Blair Dravitski

How do you reassure the parents?

How do you reassure the kids?

How do you make sure the staff are on board?

No matter how big or small the school is, having staff, collective buy-in, building relational trust is so important to ensure that when these things do happen, which we hope never do,

that you've got the building blocks in place and that trust built up over time to make sure that actually they do turn to schools because we are a hub and we are a place that can provide some of those pastoral needs that although we're not necessarily expected to or maybe not in the job description, it's something that through a vocation of teaching is something that I think all educators are well aware of in regards to that part of the job.

Yeah, so you often hear schools talking about the only time they hear from parents is when there's an issue.

And then in reverse, parents talk about the only time they hear from schools is when there's an issue at school.

So for myself and the school, it's about creating relationships

you know, explicitly.

So you are sending emails home with positive comments about interactions during the day.

If something hasn't happened, sorry, if something's not gone well, then we're also reaching out to parents so they're not getting their child to arrive home and sharing a story or one of worry.

So we're actually front-footing things and front-loading our parents so that we actually have those strong communication places already set up.

It does mean that from a communication point of view,

They feel that when the school reaches out, there's a reason for it, and it's both positive and sometimes feedback-driven, and then other times they'll reach out to us and have the same respectful, healthy conversations that we want.

I don't tend to prioritise things like difficult conversations.

I hate the term difficult conversations because it creates an adjective and puts anxiety on a conversation that actually should be just part and parcel of the school culture, and how you have those conversations with parents are respectful, and then you get the same back.

Yeah, absolutely.

So when the bell goes at my school at the end of the day, all my staff are outside making sure that those parents who are on site are able to have a conversation

couple of minute conversation if required.

For some parents in some of the schools I've worked at, they may not choose to interact with the staff.