Parents involvement in Learning
We welcome parents in to school so that they can be part of our school and their child's education. We aim to provide parent workshops on a 2 year cycle and ask parents to advise us of their needs through our annual parental questionnaires.
We have our Career and Enterprise week every 2 years and have a zoom with Dyson Engineering to promote STEM and engineering for girls focus; year 4 visit GA Food Partnership to look at the different local careers in a manufacturing company to name a few.
Each year we hold creative weeks and we invite parents and friends of school to come in and share their skills and talents. This year 2025 2026 we held a World Faith Week in and will hold our Enterprise week in May. We had Arts week in May 2025 where parents with arts careers and local artists and performers came to enrich our Arts curriculum. We had a Sports and Fitness week where children were challenegd to learn new skills and reach a personal best.
Each year in September, Mrs Clarke holds a parent workshop for class 1 parents on reading and phonics.
November - parent workshop on maths strategies
November - consultation for admissions 2025 2026 ( no change - 7 years)
Sept - phonics and early reading for class 1 parents
June - consultation RSE policy and curriculum with parent meeting on zoom and in person
March - parent forum
March - Hothersall Lodge and Robinwood parent meeting
Feb - KS2 SATs workshop
Feb - Online safety zoom offer
November - Chromebook 1 to 1 zoom
June - RSE parent zoom meeting Q & A
March - Maths focus workshop
July - First Aid training held at school for parents from Bretherton and our Cluster schools. Thank you to Sian at Heartbeat for a thorough and enjoyable course.
Parental involvement
Rationale
At Bretherton Endowed CE Primary School , we recognise the worthwhile contribution that can be made by adults to our children in supporting them with their learning. Additional adults in school, such as volunteers can support children in their learning and social and emotional well being. Given the voluntary status of such adults, it is appreciated by the school greatly to have additional members of the workforce who can make a real contribution. The school recognises that volunteers often require positions in order to further their own experience in relation to career pathways, and is supportive of individuals in the community who require this. The following guidelines have been set out for any person making enquiries about volunteering in school. This is in line with Safer Recruitment procedures and the school policy for recruiting staff. The safety and well being of children is of paramount importance and for this reason, the guidelines followed for recruiting volunteers are in line with other school policies. Aims of the policy This policy is designed to ensure that there are procedures and practices in place for recruiting volunteers and working with these volunteers.
Defintions
A volunteer is someone who is unpaid but would like to work in school. The reasons for working in school can be varied but usually pertain to a college course placement or similar, which they have been instructed to gain as a mandatory element of starting the course. On some occasions, willing members of the community also become involved in school life because they want to make a contribution. On occasions, the school receives queries from degree level students and teaching students who require a short experiential primary placement. The procedure for allowing these students into school is slightly different because of the shorter time period they wish to come in for. This is detailed below.
Procedure for recruitment of volunteers
The following procedure is followed with each recruitment for a volunteer.
- Initial query by potential volunteer. Directed to visit school office to obtain an application pack and speak to the Headteacher
- School office will hand out the application pack and direct the applicant to apply for an online DBS form.
- Potential volunteer to return the forms to the Headteacher or Deputy Head Teacher for screening, subject to Safer Recruitment procedures.
- Screened and accepted forms to be kept on file whilst the Deputy Heacteacher makes initial contact to query what is needed by the volunteer and what the school can accommodate.
- DBS form approved by the authority.
- HT / DHT to interview the volunteer and outline expected standards. A volunteer letter containing details of safeguarding and behaviour.
- References to be sought where applicable
- Appointment / File for future opportunities / Write to say unsuccessful application and reasons why.
- Start date and induction and training dates set.
Procedure for accepting students seeking short experiential placements
- Query received via Headteacher and /or Deputy Headteacher .
- Details sought by one of the above staff about time scales and dates. It will also be ascertained at this point whether a DBS clearance is in place or not. This will often already be the case because students are on teaching courses.
- Where a DBS clearance is not in place, one will be obtained. In addition, a letter is required from the university to clarify that the student is on a course currently. This is required because we do not go through the application process that we do for other volunteers, due to the short length of the placement.
- Student starts on the required dates once the DBS has been received. A short induction is given on the first day. Obtaining DBS clearance On most occasions, DBS clearance is obtained for individuals working in school. However, it is at the discretion of the Headteacher to allow any other individual to work in school without one and this will only be allowed if the individual is working under direct supervision and a full risk assessment has taken place.
Volunteers on educational visits
In order to run educational visits safely and give children wider opportunities, additional adults are required. When planning these trips, as far as possible, the school uses existing staffing and school volunteers already in place. However, it is acknowledged that on occasions, further adults may be required to support the visit. In this event, the school may ask parents or other community members to help out. These adults may not have DBS clearance because this is rarely practicable to undertake this. They will always work under direct supervision of staff members and will never be left alone with groups or individuals. They will not supervise toilet visits without supervision. They will be instructed at the start of the visit to ensure that they follow our policy on the use of mobile phones, social media and our general code of conduct. Induction and Training All volunteers will receive a copy of the staff handbook, which details everything an employee needs to know in order to carry out their duties. A full induction will be carried out with the volunteer, and signatures given to say this has been done. Training will be included as relevant, but all volunteers will receive basic child protection training.
Duties
Volunteers will be directed to work in a class / classes, under the direction of the class teacher. The class selected will be determined by the need in school and the preferences of the volunteer. Duties carried out will be under the supervision of the class teacher. Duties will reflect the level of experience, training, support, and skills of the volunteer.
Parent of a child in school
It is not school policy to provide volunteering opportunities in a class if the volunteer is related to a child in that class. This is due to a potential conflict of professional interest for the parent and other parents in school. It may be possible to place the volunteer in an alternative class in school.
All aspects of our policy intends to comply within the Data Protection ( GDPR) legislation.
We would like to thank our parents for donations to school. Laptops, chromebooks, sports equipment, sponsorship, are a few to date.