Seminar from Schools Network "Effective Parental Engagement" Conference @ BSCS on 16th Nov 2011. Seminar by Iain Williams, Deputy Headteacher

1. Engaging ParEnts:
using communication tEchnologiEs
I a i n W i l l i a m s – B r a d l e y S t o k e C o m m u n i t y S c h o o l

2. Session foci
What we’re most likely to cover…
o Principles of engaging parents – the WHY
o Reasons to engage parents – the fringe benefits
o Methods to engage parents – the HOW
o Choosing your battles – the WHEN
o Practical tips – keeping it REAL

3. Current Y6 parents coming into Y7
OR
THINK ABOUT
SO… what is the balance of time
Pre-school parents coming into YR
and effort invested in
Many of them will stay connected to your school
your parent body compared to
longer than a significant proportion
that of your colleagues… ?
of your staff body

4. Contextual Information
Bradley Stoke Community School (BSCS)
o New secondary school in Sept 2005 – now 1020 students
o Community school – a key driver
o Oldest students now in Y12
o Judged as outstanding by OfSTED in 2009
o Culture of innovation
o SSAT Consultant School
o PEQS Gold Award – first school nationally
o Ethos crucial and often commented upon
o Stakeholder voice central to development
o Inclusive: low exclusions, high attendance
o Comprehensive intake – full age and ability

5. Our journey with technology
2010
2005 2009
Digital
24hr school PEP
Signage
2009 2011
2007/8
Website PEP/online
EPRA
review booking
2011
2009 2009
Online event
FROG Texting
management

6. A paradigm shift?
What does the research tell us?

7. Shift Happens…
Are you ready for a challenge?

8. How many
educationalists does it
take to change a light
bulb?

9. CHANGE ?!

10. No longer a 19 th Century model
Welcome to the…
21 st Century

11. How ?!

12. Stop focusing on
your model for
ICT…

13. and start focusing
on your model for
learning and
teaching…

14. ICT is a means to an end
NOT the end in itself

15. Winning
Hearts
and
Minds…

16. People expect technology to
fail
It’s YOU they need
confidence in

17. What technologies?
Be strategic about…
o Your outcomes
• what do you want to achieve using ICT?
• what will the impact be?
• how will you know?
o Your skills
• what can YOU actually do?
• what can you get/buy/beg/bribe someone else to do?
o Your buy-in from others
• how can you get others involved?
• what are the incentives? Use them!
• how can you make sense of it for them? Initiative overload or seeing the joined up thinking?

18. Examples of ICT engagement tools
8 key areas
Area Cost
1. Website small
2. Email small - medium
3. Texting medium
4. Slideshare n/a
5. Drop Box n/a
6. Online booking facilities small
7. Learning Platform high
8. Social Media n/a

19. ICT – parental engagement tools
Website & Digital Signage
Simple and fresh
Updating – anyone?
Bottlenecks
QA/QC systems
Open Source?
Link to other info systems

20. ICT – parental engagement tools
Email
o Develop a Communications Policy and an email policy (alongside Complaints Policy)
o Electronic communication is our STANDARD method
o Parents need to request a paper copy of correspondence
o One colleague co-ordinates most mass parent emails
o Important to check integrity of MIS data (in our case, SIMS)
o Caution about over-reliance on email to communicate emotive issues
o Use it carefully for staff to parent communication
o Have a few generic email addresses:
 admin@bradleystokecs.org.uk
 updatecontactdetails@bradleystokecs.org.uk
 contactteacher@bradleystokecs.org.uk
o This helps to filter lots of emails

21. ICT – parental engagement tools
Texting
o Cost SAVINGS!!!!
o Really useful for quick contact
o Limited number of characters
o Great for info on: detentions, trip letters, meeting reminders etc
o Does Email too
o You WILL get a reaction! (mostly ours have been positive)
o Make sure someone oversees and develops good systems!

22. ICT – parental engagement tools
9th most visited website in 2009
Free online repository for all your online presentations
Basic analytics in free version
Can link to your website via a really simple widget
Inspiration for your own presentations – any theme
Loads of other features: MP3, video, webinar, PDF/MS Office share

23. ICT – parental engagement tools
o Free 2GB online storage
o Syncs with ALL your PC/MAC/Mobile devices
o Lost your memory stick?
o Memory stick too small?
o Want to share files with parents?
o Private and public files
o Go mobile and still connect?
o Untapped potential

24. ICT – parental engagement tools
Online Booking Facilities
Booking Appointments - http://bradleystoke.parentseveningsystem.co.uk/
Booking appointments with staff was a problem
o Reliant on forgetful students
o Office taking too many calls about bookings
o Confusion over what had been booked
Managing tickets - http://www.eventelephant.com/frogparentportallaunch
o Free if event is free
o Manages booking, communication, sales and generates badges
o Links via a URL
o Also manages most admin (e.g. name badges, contact lists etc)

25. ICT – parental engagement tools
Learning Platform
Learning focused
Fully owned by you
Fully controlled by you
Fully developed by you

26. ICT – parental engagement tools
Learning Platform

27. ICT – parental engagement tools
Lessons learnt with Learning Platforms
o Remember ‘Measure twice, cut once…’
o Only launch when ready and confident – you get one shot!
o It’s not just about information (e.g. data) exchange
o Your learning platform and parent portal must link – remember learning is central!
o MUST be simple and user friendly
o Can an idiot use it?
o Designed by parents, for parents…
o Think about the total cost of ownership. Don’t forget things like:
• Reduced printing costs (e.g. exam/SATs papers)
• Extra network storage
• Streamlining communications (integral email)

28. How do parents GET your info?
PULL
Vs
PUSH

29. The ‘S’ word
Social Networking
o FACEBOOK - 30 billion pieces of content shared each month
o UK  51M internet users in June 2010  82% population online  48.5%% of population are on FB
o 25% of UK FB users in 13 – 19 age range
o TWITTER – 300,00 new users per day, 3 billion requests per day by 180M unique visitors
o 75% of Twitter’s visitors use third party apps!
o UK = 5th / 10 for Twitter traffic  18% of US Tweets are from teenagers
o YOU TUBE  every minute 24h of video uploaded
o 2 billion viewers per day, 50% are under 20 years old
o Today, You Tube occupies the same amount of bandwidth the entire internet used in 2000
o 90% of internet users use at least 1 social networking site…

30. The ‘S’ word
Social Networking & Mobile /Smart Technology
o Soon, we will not be able to ignore its implications (limited resources/funds and student trends)
o If such technologies are used, fear of ‘what might happen’ drives us
o The possibilities of how we MIGHT engage them are overlooked – calculated risks are not taken
o POLICY/PRACTICE, CONSISTENCY and EXPECTATIONS are essential
o No different to a uniform policy in terms of the WAY you work with students – rewards and sanctions
o ENGAGEMENT with the REAL issues
o Better managed and in the open than wanton misuse behind closed doors – EDUCATE users
o Costello Technology College – Google them (School Facebook site and YouTube channel)
o PUSH technology is the key (Twitter client or RSS feed)
o Start with TWITTER  1) CPD for yourself 2) Learning and Teaching

31. By 2014, South Korea plans to digitize all
elementary level materials.
By 2015, the entire curriculum will be
delivered via an online device. A cloud-
based system will host all software and
content…
MIT Technology Review

32. Useful Resources
o Parents: Do they know they matter?
o https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DCSF-RBW004
o http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parents-Know-They-Matter-Achievement/dp/1855394790
o Bradley Stoke Consultant School
o www.bradleystokecs.org.uk/consultantschool
o Useful Tools
o 100 top tools for eLearning
o www.teachers2parents.co.uk
o www.slideshare.net
o www.eventelephant.com
o www.sliderocket.com
o www.prezi.com
o http://www.parentseveningsystem.co.uk/

33. Useful Resources
o Useful Tools (cont.)
o www.dropbox.com
o Useful websites
o http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/home
o www.2020plus.net Feel free to contact me on…
o www.digeratidom.com
o www.frogtrade.com iain.williams@bradleystokecs.org.uk
o www.twitter.com www.bradleystokecs.org.uk
o http://www.2mminutes.com/
o http://www.slideshare.net/grumbledook/parental-engagement-through-ict-tony-sheppard