Partnership with parents

At St Luke’s we value our parent community and the contributions which they make towards their children’s learning, from attending ‘coffee mornings’, working alongside their children in class, engaging with ‘family learning’ and taking part in our community events.Every week, all parents are invited to attend a ‘coffee morning’ which is an opportunity to work alongside other parents and share ideas with one another. Each coffee morning focuses on a different topic such as healthy living, positive use of the internet or strategies to support learning of phonics, writing and maths at home. Alongside the ‘coffee mornings’, St Luke’s works in partnership with a local college to support our parents with their confidence and learning. The college offers ‘English as a second language’ and arts and crafts courses at St Luke’s. The parents have taken part in glass painting, flower arranging, cake decorating and crochet courses, alongside gaining new skills for further education and career opportunities.In order for the parent community to experience and understand the strategies used in their children’s classrooms, we invite our parents in to work alongside their children. This helps the parents to support their children at home when completing homework, mirroring the strategies used in the classroom.Parents are also invited to attend weekly individual ‘family learning support’ sessions where they are offered the opportunity to extend their own skills and confidence when supporting their children’s learning at home. They are given various ideas and techniques as well as valuable resources to support them with this.Throughout the year, St Luke’s hosts a range of community events, ranging from ‘Healthy Heart Day’, fancy dress discos and a summer BBQ. These are popular events, which would not run as smoothly as they do without the support from parent volunteers. These events are an opportunity for the whole school community to come together and celebrate its successes.