Positive parental engagement helps schools build a supportive team. Expert early years practitioners Dixie-Louise Dexter and Nicola Middleton share how their team includes parents in what children learn and helps them feel part of the school community.
Families as partners from the start
Educational research highlights the importance and value of home and school working together to achieve the best outcomes for children. At Ashby Hill Top Primary School, we have always believed in the power of this partnership and have seen how it brings higher levels of wellbeing for young children.
When families have opportunities to observe teaching and learning first-hand, it builds trust, understanding and a real sense of belonging. Using a range of ways to connect, both formal and informal, helps families feel more involved in their child’s learning. For example, inviting parents to see lessons in action or providing regular feedback opens up conversations and strengthens relationships.
This open, informed partnership allows families to get to know our teaching methods, feel part of the process, and develop confidence in the support their child receives. By continuing to build these strong, collaborative relationships, we create an environment where every child can thrive, and families feel truly welcomed and valued as partners in their child’s education. So, how do we include parents in our setting?
This case study is part of a series exploring the four overarching principles of the early years foundation stage: the unique child, positive relationships, enabling environments, and learning and development.
Get parents into the classroom
Throughout the year, we invite families into school for a range of experiences – some designed to support their child’s academic journey, and others to celebrate it.
During the autumn term, our focus is on personal, social and emotional development. We hold a ‘classroom showcase’ in the first few weeks where we invite parents to spend time with their child in the classroom.
This helps them discover what their child enjoys within the continuous provision, while their child can revisit and retrieve new learning through doing practical activities alongside their parents. During this time, staff can also informally share stories and information about each child, further strengthening trust between parents and school.
It also allows parents to see play-based learning in action. Helping parents understand developmentally appropriate learning in this way encourages them to celebrate when their child explores and discovers things, and to expect less formal, recorded learning.
As the year progresses, we broaden these showcases to cover a range of learning experiences based on current teaching.
Share what and how we teach
Many families are keen to support their child’s learning at home. Keeping them well informed about what and how we teach helps turn their enthusiasm into support that benefits their child.
We offer workshops on phonics, reading, and maths early in the year to ensure that home support aligns with school practice. We also model lessons where parents learn alongside their child, and share videos on our online platform demonstrating how to scaffold skills such as word-building or addition.
Create a sense of belonging
Developing parents’ sense of belonging in our school is a key element of their child’s success. We foster relationships by:
- Transitioning the whole family into school, not just the child. One-to-one meetings, home visits, personal tours, open days, and information evenings give us opportunities to get to know families well before the autumn term.
- Displaying family photos in the children’s cloakroom. These serve as both an emotional tool for the children and a symbol of our warm welcome to the whole family.
- Adapting communication to meet each family’s needs. Considering factors such as language, working patterns, and literacy levels ensures that even parents who experience barriers to participating in school life feel informed, welcomed and valued.
- Welcoming parents into the classroom daily opens access to staff and makes parents feel relaxed in their relationships with us.
- Using online learning journeys to encourage two-way communication and shared celebration of children’s achievements. This helps parents understand how their child learns best.
- Creating shared experiences such as tea parties, art galleries, and seasonal celebrations that bring home and school together in joyful ways. These events not only celebrate children’s learning but also strengthen relationships and community.
A team around the child
By actively investing in our relationships with families, we aim for parents to feel that school is something they are part of, rather than something that happens to them. By creating this family feel, parents feel valued and trust staff. This is fundamental to our success.
When home and school work in partnership, it builds a team around the child leading them to feel happy, secure and understood. Learning between home and school becomes seamless, and any concerns can be shared quickly and effectively and solved together.
Taking parents on the journey alongside us, and having regular opportunities for informal discussion, means staff can more easily raise sensitive topics around a child’s learning or development too. Improved trust and familiarity between home and school pave the way for these conversations. Senior staff support teachers to approach conversations with empathy and professionalism.
We have found our investment in families to be well worth the effort. What opportunities might you create by inviting parents to be more involved in your setting? How could greater family engagement support children’s wellbeing, involvement and outcomes?
Read more about why building strong relationships with families matters in the early years, and how to do it.
