Schools, families and communities
Schools will not meet the complex needs of children and young people by working in isolation. The Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda encourages more authentic relationships with students, families and the wider community. Building these relationships helps schools address the five ECM outcomes for children’s health, safety, achievement, social contribution and economic wellbeing. This section explores strategies to achieve these outcomes within the context of building social capital.
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Understanding social capital
What is social capital and why is it important? How to develop social capital.
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Community engagement
What is community engagement? The challenges for school leaders in engaging the community.
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Community cohesion
How schools can fully embrace community cohesion and how community-facing leadership can be developed.
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Working with parents
Why is working with parents important? How to engage parents.
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Child poverty
Information and resources to help tackle child poverty
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Student voice
What do we mean by ‘student voice’? The issues you need to consider.
Publications
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How to involve hard-to-reach parents: encouraging meaningful parental involvement with schools - summary
This research associate summary report explores the strategies to help schools develop parental engagement -
How to involve hard-to-reach parents: encouraging meaningful parental involvement with schools - full report
This research associate report generates a toolkit of practical strategies to help schools develop parental engagement -
Leading and developing parental engagement - auditing templates
A practical way of auditing and evaluating how you currently engage with parents and how to focus on future development. -
Leadership of parental engagement - a tool to help you audit and improve your practice
This resource is for school leaders, children's centre leaders and stakeholders who are already engaging parents in children's education, at whatever level, and who wish to audit and improve their practice in this area of work -
Leadership for parental engagement
Identifies five key factors that contribute to the successful leadership of parental engagement, based on findings from groups of schools and children's centres offering extended services
Interactive resources
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Getting parents involved (online seminar)
Online seminar exploring how to get parents involved in their children's education -
Healthy Schools toolkit
A toolkit provided by the Department for Education (DfE) to support schools engaging in health and wellbeing improvements for their children and young people. -
Community cohesion in action
Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency resource to help school leaders build community cohesion into the learning experience of all learners -
Promoting community cohesion in our school: a discussion exercise
Teachernet resource for promoting community cohesion in school -
Leading a learning community
Leadership module examining the nature of learning communities and strategies they can use
Articles
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Community cohesion
How schools can fully embrace community cohesion and how community-facing leadership can be developed, including the National College's Community Cohesion Tool. -
Community engagement
National College resources that highlight the important roles community engagement and participation play in furthering children's well-being. -
Working with parents
Examines the importance of involving parents in their children's education and links to useful resources -
Understanding social capital
National College resources that consider how develioping positive teacher-to-teacher, teacher-to-pupil, pupil-to-pupil and school-to-community relationships are the foundation for building social capital. -
Student voice
National College resources that offer insights into how listening to pupils and developing them as leaders are often at the heart of enabling them to realise their potential.

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