Family values key to success at primary school
IT goes without saying that good quality teaching is key to a successful education system.
But parents have an important role to play, too – just ask Brackla Primary School.
The Bridgend school has shown how family engagement can help drive up standards in literacy, numeracy and attendance.
It holds family workshops focusing on the teaching of reading and mental calculations – and has developed links with Bridgend College to offer free basic and advanced literacy and numeracy classes for parents.
Education watchdog Estyn said family engagement was now a fully embedded whole-school strategy and a ‘family forum’ had been established to give interested parties a say in the day-to-day running of Brackla Primary.
The school’s ‘Families at Brackla’ (F@B) scheme has helped break down barriers to learning and resulted in improved discussions between home and school.
Estyn said: “Leaders believe that effective communication with families is essential in order to build positive relationships.Staff use a wide range of tools to communicate with families, provide them with information, and recognise and celebrate the life and work of the school.
“These include weekly bulletins, F@B monthly newsletters, Twitter, The Life Channel, internal digital signage, external notice boards, school website, texts and emails.”
In a new case study published on Estyn’s website, the inspectorate said Brackla’s part-time family engagement officer (FEO) had helped parents support and improve their children’s learning.
Of the targeted families, Estyn said 82.3% of pupils had increased their attendance levels.
It added: “Family engagement at Brackla Primary is now a fully embedded whole-school strategy with nearly all stakeholders understanding and supporting our school vision very effectively. This has led to improved standards across the school.”
Brackla, which has 309 pupils on roll, was rated ‘good’ for both current performance and prospects for improvement following a June inspection.