 How can you run effective and engaging parent and carer workshops in your school? Now, I'm going to be drawing together a few ideas here that have worked really well for me over a wide range of different schools and different locations, but take what works and ignore what doesn't because you know your parent and carer community better than I can. So yeah, adapt these ideas to suit. Okay, number one is to think carefully about how to make your workshops as accessible as possible. One of the biggest barriers to getting people to attend workshops is just literally that the timing doesn't work or they don't have childcare or perhaps it's in a language that they don't understand or there's no parking near to school and that's really inconvenient or, or, or, or, or. So find out the things that are stopping people from coming and see whether there are things that you can do to address that. Can you have a crash? Can you hold this at a time that is really convenient for as many parents as possible? Can you think about holding different sessions, one for parents who work and one for don't, who don't at different times, for example. Can you think about sharing this information in more than one way? You might have face-to-face workshops as well as perhaps having something online or a letter that goes home. Have a think about making it as accessible to as many different people as possible. You might also think about having these workshops alongside other things that will draw parents into school. So perhaps you will have a 20 or 30 minute workshop before or after a parents evening, for example, or maybe you'll do a sort of celebration event of students work and you'll invite parents in to something they'll really want to see what their students have been up to or show or the things that parents love to come to and then maybe we have a dose of great workshop stuff too. I mean, it sounds like I'm trick them into coming. Now, it's not what I mean, but when you've got them in school already, make really good use of their time, I guess is where I'm going with that. Number two is have a think about topics. So you want to make sure that you are putting on workshops that your parents and carers actually wants to attend. So how do you do that? Talk to them is usually the best way. So if you have a parent council or parent teacher association, have a think about using that as a way to find out what parents would like to have workshops on. You can also talk to the kids. What do you think your parents need to know? What would it be helpful for them to learn about? That can be a useful avenue in too. And then you can kind of get the kids on side with getting their parents into school. Have a think also about how you can make this feel like something that parents will really get something out of. So it might only be a 30 or 40 minute workshop, but if they feel, for example, that they're going to go home with a really clear idea about how to support their child through the exam revision and examination period, then that's going to feel like a really worthwhile use of their time. That links into number three, which is about keeping it practical. So there is nothing worse. I was going to say it as a parent or carer, but actually as anyone attending any kind of workshop or training. When you go along and you think, oh, that was very interesting. And now what? Actually make sure there are really clear action points for parents or carers here. Make sure you're giving them really practical ideas of things they can actually do. So when I'm training people, I'm always thinking what could they do tomorrow as a result of the training that I've just delivered them? And I'm thinking that whether I've got five minutes with them or five hours, it's really important to have really practical take home ideas. You might also follow that up with videos or links to other resources or websites, but make sure it's really practical. What will they do differently as a result of this workshop? If there's not a clear answer to that, then it's not been a good use of their time in my humble opinion. Number four is about try and create a nice atmosphere. So really this is more of a long-term one. You've got to be prepared to kind of persevere with this and know that if you do this well, if you get in good people or use good experience from your staff body and you do a good job, you make it practical, the topics feel relevant and you create a good atmosphere for parents, then actually if you keep on doing this consistently, then you'll find that more and more parents will attend because actually they'll learn that this is a really worthwhile use of their time. Now, simple things you can do to create a nice atmosphere. One is thinking about how that workshop runs. So one of the things that parents need more than anything else is a chance to talk to other parents and also to feel heard and valued in their role as parent or carer. So make sure there's an opportunity for discussion, whether that's as part of the kind of specific activities or kind of before or after. Also think about kind of the physical environment in which you're having the training. So maybe you're a primary school. If you bring parents in and you run a workshop in a primary school classroom with teeny, tiny, tiny chairs and everyone's kind of sat here like this, it's not really conducive to learning. We don't feel comfortable and happy. It's kind of funny for the first three or four minutes and then it's just downright uncomfortable. So have a think about that kind of thing. Is it comfortable? Is it warm? Is it well lit? The learning environment really matters and we can be great at thinking about that for the kids but we don't always think about it with our adult learners. The other thing is simple stuff. Tea and biscuits or if you're so inclined, wine and cake. These things make a big difference. Okay, if we know as a parent, as a carer that we can go along to the school, we're gonna do some learning and we're gonna have a chance for chat and tea, we're in. Number five is about trying to strike the right balance. So parenting is really hard and there isn't a guidebook. It's one of the things I really often reflect on. So I am a mother of two, one child who is my biological daughter and one of whom came through the care system and the biological child literally gave birth at home within an hour, I'm left on my own with her, no manual, nothing. The other one who came through the care system, oh wow, all manner of training, lots and lots and lots of input there. Felt like I was very, very judged, not in a bad way but my parenting skills were judged before I was allowed to take her home. So actually for most parents, we haven't had a lot of input and we kind of would welcome that. However, we have been doing the parenting thing for quite a while, so it's about working with us. It's about trying to find the right balance. So we might acknowledge that, you know what, parents can't automatically be expected to know all the things that we as teachers, as educators, have been taught because they literally haven't been taught that. However, we need to respect them as adults, as learners, as people who also will bring a whole range of different experience into the room. So try and strike that right balance and it's also okay to have a bit of a laugh and a joke with them. And it's also okay to acknowledge that parenting is really, really hard. Yeah, try and get that tone right because if we feel as parents, as carers, we're being spoken down to, again, we're less likely to engage. If, however, we feel that you're respecting us as peers, as adults, as people who care about our kids, but maybe don't always know the right answers and would value a bit of input, then that really helps to kind of engage us and get us on board. So think really carefully about the tone. I think that is about it. Give it a go. Let me know how you get on. If you've got tips for what works well for you, then leave them as a comment below. Always really keen to share your ideas too because there's so much great practice going on out there and it's always a real pleasure to hear about it and share it. Good luck. Enjoy your next set of parent workshops. I really hope they go well. Bye.