmeasured outcomes • Unrealistic expectation [from both parents and schools]

  11. So, how to measure and benchmark satisfaction? • Parent View http://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/ • Parent/Carer Evenings – ‘what works well’ & ‘what could we do better’ postcards... • Questionnaires – more to follow...

  12. LPPA www.lppa.co.uk • Leading Parent Partnership Award • A structure to support parental engagement?

  13. Questionnaires... • Simple ones – see delegate pack (and on website) • Remember to consider you parents/carers • Paper and post? • VLE? • E-mail/on-line survey? • Postcard? • Meeting?

  14. Keep positive information flowing... • Positive texts – www.teachers2parents.co.uk • Positive postcards - www.vistaprint.co.uk • Letters... • ‘Phone calls... • E-mails... • Remember parent/carer judgements can stem from lack of information and/or understanding – why not help?

  15. Parental Confidence Paper • Understanding parental confidence in an inclusive high school: a pilot study (Morewood, G. D. & Bond, C., 2012) in press • To be published in Support for Learning journal as part of special SENCo edition

  16. Key findings... (no surprises here!) • Keep parents/carers informed • Make sure they know who to contact and how • Provide honest communication – no long-term benefit in providing anything but the truth • Listen to parents/carers – give them time • Try to avoid uncertainty/misinterpretation

  17. Benchmark/evidence – all the way... • We are now very much in a model of evidence and benchmarking... • New inspection criteria has strong emphasis on parent/carer satisfaction... • Consider what you can do... • Gather evidence and plan as a result... • Be ‘canny’ – demonstrate progress...

  18. So, in short... • Engage parents/carers... • Act on the outcomes... • Provide opportunities to talk & listen... • Be clear, honest and open... • Our evidence shows that even ‘bad news’ delivered openly is better than nothing...!

  19. Don’t forget it is a partnership... ‘Parents often talk about the younger generation as if they didn't have anything to do with it.’  Haim Ginott ‘Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy.’ Robert A. Heinlein

  20. Finally... ‘Parenthood is the passing of a baton, followed by a lifelong disagreement as to who dropped it.’  Robert Brault Just don’t be the one blamed for the drop!! Gather evidence and engage positively!!

  21. Thanks for listening... Gareth D Morewood Director of Curriculum Support [SENCo] Priestnall School, Stockport www.gdmorewood.com

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