We were delighted to have achieved the Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA) in Summer 2019 and to have successfully been reassessed in the Summer 2023.  We have continued to work closely with parents and other school partners since then to ensure we have kept on striving for an even more effective parent partnership.  

Summary of key strengths

 There is a clear leadership of parent partnership from the Headteacher, coordinator, SLT and governors

 All staff have received training on parent partnership and have clear guidelines to follow on engaging parents in their children’s learning

 The school continues to have a clear vision for the further development of parent partnership

 The school has developed the school vision and values which have a positive focus on the school and the community

 The values reflect the ethos of the school, they are integrated into the curriculum, reward systems and life of the school. Children and families are familiar with the values and understand how they relate to their learning and behaviour in school

 Staff understand the issues parents face and are committed to working collaboratively with parents to ensure the best outcomes possible for children and families

 The school work productively with a wide range of agencies to support children and families

 Class dojo is used very effectively to communicate with parents about their children’s learning

 The school website is very informative and has a wealth of learning resources to support home learning, to encourage parents to access information from the website links are sent to parents via dojo

 The school homework tasks are relevant to families and encourage parents’ participation in home learning

 The school have developed consistent, learning focussed opportunities for parents to engage with their children’s learning, discover how children learn, model approaches to supporting children learning at home and give parents a deeper understanding of the curriculum and school values

 The school has effective systems, to gather, analyse and evaluate parent feedback which is acted upon and shared with parents using the ‘you said, we did’ approach

 The PSA offered specific targeted support for parents to improve family life and enable parents to develop confidence and reach their potential

 The school offered a comprehensive programme of remote learning during covid and support families with food parcels, wellbeing, accessing services and coping with lockdowns and encouraged parents to allow their children to come into school when appropriate

 The school has developed a programme for parent volunteers, to support children’s learning and enable parents to gain confidence, learn new skill and in some cases gain employment as TAs or become self-employed

 The school is very attractive, clean and tidy and has a family atmosphere, it has a good standing in the community and is welcoming for parents and visitors

 Induction and transition procedures support parents effectively when their children join and leave the school

Our next steps are:

 To identify why parents are not responding to requests from school e.g. permission for child to go on a visit, complete surveys, attend drop-in sessions and workshops

 To identify barriers preventing them from responding and take steps to address these barriers and support them to respond to school in a timely manner

 To find solutions to enable parents to engage with school and reduce time spent by staff in getting parents to respond to requests by school, resulting in better outcomes for children and families

 To consider developing a parent peer to peer support system by identifying parents who could act as advocates, identify the means of support and roles of parents supporting others, to develop a system to monitor the effectiveness of the support given

At Irk Valley we want to ensure that as a school we work effectively with our parents and the local community. As a school we value the support and contribution that parents and carers make to children’s school life, both within and beyond the classroom. The Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA) is a national award that provides a framework through which schools, can deliver effective parental engagement from early years to Year 6.   Through this award, we can meet a number of longer term success criteria, such as improved pupil progress, punctuality, attendance and behaviour and increased parental involvement in school life.

The award is founded on research which shows that there is a very positive impact on achievement, behaviour and attendance in schools where parents are supported and therefore engaged in their children’s learning. Feedback from parents and carers is extremely important and we want to hear your views and improve our current practice.

What can families do to help parental engagement at Irk Valley Community School 

• Read all newsletters and publicity we send out.
• Come along to our events, if you can.
• Complete any questionnaires or surveys we send out as honestly as you can.
• Come and speak with us directly if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions.