We are always looking for good practice, and Maria one of the members of Golfhill Primary Parent Council in Glasgow told us what they did for parents with children starting Primary school. We think it’s a lovely idea and couldn’t wait till August to share it with you!
The first day at school is always difficult. We know that a lot of parents have a little tear in their eye as their child goes off for the first day at big school. Golfhill Parent Council understand this and wanted to do something to make that first day easier as well as welcoming the parents into the school family. They created “welcome packs” for each of the parents with a child starting school, all created with love and care. The packs included:
The pack also included some practical information about the Parent Council and a volunteer sign-up sheet so that parents knew they could get involved in the school. The pack caused a few tears but also showed parents that they were welcomed by both the school and the Parent Council.
Parents who are new to Scotland are unlikely to know what a Parent Council is and we believe that it is vital parents get this information as soon as their child starts school. Getting involved in the transition to school and making themselves known to all the parents on the first day of school helps Parent Councils build relations with new parents and ensures that they can be a voice for all the parents in the school.
In April 2014 we had an article in Children in Scotland, giving a little history of the project and some of the things we’ve learnt from working with Ethnic minority parents and the work we’ve been doing to support EM parents and parent councils.
As part of our work to support ethnic and cultural minority parents to become more involved in their child’s education and the school community we will be holding sessions for parents in ABERDEEN at the end of October.
We have two sessions booked for Parents and one for Parent Councils, have a look below for details of the sessions.
Q Why do you think parental involvement is important?
Ahlam: It is important for parents to be involved in the school, to help the performance of the school – their voices will be heard and taken on board in order to make positive changes from which our children will benefit. The involvement of the parents in the school will increase not only parents’ confidence but also their children’s.
Q How did you first get involved in your parent council? (more…)
We’ve started delivering sessions with SPTC to parent councils exploring how they can engage with ALL their parents.
We delivered our first session in Aberdeen City at Seaton Primary. This was organised by Aberdeen City Council – thanks to Donna Cuthill and Tony Rafferty for putting everything together and supporting the project.
Here are some photos from our second Parent Council session in Falkirk- a big thank you to everyone who made it along, especially Megan Farr and Diane Cherry for all their help organising the session.