Linking Home and School: Partnership in Practice in Primary Education Book

	Foreword	v
	Notes	vi
	Acknowledgements	vii
1	Setting the scene	1
	An overview	1
	Why our school?	1
	Outlining the book's rationale	1
	Scope of this book	2
2	A closer look at Moordown St John's CE Primary School	3
	An overview	3
	School portrait	3
	A philosophical perspective	4
	Sharing expertise	4
	Methodological underpinning	4
	Keys to success	5
	Requirements for effective partnership	8
	External evaluation	10
	Summary	10
3	Strengthening preschool links: hand in hand to school	13
	An overview	13
	Rationale underpinning our preschool preparation programme	13
	Home-school link packs	13
	The construction of Moordown's starting-school activity pack	14
	More recent developments	16
	Summary	16
4	A starting-school profile at the point of entry	18
	An overview	18
	Setting the scene	18
	Parents as educators	18
	Strengthening the link between home and school	19
	Origins of the Early Milestones starting-school profile	19
	Our adaptations of 'All About Me'	20
	Developing Early Milestones	20
	Summary	22
5	Contributing to the Special Educational Needs assessment process	23
	An overview	23
	First things first	23
	The notion of 'meetings with the school'	23
	Our 'Helping Hand' parental guides	24
	Parental profiling at the statutory assessment stage	24
	Educational workshop rationale	26
	'Working Together' - an activity workshop model	28
	An adaptation of this SEN workshop model for parents	29
	Other ways forward	37
	Summary	37
6	Parental feedback as a catalyst for change	55
	An overview	55
	Setting the scene	55
	Methodological approaches	55
	Parental perceptions of Moordown school	56
	Informing the school governors	62
	Monitoring the school's security initiatives	70
	Revisiting the external relations audit	70
	Summary	70
7	Sharing curricular and organisational practice	74
	An overview	74
	Those first impressions ...	74
	Saying what the school is about	74
	Further on-entry information	75
	Articulating curriculum and organisational practice	78
	Learning opportunities for parents	85
	Guiding parents to help their children's learning at school	89
	Moving on to senior school	89
	Towards a whole-school policy on home-school links	89
	Summary	91
8	Evaluating recent initiatives in promoting home-school links	104
	An overview	104
	Baseline assessment - the proposals	104
	Initial reactions	104
	Contracts and agreements - which way forward?	105
	Record of Achievement	106
	Records of Achievement for Key Stage 1	106
	Accredited status for parent learning	107
	Reviewing performance	112
	Partnership ... at a price	113
	Bibliography	115
	Index	118