Teach Secondary 13.5

teachwire.net/secondary A s defined in The Children Act 1989,‘parental responsibility’ is “All the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property.” The role performed by parents or carers, and how this intersects with the work carried out in schools, is a key factor in securing better educational outcomes and positive results when it comes to attendance, behaviour, homework and child welfare. Consistent and effective communication between between the two is therefore essential. If a parent or carer is bombarding you with emails that require excessive time and energy to manage, the situation is best dealt with by replying to the email while copying in your line manager or SLT (albeit after confirming this approach with the senior colleagues in question). Honesty and transparency As many educators and school leaders will know, however, it tends to be the opposite issue – reticent and uncommunicative parents – that’s more common and harder to address. When parents and carers initially apply for school places they will be highly enthusiastic and forthcoming in their communications with school and make themselves readily available. After the child starts, however, this effective two-way communication can easily break down over time. How can we tell when this might have happened? Most schools will require parents and carers to sign home/ school agreements at the start of the year which clearly set out what the school requires of them. Over the course of the coming years, the school will communicate with families over various matters relating to the pupil, and expect honesty and transparency from parents in return – but things aren’t always that straightforward in practice. For one thing, schools are required to keep records of students’ parents’ names and assigned emergency contacts – but these relationships can and do sometimes change at any moment. Consider school attendance. If a student is absent, the school will contact home and expect a response within the hour – be it via a voice message or email. The child may be unwell – or it may be that the parents need to be updated on a specific safeguarding or behaviour concern. Cases falling within the latter category are plainly more urgent and will require a faster response. Consistent communications The most obvious way of discerning that home/school communications and levels of trust have broken down is when parents/carers fail to return calls or reply to email. You can tell that things have become serious when you find yourself sending lengthy emails and using bold type, capitals and exclamationmarks. The emails in questionmay well quote polices, contain reminders of DfE guidance or even clarification of the law, sometimes accompanied by details of formal complaints or interventions by governors. Staff should be able to readily recognise any signs of resistance, avoidance, and communication breakdown on the part of home. The school should already be committed to partnership working with families, which may mean that gentle reminders will have already been raised at weekly staff meetings, in departmental meetings or at parents’ evening. Training staff in how to recognise and manage such situations will help to maintain a consistent approach across the school. We must always remain respectful and be non- judgemental when communicating with families, as we may well need to take into account various external factors, such as the cost of living crisis, family stress, mental health complications, issues of substance misuse, parental trauma and more besides. “Wemust always remain respectful andbenon- judgemental when communicatingwith families” Is there anybody OUT THERE? Ann Marie Christian looks at the steps staff should take if communications between school and home aren’t where they should be... 40