When Parent Champion Mihriban met the Director of Early Years & Childcare

Lizzie Hodgkins
26 September 2017

The Parent Champions scheme in Haringey was started in the summer of 2016 by the Early Help Commissioning team at the local council. It seeks to reach out to areas of the borough where there is low engagement with services. Parent Champions are parent volunteers who give a few hours a week to talk to other parents about the local services available to families.

Parent Champions Haringey’s key priority is to increase the take up of the free 15 hours early education entitlement, especially among those communities considered harder to reach. This offer is targeted at deprived two year olds but nationally only about seven in ten eligible children take up the offer. High quality early education can boost children's development and narrow the gap that opens up between disadvantaged children and their peers before they even start school.

The Early Help team are aware that some community groups such as Jewish Orthodox, Somali, Turkish and Bangladeshi communities are not making as much use of local services. Parent Champions in Haringey have been recruited specifically from these communities to support fellow parents to make use of local services.

Mihriban is a mother of three young children and is a Parent Champion. She has used the free two year old early education entitlement and has seen the benefits for herself and her children. Mihriban is able to confidently speak to other parents from the Turkish community, explaining clearly the benefits of early education. She says that in her community, preschool age children generally stay at home with their mothers.

Mihriban says that speaking to other parents from the Turkish community in a natural, friendly way about the opportunities for early years education for two year olds helps them understand that the entitlement is more than just childcare and that the benefits include giving children an opportunity to develop language and social skills in a safe environment. It makes a big difference for Mihriban to pass on this information in her own language. Mihriban's passion about her volunteer role makes her a powerful advocate for the benefits of early education.

Last week, Mihriban and her fellow Parent Champions in Haringey had the opportunity to meet Michelle Dyson, Director of Early Years and Childcare at the Department for Education. Michelle was delighted to take up her new role in July this year and this was her first visit to a Parent Champions scheme.

Michelle Dyson, Director of Early years, Parent Champions Haringey — Michelle Dyson, Director of Early Years & Childcare meeting with Parent Champions Haringey

Michelle and her colleague Kirstie Humphreys were invited by the Family and Childcare Trust to visit Parent Champions Haringey to see how Parent Champions are helping increase take up of free early education and narrow the attainment gap in their borough. At Triangle Children’s Centre, Michelle and Kirstie listened to Mihriban and other Parent Champions share how their own experience of using local family services helped them recommend opportunities to other families who may not know what services are available or why they are important.

Mihriban and the other Parent Champions are making a positive difference to the lives of families across the country. In a three month period, Parent Champions Haringey spoke to over 200 families and signposted them to local family services. Of the families that were followed up, all reported that they had taken up a local service, including the free early education entitlement, showing the real difference they are making to children's and parents' lives.