Building relationships and keeping in touch
Wallace High School in Stirling and The Rainbow Family Centre in Inverclyde have experience of building relationships and trust through face to face engagement.
Reaching out to communities
Wallace High School, Stirling
Early on in the Scottish Attainment Challenge programme Wallace High School in Stirling employed two Family Link Workers. That number has risen now to three and Head Teacher Scott Pennock describes why this was key:
“This was a really important investment, because they reach out into the community and they are building a lot of trust and relationships with the families of the people who do not attend at all. They were a bridging provision where there was zero or almost no attendance.”
More recently the Family Link Workers have been running other programmes, including one-stop-shop parental advice sessions in communities. Meeting parents in their community is seen as an important step towards helping a wider group of parents to be more part of a school life.
While Scott thinks that it’s going to take time and perseverance to fully see the benefits of this work, already the school is starting to see positive impact.
“We are getting information on the barriers to school, and barriers to trying to connect with school, and getting trust with the school. What parents talked about, which is quite powerful, was their experience of school which was often being ‘in trouble’. So the first response to any phone call is that it’s going to be negative.”
The school is now working to turn around those parental perceptions and build a dialogue with parents.
Building relationships
Rainbow Family Centre, Inverclyde
Catherine McIntyre, Family Support Worker at the Rainbow Family Centre, Inverclyde is clear that treating families with dignity and respect and forming a relationship with them is vital.
“Relationships are paramount, if you’ve not got that, you know, you’ll not get that trust and confidence from the parents. If you’ve not got the relationship right you’re not going to get anywhere. In my role and in every other role in this nursery.”
The confidence this gives families means they know there’s an open door. Many families feel that they can approach the centre with anything. Pre pandemic Catherine met families through the parent and child sessions she ran, which had to evolve for several months. If it’s not been possible to meet families face to face, the nursery makes calls to families to keep in touch.
“Just recently, because we can’t have parents' night, the nursery has kept in touch over the phone, to let parents know how their children are doing."
"My contact is mainly targeted. So sometimes the playroom staff might tell me ‘wee George hasn’t been in for three days and we’ve not heard from Mum’. You know I would just give a wee quick call and ask the Mum how she is and how things are. Just that wee tie in just to make sure that they’re ok and they know that we’re here.”
Other ideas you might like
Talking about Costs and Money at School offers lots more ideas about how schools can communicate really well with families - all ideas come directly from parents and carers.