Parents' Collaboratives
Under this project Sage has already started outreaching families, through collaborative groups based in three areas of Downham and Bellingham. Each group has had its first meeting and has identified its priority areas. All the parents who attended the meetings were excited about taking this work forward and have agreed to meet every half term to do so. All the groups stressed the importance of communication and the Sage newsletter, school newsletters and the Sage Website will be used to keep everyone informed of progress.
Following the discussions the following activites are being planned:
- A number of family learning activities will be developed, including reading with children, basic maths and basic computer/internet skills
- Family support will be made available through the Families in Partnership team
- A series of family workshops will take place, to help parents with behaviour management
- Sage will review with local people and partner organisations the way agencies communicate and work together and how we get information from and feed information to local people
- Sage's behaviour management in-school projects will continue and will be supplemented by new work, which will focus on support for parents around behaviour management.
Each collaborative will meet again in September to consider what is planned and what else needs to be done.
Parent Volunteer / Local Community Activity Grants
In preparation for the Family Matters work Sage had provided grants for local parent volunteers, in order to encourage parents' involvement in schools and local community activities. Through the Family Matters project Sage will be able to continue to offer more grants. These grants focus not on one-off events and visits, but on encouraging new volunteers to take part and to maintain their involvement over time.