Family involvement in school

We believe collaboration and teamwork is vital part of ensuring our young people succeed in their time at Barbara Priestman Academy and beyond. Families are often the specialist in their individual young person’s needs.

Our vision as an academy is to have high levels of engagement with families that leads to highly effective partnership which young people benefit from through their learning.

Our values of honesty, inclusivity and respect are so important to our work with families and we operate an open door approach supported by safeguarding procedures and welcome a two way continuous dialogue with families about all aspects of the academy and encourage families to become part of the Barbara Priestman community.

We keep in touch with parents and carers through:

the school newsletter
letters home
text messages to parents
this website
emails
face to face communication
social media channels
attending your young person’s Education Health and Care Plan annual review

Attending EHCP review

All families are invited to participate in their young person’s EHCP review which takes place annually, we provide a range of ways of this meeting taking place including face to face in school or via an online platform. It is important that families are able to contribute to this process. If you have any questions or queries about the EHCP process or attendance at the meeting then please don’t hesitate to contact Liz, our EHCP Co-ordinator.

Family engagement sessions

On the last afternoon of each half term, parents afternoons provide an opportunity for families to visit young people in their tutor groups between 1.45pm and 3.00pm. Families will be able to meet with tutors, support staff, subject teachers and leaders to join in celebrating progress and discuss matters related to their young person’s education.

Family events throughout the year

During the course of the year we invite families into school for events such as Christmas fair, summer fair, special person’s events and other events where we encourage families to be play a part in school life.

If you wish to tell us about an event or share some news with us please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Family Involvement Workshops 2023-2024

Please find below a list of our upcoming Parental Engagement sessions. These can be attended in person or via a TEAMS link to join from your computer at home.These workshops will take place monthly on a Friday afternoon 2pm-2:45pm in the main site bungalow or alternatively you can request a teams link by getting in touch with our main school office.

November 24th 2023

Keeping Our Young People Safe Online.

This workshop will include information around current mobile apps and games and the online world our young people have access to. It will provide information about how to keep your young people safe online and signpost to support and guidance that is available via the National Online Safety website.

December 15th 2023

Prevent Duty (Keeping Our Young People safe in the Local Community.)

This workshop will focus on the current social issues our young people may face when accessing the local community. There will be discussions about how we can support our young people with understanding others, tolerance and respect. Colleagues will support and advise on how to identify worrying behaviours and where to get additional support/guidance.

January 26th 2024

Zones of Regulation; Developing Young Peoples Toolbox of recognising and dealing with emotions.

This workshop introduces the four coloured zones that we use to describe our feelings, energy and emotions. From this our young people can learn to regulate and support their own wellbeing independently. Colleagues will discuss how this can be implemented both at home and school.

February 16th 2024

Emotion Coaching – Understanding behaviour and communication of our young people.

Emotion coaching is based on empathetic engagement. This workshop will help to understand how heightened emotions can result in behaviours. Colleagues will share supportive strategies that can help our young people to give effective responses to their emotions and feelings.

March 22nd 2024

OT – How to meet young people’s sensory needs.

This workshop will support and help to understand young people’s varying sensory needs and how they can best be responded to. There will be an opportunity to look at different sensory equipment to explore how that helps and supports our young people.

April 26th 2024

Sex and Relationships – How to support young people growing up and becoming an adult.

This workshop will share curriculum information relating to the teaching of Sex and Relationships in school. Colleagues will share how to support our young people with understanding themselves and others and how to keep themselves safe as they change and grow.

May 17th 2024

Preparation for Adulthood – How to support young people in readiness for their future.

This workshop will share how we are supporting our young people in school and in the local community to enable them to make informed choices about their future. There will be information about future destinations and the support that will continue to be available via local services.

June 28th 2024

Curriculum Offer – Pathway 3 and 4 at Barbara Priestman.

This workshop will share information about the current curriculum offer and how our young people are supported to achieve their learning goals. There will be information on how our young people make progress and how individual strategies support our young people to be fully engaged in their own learning.