Ideas for building positive relationships with parents

Besides the students in your school, one of the next most important groups of people are your student’s parents. Building positive relationships with parents is not always an easy journey – but there are some things we can do to help establish great relationships from the beginning.
Here are five ideas to help with this.

1. Make parents feel welcome

First impressions are so important, yet it’s often easy to overlook parents in the classroom when you are busy getting organised for the day, checking in with your students, making sure feedback has been given to students for their tasks and generally sorting classroom life. However it only takes a moment to acknowledge a parent, so a quick hello and a smile can be enough to make them feel appreciated.

A sign on your door inviting parents to come in and discuss their learning with their child can go a long way to making them feel welcome also.

2. Communicate regularly

When I was in the classroom, one of the most common things we used to hear from parents was that they felt there was a lack of clear communication – even though we felt we were doing a thorough job of this.

You can never have too many forms of communication!

[bctt tweet=” Use #digital tools to communicate easily with your parent community!” username=”donnagolightly1″]

 

With the advances in the digital world, and with many schools embracing modern technology, it is making it easier for schools to communicate in a variety of ways. Some of the more effective ways you could consider are:

  • Class blogs

What better way to communicate the learning that is happening than by sharing it with your parent community. Having an authentic audience makes learning more purposeful for your students and allows your parents to engage in more meaningful conversations with their children about what they are learning at school.

There are numerous tools that you could use to create a class blog, including Google Sites, Blogger, Adobe Spark Page, Sway, Weebly or Edublog.

  • Create a school app

There are many companies that now offer this service to schools. You can tailor the app to suit your school’s needs and even include links to class blogs from there.
You can add all the essential information parents would want to know – even consult the parents as too what information they think is important to include in a school app.

Some schools make the school app an authentic project for their students. They design, build and maintain it themselves. Glide is a great site that makes it very easy to create an app from a Google Sheet.

Google Slides can also be used to create a simple school app.

  • Digital newsletters

Offer your parents both digital and paper versions of your regular newsletter. Updating parents on what’s been happening and what’s coming up is so important these days – but if you offer digital newsletters as well as print versions parents have many more opportunities to check them out (and they don’t get screwed up in the bottom of school bags 😃)

Some of the more common sites used for creating engaging digital newsletters are:

  • Adobe Spark Page
  • Google Docs or Word documents – using the template option so that all the standard formatting is done and doesn’t need to be repeated each time.
  • Smore
  • Or even Book Creator. Each newsletter is added to a new page, with the most recent being added to the front. Having them all in a book format allows parents to easily see what has come before and catch up on any they may have missed – all in one place.

Having a link to the newsletters from the home page of the school website also allows for effective communication channels for parents.

3. Learn from your parents

Parent communities are full of people with many skills and a huge variety of experiences. Get to know your community and invite them in to share their expertise and their stories.

[bctt tweet=” What experiences and skills could your parents contribute to your Ss learning?” username=”donnagolightly1″]

 

Utilise the digital technologies available to schools and organise Google Hangouts or Skype calls with parents who may not necessarily be available to physically come to the school but have valuable messages to share. This also allows your students to go beyond the four walls of the classroom and develop skills in new areas of digital communications.

4. Be approachable

Education is rapidly changing and many parents will have conversations with their children about how “it wasn’t done like that in my day!”

Most of these parents have a genuine interest in understanding new pedagogies and want to know more about why and how things are changing. Having parent helpers in your room allows these parents to see first hand what their children’s classrooms are like and experience new ways of approaching education. The bonus is, you get an extra set of hands to help also!

Let your parents know you are happy to answer their queries. Some schools invite parents to contact teachers directly through email. Setting up a filter on your email is a great way of being able to control the volume of emails that may come from parents and allow you a more organised way of coping with them. Set aside a time in the day when you will address these emails and let your parents know when this is – so they don’t bombard you with more emails, thinking you ignored their first one!

Most importantly – acknowledge parents when you walk past them or when they enter your room. Never underestimate the power of the word ‘hello’ accompanied by a smile.

5. Invite feedback

Finally, invite your parents to offer their feedback. I know this can be a scary proposition, but allowing your parents to have a voice validates their relationship in the learning journey of their child/ren.

[bctt tweet=” Do you ask your parents for feedback on what’s happening in your classroom?” username=”donnagolightly1″]

 

Share a Google or Microsoft Form with some carefully worded questions around what you would like feedback about. The resulting spreadsheets may surprise you and could definitely be used to plan going forward.

Casual conversations are a great way to solicit feedback from parents and gather their thoughts and ideas on activities. There are many parents who are only too keen to offer their ideas and suggestions. Be careful to make them feel their ideas are valued – even if it’s the most far fetched thing you’ve ever heard! There are some amazing snippets to be gained from many of these conversations.

Most importantly, embrace and value all the members of your school community – from your teachers to your students, their families and the wider community surrounding them. As the saying goes – it takes a village to raise a child.

You can read more inspiring blogs from our team here.


Related Post

The right ways to enable AI at work – Tips for IT Lead

In today’s fast-paced workplace, maximizing efficiency while minimizing time spent on repetitive tasks is crucial. However, many staff members may feel unsure about integrating AI effectively, leading to missed productivity opportunities. As the IT lead, you can guide your team in harnessing AI’s power to streamline operations and save time. By providing clear guidance and

VIEW POST

How well do you use the
Apple Apps Google Workspace Microsoft 365
tools in your workplace?

Find out if you’re working with the tools OR if you’ve got the
tools working for you.

What Industry Are You In?

Using Apple Apps, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?

What Type of user are you?

🫣 Entry User | 🤹 Skilled User | 👑 Elite User

Take the quiz to find out. 

Privacy Policy

Using Technology Better Privacy Commitment

Introduction

We hold the privacy of your personal information in the highest regard.

Using Technology Better regards customer privacy as an important part of our relationship with our customers. The following privacy policy applies to all Using Technology Better users, and conforms to Internet privacy standards.

This policy will be continuously assessed against new technologies, business practices and our customers’ needs.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact the support team on our Contact Us Page.

Collection of Information

In order to use the Using Technology Better website, we may require information from you in order to provide the best service possible.

All correspondence may also be collected and stored, particularly in regard to sales, support and accounts, including Email.

Any information collected by Using Technology Better is collected via correspondence from you or your company. This may be via the telephone, Email, mail, fax or directly through our website.

Visitors and customers of japan.usingtechnologybetter.com will have their information shared back to DAIWABO INFORMATION SYSTEM CO., LTD. and DIS Service & Solution Co., Ltd.

Use of Collection Information

Any details collected from Using Technology Better customers is required in order to provide you with our

products and/or services, and a high level of customer service.

Correspondence is recorded in order to provide service references, and to assist in our staff development.

Web Site Use Information

Similar to other commercial Web sites, our Web sites utilize a standard technology called “cookies” (see explanation below, “What Are Cookies?”) and web server log files to collect information about how our Web site is used.

Information gathered through cookies and Web server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our Web site, and the Web sites visited just before and just after our Web site.

Storage of Collected Information

The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card numbers) on our website, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).

When Credit Card details are collected, we simply pass them on in order to be processed as required. We never permanently store complete Credit Card details.

We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it.

If you have any questions about security on our Website, you can email us at <ContactEmail>.

Access to Collected Information

If your personally identifiable information changes, or if you no longer desire our service, you may correct, update, delete or deactivate it by emailing us at <ContactEmail>.

Orders

If you purchase a product or service from us, we may request certain personally identifiable information from you.

You may be required to provide contact information such as:

Name

Email

Postal address

Your school or organisation

Financial information (such as credit card number, expiration date, name on card, card billing address).

We use this information for billing purposes and to fill your orders. If we have trouble processing an order, we will use this information to contact you.

Communications

Using Technology Better uses personally identifiable information for essential communications, such as

Emails

Accounts information

Critical service details.

We may also use this information for other purposes, including some promotional Emails.

If at any time a customer wishes not to receive such correspondence, they can request to be removed from any mailing lists by contacting support.

You will be notified when your personal information is collected by any third party that is not our agent/service provider, so you can make an informed choice as to whether or not to share your information with that party.

Third Parties

Using Technology Better may at its discretion use other third parties to provide essential services on our site or for our business processes.

We may share your details as necessary for the third party to provide that service.

These third parties are prohibited from using your personally identifiable information for any other purpose.

Using Technology Better does not share any information with third parties for any unknown or unrelated uses.

What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a Web site, that site’s computer asks your computer for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies.

Each Web site can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a Web site to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites.

Browsers are usually set to accept cookies. However, if you would prefer not to receive cookies, you may alter the configuration of your browser to refuse cookies.

If you choose to have your browser refuse cookies, it is possible that some areas of our site will not function as effectively when viewed by the users.

A cookie cannot retrieve any other data from your hard drive or pass on computer viruses.

How Do We Use Information We Collect from Cookies?

As you visit and browse our Web site, the site uses cookies to differentiate you from other users. In some cases, we also use cookies to prevent you from having to log in more than is necessary for security.

Cookies, in conjunction with our Web server’s log files, allow us to calculate the aggregate number of people visiting our Web site and which parts of the site are most popular. This helps us gather feedback to constantly improve our Web site and better serve our clients.

Cookies do not allow us to gather any personal information about you and we do not intentionally store any personal information that your browser provided to us in your cookies.

Legal

We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Website.

Links

Links on the Using Technology Better site to external entities are not covered within this policy. The terms and conditions set out in this privacy statement only cover the domain name of usingtechnologybetter.com

Changes to Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.

We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it periodically. If we make material changes to this policy, we will not use the personal information you have submitted to us under this Privacy Policy in a manner that is materially inconsistent with this Privacy Policy, without your prior consent

Delivery Policy

Most goods are digitally delivered instantly via email.  Our services may be delivered either via an online medium or live in person.

For our online delivery see below.  For services delivered live onsite, please refer to our speaker agreement form which is emailed to you on confirmation of booking.

Refund Policy

We do not offer refunds or returns unless we cannot supply goods or services or the goods or services are not delivered as promised.

Australian law is the governing body for all work, goods and services supplied by Using Technology Better.

Marketing Release

Using Technology Better (UTB) may film, record, and photograph me (the results of which are the “Recordings”). UTB may also incorporate into any production(s) any separate content (e.g., quotes, testimonials, biographical information, profiles, photos, videos, sound recordings, artwork, etc.) I provide to UTB or approve in writing (“Materials”).

1.License

I grant to UTB an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to, in its sole discretion, (i) edit, translate, and modify the Recordings and the Materials, (ii) attribute the Recordings and Materials to me by my name, age, and city and state of residence, (iii) incorporate the Recordings and the Materials into content to promote UTB, its programs, or products (“Content”), and (iv) publicly use, distribute, reproduce, create derivative works from, and perform/display the Content, and any excerpts thereof, in any language.

2. No Compensation.

I grant this permission without any financial or other obligation of any nature.

 

For any issues or concerns please contact us