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The Family and Childcare Trust has been chosen by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) as its Charity of the Year 2016/2017. The joint partnership will focus on the role schools play in enabling parents to make positive choices about early education.
The new alliance was announced on Saturday 30 April 2016 at NAHT’s annual conference in Birmingham.
Julia Margo, chief executive at the Family and Childcare Trust said:
This partnership comes at a crucial time for families and for schools. Over the next year, there will be some major changes to early years education, such as the extended free hours for three and four year olds and the introduction of the Tax Free Childcare scheme. Schools, which already understand the importance of parental involvement, will also play a central role in providing flexible early years education. We look forward to working with NAHT to help schools structure their parental engagement programmes in a way that will also satisfy Ofsted requirements, and to make sure that families get vital, quality information about the childcare support and other local services they are entitled to.
Julian Foster, Managing Director at Computershare Voucher Services, who sponsors the Scotland annual childcare costs survey, said:
Not only are costs in Scotland rising faster than in England, but Scottish parents also face a postcode lottery, with some quite staggering price differences between neighbouring local authorities, and there is clearly not enough childcare to meet Scotland’s needs. Bold reform is needed to address Scotland’s many childcare challenges.
The Family and Childcare Trust will work with NAHT on initiatives such as Parents Champions in schools – a peer-to-peer programme led by parent volunteers who share information about free early education and home learning with hard-to-reach families - or the Families First Quality Awards, a scheme created by the charity to promote excellence in information provision and parental engagement in schools.
The NAHT represents over 28,500 members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and choses a charity partner every year. Kim Johnson, NAHT’s new president, said:
We are delighted to partner with the Family and Childcare Trust this year to encourage NAHT schools to become more focused on the whole family.” My role as a Principal at the Bradfields Academy has assured me of the importance of parental engagement. I firmly believe that supporting parents and schools to become more involved in the educational process as well as striving for excellence in information sharing will enhance children’s outcomes.
Committed to high quality education in the early years, both organisations seek to join forces and undertake joint research that will impact future education policy.
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Contact: Mark Bou Mansour, Communications and Campaigns Manager. Telephone: 0207 940 7535, mobile: 07538 334 772, email: mark@familyandchildcaretrust.org.
Notes to Editor:
- The Parent Champions peer-to-peer model was pioneered by the Family and Childcare Trust in 2007, to reach families who are missing out on information about childcare and early learning services. It asks parent volunteers to share their experiences of free early education and other services to reach isolated or disadvantaged families in their local communities.
- Many of the 48 Parent Champions schemes in England focus on encouraging parents to access early education for their children, but they also increasingly use Parent Champions to share messages and signpost to a range of services including dentists, health visitors, GPs, special educational needs services, back to work and parenting programmes.
- The Families First Quality Award is a national quality assurance process and improvement tool designed to help raise the standards in information for families and demonstrate how services meet statutory obligations in the Childcare Act 2006 (Information Duty Section 12) and the SEND Code of Practice 2015. The Award is available to schools, local authorities, early years providers, children’s centres and childminder agencies.
About the Family and Childcare Trust
The Family and Childcare Trust aims to make the UK a better place for families. We are a leading national family charity in the field of policy, research and advocacy on childcare and family issues, with over 40 years’ experience. Our on-the-ground work with parents and providers informs our research and campaigns. We focus on the early years and childcare because they are crucial to boosting children’s outcomes throughout life and supporting parents to work.
About the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT)
NAHT represents more than 29,000 school leaders in early years, primary, secondary and special schools, making us the largest association for school leaders in the UK. We represent, advise and train school leaders in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We use our voice at the highest levels of government to influence policy for the benefit of leaders and learners everywhere. Our new section, NAHT Edge, supports, develops and represents middle leaders in schools.