Moorside Primary School in inner city Newcastle has a majority of pupils living in areas within the 10 per cent most deprived nationally. The school has raised attainment and aspirations of children and increased opportunities for parents to enter employment, education and training.
Moorside has developed relationships with City agencies which provide training and support for the school parents and carers. This has allowed Moorside to contribute to priority objectives of achieving potential in education and reducing benefit claimant rates.
Presenting parents with awards in front of their children is a major factor in lifting aspirations and commitment of both parents and children.
During the last three years Moorside has built up extensive relationships with agencies across the City who provide a range of advice, support and training (including facilitators) for the parents and carers of the school. For example, the school has worked with:
Through these and many others partnerships parents and carers have been encouraged to recognize the power of education and be proactive in their own learning.
The target group of these partnerships is the pupils of the school, their parents, carers and extended families.
There are 425 pupils at Moorside Primary school which is an inner city school. The majority of pupils are living in areas within the 10 per cent most deprived nationally. Sixty-eight per cent of the pupils come from non-European backgrounds and 12 per cent are refugee and asylum seekers. There are 43 community languages spoken. This culturally rich environment is a very positive aspect of school life.
Standards of teaching and learning in the school are high and this is recognised by National Leader in Education and National Support School status. The school recognises the difficulties of life in the inner city, but does not use these as an excuse for low expectations. It is a community school where the view taken is that everyone has potential if they are valued and given opportunity to succeed.
Five years ago the school decided to participate with three other primary schools and New Deal for Communities (NDC) to develop a joint Parent Link Worker (PLW) project. This supported the employment of six Parent Link Workers across four schools for a period of three years.
Two PLWs were appointed at Moorside four years ago but one left after a short period of time. Both workers were local residents. The appointment of well-known and respected members of the community has been fundamental to the development of the relationship between school and home.
Since the end of the NDC project the longstanding Parent Link Worker has been taken on as staff at the school. Another who has been appointed is being trained by the original worker.
Views of families
A formal evaluation of the NDC project was carried out and showed that parents appreciated working on their own as well as having the opportunity of working with children. They also valued having someone to talk to who was not seen as an authority figure in school but who could nonetheless bring concerns and views to the school where need be.
Implications for staff
Overcoming potential barriers to learning and improving the well-being opportunities of both children and parents requires a strong team of committed people. Building a team of knowledgeable staff, who are skilled in working with families, has been a lengthy process. It required carefully planned professional development opportunities.
Setting up the initial structures and procedures, building relationships and gaining trust took considerable effort and time both with families and agencies.
A recent Ofsted inspection reported that the school “makes a real difference” to the lives of pupils, “helping them make outstanding progress academically” and describes the school as “exceptional”.
Skills
Over a period of three years 650 parents have obtained accreditation at different levels for different qualifications in mathematics, English, ICT, Basic Skills, Healthy Cooking and others. One parent was awarded the Family Learning ‘Learner of the Year’ Award.
Many others have gone on to college to further their studies having reached the levels available through facilitation in school. Parents are supported to progress further through link agencies such as Newcastle Futures and Learning Links.
Presenting parents with awards in front of their children has been a major factor in lifting aspirations and commitment of both parents and children. The school runs special award events exclusively for women and their children for particular groups to ensure everyone can be included in the celebrations.
The children are so proud to see parents receive their certificates that they act as advocates of parent learning. They check to see if their parents have attended classes and raise the importance of attending with their parents!
Family wellbeing
There are a large number of parents attending school each week for ‘Find out Friday’ and for ‘INSPIRE’ days:
‘Find out Friday’ is a regular activity for nursery parents and their children run by Family Learning. Parents are invited to stay in the nursery to spend quality time with their child linked to some aspect of the early year’s curriculum. This is followed up with informal discussions in the coffee bar, which gives parents the opportunity to discuss their own child’s development or other issues of interest or concern.
Each year group has an ‘INSPIRE’ day each term when the class teacher and PLW invite parents to come into school to work alongside their own child. As well as gaining knowledge and understanding of how they can support their child, this provides high-quality opportunities for building relationships.
Children have been so keen to participate that they have even asked the PLW to be their mum for the day so that they can attend the ‘INSPIRE’ class – because they really like it!
Although initially supported by Family Learning this programme is now run by school staff.
The school has taken account of the expertise and experience available within the community in order to recruit a diverse staff who are outstanding role models. A number of staff live locally, including teachers, teaching assistants, parent link workers, midday supervisors, the site manager, administration staff and nursery nurses.