Parental involvement strategy

North Ayrshire Council recognises Parents, Carers and families are the most important influences in a child’s life. Parental involvement and engagement in early learning and school influences a pupil’s achievement and wellbeing. The Scottish Government has set out a vision for parental involvement and engagement in the Learning Together National Action Plan. The Action plan takes account of national and international evidence that the involvement and engagement of parents in their children’s development and learning are key to raising attainment and achievement.

At a local level, parental involvement and engagement in early learning and school has great importance within the delivery of North Ayrshire’s Children Services Plan and the Council Plan Delivery Plan priority which focuses on ensuring children and young people experience the best start in life in North Ayrshire.

This Parental Involvement Framework has been informed by the ‘Learning Together Action Plan’ and the Education Service’s parental surveys 2017 and 2018 with a clear focus on realising local and national priorities. North Ayrshire Council is committed to improving the quality of parental involvement and engagement throughout all stages of their child’s development and to overcome barriers preventing families from engaging with their child’s school.

• All parents and families will be warmly welcomed within our schools. They will be encouraged to play an important role within the school community.
• Parents will be supported and encouraged to become actively engaged in their child’s learning and development, both in school and at home, providing consistency of approach to enable our young people to achieve.
• Schools will be supported to promote Family Learning opportunities within all Early Years Centres, Primary and Secondary schools. The Family Learning teams will work with schools to increase family learning opportunities, taking into the needs of the families and their communities.
• North Ayrshire Council is committed to enhancing existing partnerships with parents and families and establishing clear routes of communication. This will allow schools to maintain an ongoing dialogue with families about their children’s learning, report on progress being made and together reflect on how well the school is doing.

• Local Outcome Improvement Plan
• Education Service's Operational Plan
• Parental Involvement and Engagement Strategy

• Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014
• National improvement Framework
• Learning Together Action Plan

North Ayrshire Council aim to provide a high-quality service for all children and parents and ensure policies and procedures are in place to foster positive relationships. Effective communication is key and we acknowledge that there may be times when parents wish to express concerns around council services. The council guidance will support parents to feel confident that their concern will be addressed, and a resolution found which is in the best interest of the child. During the process, parents should feel that their concerns are being listened to and their rights are being adhered to. In the first instance, parents first point of contact should be the school. Any more serious complex complaints will follow the complaints procedure guidance and be investigated and responded to by Senior Managers within the Education service.

You can make your complaint in person, by phone, email, or in writing. We have a two stage complaints procedure.

The term “parents” means anyone with parental responsibilities and others who care for or look after children or young people. The plan acknowledges that individual family units will comprise a wider range of people who might also contribute to a child’s learning at home experiences. Although the plan is titled a ‘parental’ involvement and engagement plan, there are a wide variety of parenting roles. The plan recognises the important role of grandparents, kinship carers, foster parents, wider family (uncles, aunts, cousins) and separated parents. The term “parents” and “parents and carers” are therefore used interchangeably throughout this plan.

Parental involvement describes the ways in which parents can get involved in the life and work of the early learning and childcare setting or school or the ways that parents can get involved in “schooling”. Parental involvement includes activities such as parental representation in the development of policies, improvement plans and key decisions. It can include involvement in the life and work of the establishment, for instance through volunteering opportunities. Parental involvement can also include help with homework or keeping track of children’s work and on-going, two-way communication between home and school or early learning and childcare setting.

Parental engagement is about parents’ and families’ interaction with their child’s learning. It can take place in the home, at school or in the community. Where it takes place is not important. The important thing is the quality of the parent’s engagement with their child’s learning, the positive impact that it can have and the interaction and mutual development that can occur as a result of that interaction.

Family learning encourages family members to learn together as and within a family, with a focus on intergenerational learning. Family learning activities can also be designed to enable parents to learn how to support their children’s learning. ‘Family learning is a powerful method of engagement and learning which can foster positive attitudes towards life-long learning, promote socio-economic resilience and challenge educational disadvantage’ (Scottish Family Learning Network, 2016)

• www.scottishbooktrust.com
• www.peeple.org.uk
• www.incredibleyears.com
• www.savethechildren.org.uk
• playbackice.com
• www1.ayrshire.ac.uk
• www.gov.scot/publications/child-chance-tackling-child-poverty-delivery-plan-2018-22/ Parental