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Stephanie Leigh
is employed at two
London
schools to work with GCSE years 10 and 11 pupils. The
mission of School Home Support is to support children to
enable them to gain the most benefit from their education.
At one school the children have many different first
languages and she works as part of a large team which
includes Bangladeshi and Somali speakers. The speaker
commented that it is vital that children are trained to go
unquestionably to school every day. From careful scrutiny
of attendance registers it is possible to spot regular
absences occurring on the same day each week which can be
because of divorced parents where a child is travelling to
its father on a Friday afternoon.
Stephanie’s support work includes obtaining funding for
holidays; uniform grants; books etc. She helps parents
with children in transition from nursery school to infant
school and from Year Six to secondary; helping parents to
make a realistic choice
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of secondary school; representing parents at appeals panels
at their school of choice and helping with housing, benefits
and emigration issues.
Stephanie invites for discussion the parents of children in
Years 10 and 11 who are referred by teachers for academic or
behaviour issues and they jointly agree on some targets on
implementation and regular review. These could involve
home routines, television watching, pocket money, inviting
parents to attend parenting classes. If a targeted parent
refuses to co-operate and the child continues to be
disruptive, this refusal can lead to a parenting order,
which compels a parent to fulfil agreed requirements in
order to improve their child’s behaviour. Non-co-operation
can lead to prosecution, fines and even the removal of
children from the family. A Parent-Teacher Association in
the school can help to create a forum for the parents to
become more involved in their children’s education and feel
part of the school community, thus supporting and
encouraging their child’s progress. |
