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DfES pilot of the LPPA

DfES pilot of the LPPA

The DfES commissioned a pilot scheme of the LPPA in 2004: schools in Stoke-on-Trent, Peterborough and Enfield took part. In each case, two primary schools and one secondary school were involved. These case studies show the impact of LPPA in three schools.

St John & St James Primary School, Enfield

Introduction
St John & St James Primary is a one-form entry school on the edge of Enfield. The population is multi-ethnic, with 88% of families of Black African or African-Caribbean heritage. In 2004 Ofsted judged the school to be satisfactory overall, and endorsed the school�s plans to build closer relationships with parents. The head teacher had been working towards this aim and felt it to be very important, but work was still in the early stages. The Leading Parent Partnership Award provided a focus and a framework for working with parents, and enabled the school to learn from good practice in other schools. The school achieved the Award in June 2006.
What strategies did the school introduce?
Three key strategies led to a range of positive outcomes and benefits for the school, its parents and pupils.

a) Communications with parents

The school worked hard to improve significantly communications with parents, including the school website, and particularly in the area of listening to parents views and needs. The school conducted surveys, and has introduced a range of improvements as a result. One major area was that of school meals: parents were clearly dissatisfied with the quality of the meals (cooked elsewhere and brought in) so the school responded by building its own kitchen, and then bringing in an excellent contractor. Other schools in the area learned from this good practice.

The Keele University survey elicited positive and helpful parental feedback on a number of fronts.

A quality control system was set up for the school office, with a box for parents to put comments about the welcome they received when they came into school. This feedback helped the school to review its protocols where necessary and to further improve communications with parents.

a) Parents' Forums

The school introduced a number of well received Parents' Forums, which provided training, information and advice on curriculum issues, for example how parents could assist pupils with their homework.

c) Setting up a new Parents' Committee

In order to create a system for more formal parent voice in the school, a Friends of the School committee was established, with a new constitution and structure. This included representatives from each class in the school, so that curricular matters could be discussed to inform the school's future planning. Whilst still in relatively early stages, there are now 12 dedicated members, who meet regularly to support the school, its parents and pupils.

What were the major outcomes and benefits of working within the LPPA framework?
Ten main outcomes and benefits were identified.

a) Home/school communications are significantly improved through the enhanced web site, high quality newsletters and the installation of a dedicated parents' notice board. The parents of pupils with special educational needs have also benefited from improved communication regarding curricular activities, meetings and reviews.

b) Parental involvement in the review of school policies, e.g. behaviour, anti-bullying, special educational needs, has led to a tighter set of robust policies that reflect the views of the whole school community. Parents now have a better understanding of the school's policies and procedures.

b) Closer working relationships with parents have led to an increased number of regular parent helpers in classrooms, supporting reading and generating resources. These parent volunteers have encouraged other volunteers, who are not parents, to help in the school.

c) The increased number of volunteers has enabled the running of a greater number and range of after-school clubs for pupils, to their delight. Pupils greatly appreciate the pupil discos run by the Friends Association.

d) Pupils' reading levels have improved due to having more parent helpers in classrooms.

f) The improved school meals provision has led to more contented "customers" (pupils, parents and also staff who now use the provision), and improved pupil behaviour. Meals are healthier and more nutritious so 65% of pupils (compared to 35% previously) now enjoy them.

g) The newly formed Friends of the School Association supports the school through fund-raising and social events.

h) Parent forums ensure that parents are much better informed about the curriculum, which helps them to support homework and aspects of the curriculum (e.g. numeracy, literacy, ICT). Building on this success, the school plans to introduce the SHARE project into KS1.

i) The school has supported parents' vocational development so that, for example, one volunteer became a lunch-time supervisor and a Governor.

j) Parents say that they are much happier with the school, which is a safe and happy environment for their children.

In conclusion, the school believes that the Leading Parent Partnership Award provided a framework and focus for the school to improve its links with, and provision for, parents and that the timescales provided a helpful impetus to make changes and to ensure that progress was maintained.

Initially, the prospect of evidence collection was rather daunting, but the process proved to be entirely manageable once underway. Indeed, the school has now used the LPPA model of evidence collection and presentation with its SEF evidence.

Staff found that the LPPA Adviser was very helpful indeed, and that the Verifiers were fair. The whole process went well, and was clear. The school enjoyed participating in LPPA, and is pleased to have achieved the Award.

Oakthorpe Primary School, Enfield

Introduction
Oakthorpe Primary School has 480 pupils, with a 70-child intake. It is a multi-cultural school, reflecting 17 different cultures, including many Turkish Cypriot/Greek Cypriot families, with an increasing school population of Eastern European families, and less than 15% indigenous white heritage pupils. Many families struggle in English, and some have literacy problems in their own language. In 2004, Ofsted identified the school as very good with outstanding features.

The school already had good relationships with parents prior to embarking upon the LPPA, yet felt there were a number of points needing attention. The head teacher saw LPPA as a helpful way to bring it all together - to recognize and celebrate the school's good practice with parents, and to develop other areas, within a thorough and nationally recognised assessment framework. The school achieved the LPPA award in October 2005.

What strategies did the school introduce?
Key to the school's success in achieving the Award is the fact that everyone in the school now views parents as full partners in the education process. For example, the school now holds Pupil Progress Meetings, to introduce all staff working with particular pupils, take parents through the education programme for the year, the curriculum policies, and visits, as opposed to putting all this information in a letter. The meetings are highly valued by parents.

The head teacher also introduced termly Parents' Forum meetings and ensures that all parents are able to attend by holding one in the morning, one at lunchtime, and one in the evening. Prior to each Forum, a letter is sent to parents, asking for issues and items to share over coffee: an impressive 40-50 parents attend each time. Parents invite guests and make suggestions. The ethos is very much that this is THEIR school, THEIR community, with the school wanting to respond to their needs.

What were the major outcomes and benefits of working within the LPPA framework?
The head teacher feels that the LPPA framework has been a hugely helpful to the school, its parents and pupils. The school is much more responsive to individual parent needs, and learns from its parents. For example, parents with significant needs for information from the school are not viewed as problematic, but continue to help set benchmarks on how best to ensure that all parents are fully informed. This has ensured that there is now much more effective communication with a wider range of parents and has informed the further development of the school web site.

Oakthorpe is recognized as a training school, yet identified that it was not doing enough in terms of training parents. An increasing range of cultures is represented in the local area, with many parents feeling nervous of school because of their own educational backgrounds. The LPPA framework prompted the school to put in place such training for parents as literacy lessons. This started with 3-4 parents, and now embraces some 30 parents who attend 3 times per week. These parents are now much more confident. They see the school in operation each time they come in, they interact more effectively with staff and their increased confidence is impacting on their children. More effective educative processes are possible now that more parents are able to communicate in English.

LPPA has provided a springboard into other projects such as Extended Schools and Children�s Centre. There are many common threads between LPPA and the different projects - each overlaying the other and adding depth. Also from a leadership and management perspective, the school is now able to describe itself as showing good practice in its work with parents in the SEF and elsewhere. When inspectors arrive, the school is seen as a hallmark of good practice.

In conclusion, the head teacher believes that LPPA has enabled the school to look in depth at its present provision with parents and to test it against a nationally accredited framework. "It hallmarks what is good, and identifies what else is needed".

Mitchell High School, Stoke-on-Trent

Introduction
The Mitchell High School is an 11-16, 5-form entry school with some 630 pupils on roll and is situated close to the centre of Stoke-on-Trent. It serves the mainly white heritage communities of Bucknall, Bentilee and Abbey Hulton. Socio-economic deprivation is high in most of the catchment area.
Ofsted (2004) judged that the school's "engagement with the community is an area of excellence." When the school became aware of the Leading Parent Partnership Award, it decided that it would be a good way to celebrate and be recognised for its excellent work with parents. The head teacher was also concerned to highlight any new areas for development which arose from scrutiny against a nationally accepted set of standards. The school achieved the Award in December 2005.
 
What strategies did the school introduce?
1) Pupil Review Day

The major strategy was to introduce Pupil Review Days to replace the traditional Parents' Evenings. On three occasions per year there is a school closure day, when form tutors work from 9.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. to provide individual consultations for parents and pupils. Staff work to an on-line questionnaire which ensures a consistent and highly focused approach to providing parents and pupils with detailed information about pupil progress. Progress and attainment in each subject is discussed, with targets set and agreed for each of the core subjects. Any behaviour or attendance concerns are raised, and any other academic or pastoral information is raised and discussed. Most parents do now attend, which was not the case previously.

When the school undertook a survey, parents overwhelmingly agreed that they preferred the Pupil Review Days to the old-style Parents� Evening. They felt more fully and helpfully informed, and everyone involved feels that the clear format and focus avoids idle chat.

2) Review of communications with parents

The school thought that these were already quite strong, but the framework highlighted that a need to do more to communicate with parents over curriculum issues and areas such as attendance.

3) Involving parents in evaluation of school provision and processes

The school now invites regular evaluation and comment from parents on policies and processes, and feeds back the outcomes in the Mitchell Flyer, our professionally published community newsletter.

What were the major outcomes of working within the LPPA framework?
Six positive outcomes were highlighted:

a) The school found it helpful to work to a national set of standards, and continues to maintain a focus on the LPPA Objectives through the School Improvement Plan.

b) LPPA enabled the school to tweak and formalize policies and processes, and to ensure consistency across the school.

c) The school concluded that the focus on LPPA vastly improved communications with parents about pupil progress, through the introduction of Pupil Review Days. Day to day communications are overwhelmingly more effective, and up-to-date, using phone calls, letters, texts and e-mails.

d) Parents have shown a greater interest in adult learning, and the school provides and publicises many more opportunities for training than previously.

e) The school is now much more responsive to parents' needs (e.g. timings of parental consultations). All staff are now more conscious of the need to put things in "parents' speak" � they have a raised consciousness about the parental perspective.

f) Most importantly, pupils see school and home working together for their good, and view this positively.

The school's LPPA co-ordinator feels that the Award provides a coherent and nationally accredited framework to endorse the school's work, but which still makes you sit and look carefully at what you are doing. It was helpful to evidence in the portfolio the school�s work on all the Objectives and Key Performance Indicators, which is still displayed with pride for the community to see. The co-ordinator enjoyed putting the evidence together. She found the LPPA adviser very effective and supportive through regular contact. Although rigorous, he provided lots of encouragement and good ideas. The co-ordinator is still so enthusiastic about LPPA that she continues to promote it in meetings and at conferences she attends.