Parents & Carers of DBJA, your school needs you!
February 2026 marks the start of a new pilot programme at DBJA focused on improving links with parents and the wider community.
Who are Parentkind, who do they support and what do they do?
Parentkind exists to: Empower all with parental or educational responsibility to improve the life chances of children, young people and their communities.
As a national charity, Parentkind gives those with a parenting role a voice in education. They invest substantial resources in representing parent views on their child’s learning to local, regional and national governments and agencies because evidence tells parental participation in education benefits all children in all schools and society as a whole. Parentkind is the network of PTA fundraisers in the UK. They bring specialist fundraising support and advice to parent volunteers so that every school can benefit from a successful PTA. Their 12,500 PTA members raise over £120+ million per year, placing them alongside some of the largest charities in the UK.
The Parentkind journey started in 1956 by a group of pioneer parents who were passionate about parent involvement in their child’s learning but felt that they needed a voice at national as well as local level. Therefore, from PTAs on the ground forming regional federations, the national association of PTAs was born.
Nicholas Gillet was the first chair of the National Council of Parent Teacher Associations (NCPTA), as it was then called, and his vision was that parents should not only have a local role and a voice in their child’s school but also at a national level in education policy.
Today family life is very different to 65 years ago and so is the education system. We have many different types of family structures and circumstances (the nuclear family, single parents, or two working parents), much more disparate community support and a multitude of care arrangements for children around school. However, the vision remains the same; parents should not only have a local role and a voice in their child’s school but also at a national level in education policy.
Work began 10.02.26 on an audit of current practice to identify strengths and areas for development.
The evaluation tool assessed our practice on 5 Key Drivers:
We have been evaluated at the Standard Level as a baseline.
Our strongest areas on the evaluation tool were:
Initiative 1.4 – Evolving the school environment
The school provides a welcoming environment that is inclusive, secure and accessible for parents.
94%
Gold Award
Initiative 5.5 – Signposting to community resources
The school directs identified parents to a wide range of community partners to meet their needs.
81%
Gold Award
Initiative 2.1 – Diversifying communication channels
The school uses a variety of communication methods in a timely way to reach parents effectively.
77%
Silver Award
What’s next?
We know there is more work to do to ensure that you feel empowered to feel truly involved in school life here at DBJA, so we will be working on the key drivers 3 and 4 next:
Driver 3 – Home-based learning
Encouraging parents to offer positive support for their child’s learning enhances teachers’ practice and increases achievement. By enabling parent skills to support learning at home, schools guide them to understand their role in their child’s journey through education
Driver 4 – Involvement in school life
Engaging parents with a wide variety of inclusive activities significantly improves the school’s resources and skills. With strong active parent involvement, schools can foster trust and establish long-term collaborations that enhance educational outcomes.
Our core focus areas to help grow our relationship with our parents are carers are:
Initiative 4.3 – Coordinating parent volunteers
The school matches parents’ time and talent with school needs to maximise volunteers’ value.
Initiative 4.4 – Empowering the PTA
The school encourages formal parent-led volunteering groups to be integral to the school community.
Initiative 4.5 – Providing accessible volunteering
The school identifies and takes action to reduce parent barriers to increase volunteer contributions.
Returning to school in September 2025!
September-2025-Return-Information-for-Parents FINAL
Our community has lots to offer, get out and about if you can!
What’s on at libraries, community and family hubs | London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Please follow the links above to find information on free or low cost community-run events and workshops.