Family friendly communication

Published 04/07/2024.  Last updated 31/07/2024

Parents and families are not a homogenous group.  It is important therefore that schools develop a robust engagement strategy that takes account of differing parental communication needs and requirements.  This can include the needs of English as a second language, additional support needs families, British Sign Language families, travelling community, and service families.

Appropriate communication

  • Ensure communication is tailored to families by ascertaining what is appropriate and accessible to families.

Tailored offers

  • Ensure communication is appropriate and varied by focusing on factors such as location, time and technology.

Listen and show

  • Ensure communication received from families directly informs future planning and feed this back to them frequently.

Regular communication

  • Build regular, consistent and open channels of communication to continually engage families.

1. Adapt communications to remove subject-specific language, abbreviations and unnecessary jargon. 

2. Seek family input when considering location and utilise local facilities such as sports halls and community centres. Aim to provide different meetings at different times to fit around schedules and provide child-friendly activities for those with young families. 

3. Provide feedback on how their ideas have been implemented and allow families to get involved in the implementation of their ideas. If ideas aren't feasible, explain why. 

Regular communication

Use alternative methods of communication that allow for regular contact. This could be dedicated sections of newsletters or group calls, local notice boards in shops and organised community events.

'I’ve made good friends, and we now have our own wee support group chat.' (Parent from Brew and Blether Group) 

'It's been great to see how the school uses our feedback to help students and shows us what difference our comments make.' (Families) 

'It is clear that the school really values what we have to say. The fact we get so many opportunities to feed into such a variety of topics is brilliant.' (Families)
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Family friendly communication

Published 04/07/2024.  Last updated 31/07/2024

Parents and families are not a homogenous group.  It is important therefore that schools develop a robust engagement strategy that takes account of differing parental communication needs and requirements.  This can include the needs of English as a second language, additional support needs families, British Sign Language families, travelling community, and service families.

Appropriate communication

  • Ensure communication is tailored to families by ascertaining what is appropriate and accessible to families.

Tailored offers

  • Ensure communication is appropriate and varied by focusing on factors such as location, time and technology.

Listen and show

  • Ensure communication received from families directly informs future planning and feed this back to them frequently.

Regular communication

  • Build regular, consistent and open channels of communication to continually engage families.

1. Adapt communications to remove subject-specific language, abbreviations and unnecessary jargon. 

2. Seek family input when considering location and utilise local facilities such as sports halls and community centres. Aim to provide different meetings at different times to fit around schedules and provide child-friendly activities for those with young families. 

3. Provide feedback on how their ideas have been implemented and allow families to get involved in the implementation of their ideas. If ideas aren't feasible, explain why. 

Regular communication

Use alternative methods of communication that allow for regular contact. This could be dedicated sections of newsletters or group calls, local notice boards in shops and organised community events.

'I’ve made good friends, and we now have our own wee support group chat.' (Parent from Brew and Blether Group) 

'It's been great to see how the school uses our feedback to help students and shows us what difference our comments make.' (Families) 

'It is clear that the school really values what we have to say. The fact we get so many opportunities to feed into such a variety of topics is brilliant.' (Families)
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