Engaging parents

Contents

  1. Building relationships with parents
  2. Information and guidance for parents
  3. Letters to parents
  4. Parental consent and responsibility
  5. PTAs and events for families
  6. Pupil reports and parents' evenings
  7. Resolving issues with parents
  • Engaging parents with EAL: strategies
    Use our practical strategies to engage effectively with parents who have English as an additional language (EAL). Help them become a part of the school community and provide support for them and their children.
  • EYFS: home visits
    Find advice around conducting home visits in the EYFS, as well as examples of policies from other schools.
  • Get your community on board with your approach to anti-racism
    Not all school communities will be eager to talk about racism and racial justice. Find out how you can encourage resistant members of your community to engage with any anti-racism work you’re doing.
  • How to review your school uniform policy
    Follow these steps to make sure your uniform policy is in line with the DfE's statutory guidance on uniform costs. Use our cost ready-reckoner, policy audit and consultation guidance to help you develop a policy that works for your school and provides value for money.
  • School uniform
    Use our resources to help you comply with the new statutory guidance on school uniform and make sure you're securing best value for money for parents.
  • Statutory guidance on the cost of school uniform
    Be clear what the DfE's statutory guidance on the cost of school uniform means for your school and what you need to do to comply.
  • Absence, attendance and punctuality: template letters to parents
    Use our template letters to help you address attendance issues such as unauthorised absence and poor punctuality. See examples of letters from primary and secondary schools, and find out how to adapt your letters for pupils with special educational needs (SEN).
  • Allergy awareness: involving your community
    Get everyone on board with your approach to keeping pupils with allergies safe in school. Find letters, a factsheet and resources aimed at building support and cooperation among pupils, parents and staff.
  • Behaviour incidents: letters to parents
    Use our template letters to communicate behaviour incidents with parents. See examples of letters from schools, and find out how to adapt your letters for pupils with SEN.
  • Organising a school event: what to consider
    Be confident you've got everything covered so your event runs smoothly. Get up to speed with how to keep on top of health and safety, what you can charge for, any insurance or licences needed, and data protection issues around photos and videos.
  • Parent forum: guidance and templates
    Get advice on how to run a parent forum. Understand how you can use them to engage with your wider school community and how to get parents involved. Find everything you need to get set up, including a model terms of reference and a template agenda.
  • Parents on school trips: guidance and templates
    Get tips on how best to support parent volunteers on school trips. Download our template letter to recruit volunteers, as well as a pack of resources to help make sure parents feel fully confident on the trip.
  • 5 tips to reduce your pupil report workload
    See examples of time-saving report-writing strategies from other schools, with advice on how to streamline and improve your reporting processes to parents and carers.
  • EYFS: how to report to parents
    All early years providers must report to parents at age 2 and at the end of the EYFS. Find out what you need to include in these reports and use our templates - based on the 2021 EYFS framework - to help you write them.
  • Free your teachers from report-writing frenzy: a case study
    Hazelbury Primary School has replaced traditional end-of-year reports with pupil-authored learning journals. Teachers have better work-life balance, the headteacher saves over 400 hours a year and parents get all the information they need. Here's how you could achieve this too.