PEN has developed exciting new parental engagement strategies and resources as part of a national research project. The PEN project is one of six projects funded as part of a £1m parental engagement fund from the Sutton Trust and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
The fund complements the work of the Education Endowment Foundation and aims to develop evidence on approaches that can be scaled up and inform best practice for the sector. Oxford University have led the evaluation of the randomised control trial.
As part of the project, PEN has trained school staff from 58 schools including Newall Green Primary’s nursery to work more effectively with parents to help them support their children’s learning. The project is looking at how high quality resources and support from school staff can help parents to improve children’s outcomes.
Parents can help children develop a range of skills from helping to establish sleep routines and develop their language when children first start school, to enjoying helping them to learn maths and phonics skills through creative and fun activities. The project also enables parents to build relationships with staff and each other.
Speaking to PEN, Mrs Sarah Rudd, Headteacher reported, “I have been very impressed by the uptake and the very positive outcomes from the project. This is exactly what we need – practical fun ways to engage parents in learning”.
More about the project and research can be found here: http://www.penetwork.co.uk/sutton-trust/