October Activity Blog...
Parent's week (19 - 25 October)
This year Staffordshire Children's Trust really went to town during parent's week and put on a whole host of activities for parents and carers all over the county. Charities, voluntary sector organisations, children's centres, schools and libraries, the courts and faith centres are all working with parents and families to help them flourish, so during this years parenting week (19-25 October) Staffordshire celebrated its unique successes in supporting families and enabling them to thrive. Work was showcased, families and parents given awards, free events were put on, family consultation as undertaken and some all round fun was had. The Parenting and Family Institute told us what a great job we were doing and were impressed with the multitude of activity we put on across the county. In an email to us they said "We are very pleased to see such a number and range of activities running across Staffordshire". We managed to get around with a camera during the week:
Parents views on engagement and participation
We have been round and about talking to parents about what engagement means to them. The purpose of this is to help us develop our parental engagement toolkit. What we found out was:
- Participation and engagement are not terms that parents know or recognise
- Parents have a tendency to assume it refers to their responsibility as parents towards their children
- They guess that it might mean having their say as a parent
- There is little understanding of the full range of opportunities that parental engagement can encompass
- Parents are unsure how to get involved or why they would be involved
Some parents who we talked to were 'hot' on engagement issues and I love one quote from a parent:
It is really important to ask parents what they want and not tell them what they think they need
Parents really helped us identify some of the barriers to engagement as well.
Thanks for talking to us!!!
A reminder of events…..
Just a note to say don't forget to book your place on the launch of the parenting strategy!!!!
- Tamworth and East Staffs 19 November Bretby Hotel and Conference Centre, Burton-upon-Trent
- Cannock and Lichfield 26 November Oak Farm Hotel, Cannock
- Stafford and South Staff 7 December Yarnfield Park, Stone
As places are limited, please book your place by contacting Family Information Service on 0845 650 9876 or email: fis@staffordshire.gov.uk
Last Modified:
13/11/2009 08:41:32
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