How to Really Build Effective Communication With Parents

Top tips on how to build effective communication channels with parents/carers.

Jan 19, 2025

I’ve previously posted about the importance of parents/carers in education here. They are a key pillar of support for children engaging in education. Having them as part of the child’s support network for education can result in children soaring academically. Parents/carers play a vital role in consolidating the learning and behaviours that take place in school.

In this blog, I’ll outline a few key ways you can foster and maintain relationships with parents/carers. I’ll also provide examples, so feel free to comment on which ones you’re going to try! This is by no means an exhaustive list, either, so let me know if you’ve got other examples that work for you in your settings!

🏫Effective Communication🏠

Effective communication is one of, if not the, most important aspect of any relationship. In my opinion, it’s essential in schools. Parents/carers know their children the best, they are the experts. Schools see children for 5+ hours every day. It should be obvious then, that a line of communication between school and home could only improve each child’s experience at school.

A child’s education is a partnership between the school and the family.

If teachers are told about incidents that have happened outside of school, they can implement the right support and strategies to engage the child. Likewise, if teachers communicate with parents about any incidents that have happened during the day, they can implement the right support at home. This ensures each child has wrap-around care, which can be vital when it comes to mental health.

If communication isn’t clear or timely, parents/carers can often become distant and disengaged with the school. As a teacher, it’s really hard to keep tabs on all the different incidents that happen during the day, and sometimes it feels impossible to remember 30 different parents/carers’ information about their child.

Having said that, I told you I would provide some examples…. so here we are!

📨Postcards home🏠

I’ve found these to be super effective! They’re also really cheap to buy on sites like Amazon. Essentially you can write on a postcard anything that’s happened during the day, I try to stick to positives with these. They’re great because you can fit them in your pocket and carry them on you throughout the day. I used to always have a pen clipped to my lanyard too and it takes about 10 seconds to write a little note on a postcard. I’d then hand these out at the end of the day. You can set your own threshold of what deserves a postcard. Personally, I gave them when children showed random acts of kindness to others. Whatever behaviour you choose to hand them out for will increase within your classroom. It’s simple, effective and easy!

After I introduced these, I found that a lot of parents/carers and even older brothers/sisters, aunties/uncles would approach me at the end of the day. These were the adults who previously weren’t that engaged with the school. It was a really nice side-effect of boosting positive behaviour within the classroom.

There are other ways to do the above. I’m sure many of you use Class Charts or Class Dojo. You can send messages home to parents using these apps too. Parents will see the message flash up on their phones and can instantly know what’s going on. However, I do believe that handwritten postcards are more impactful and personal.

📞Phone calls

When I taught in mainstream primary, phone calls were usually reserved for negative things. During my time in a specialist setting, we used them for positive reasons. Granted, there was only a class of 9 pupils, so it was much quicker to ring around all the parents. However, because the class staff rang weekly (at a minimum), we were able to quickly build a positive relationship with all the parents/carers.

In turn, this led to them feeling a stronger sense of inclusion in the school and their child’s education. They also shared how nice it was to receive a phone call about how well their child had done at school that week. It was often the catalyst for setting up a positive weekend.

Don’t keep a child’s success to yourself, share it with their parents. Success on any scale deserves to be shared and celebrated.

I’m not suggesting you call 30 children’s parents after school on a Friday. I would start small. Target those parents who don’t really engage and share some positive news with them! It’ll take about 3 minutes and I promise it’s worth it! Take a minute to think about which parent/carer you’re going to ring next week and write it down.

Done it?

Good!

👪Include Parents Where Possible

If you’ve not guessed yet, the general theme of this post is inclusivity. Include the parents wherever possible!

There are loads of ways to include parents in school. We’ve already discussed a few with postcards, phone calls, class charts/dojo! Now we’re going to move on to how to bring them into the school!

Don’t worry though, these suggestions won’t result in you having a class full of parents and children, which can end up in absolute chaos! I’ll rattle through some obvious ones and unpick a couple which I really value.

The obvious ways to include parents are through parent’s evenings, inviting them to watch assemblies, and volunteering to help out on school trips. These are all great and achievable ways to include parents. However, I’m sure most of your settings do this anyway! So let’s move on to some more unique ideas!

🗣️Parent Workshops

What’s a parent workshop you might ask? And I’d be happy to tell you!

I co-ran one of these in my last setting, essentially all we did was pick a topic, usually around special educational needs and explain how we supported the children in school.

For example, when talking about children becoming dysregulated, we explained how we used sensory rooms/corners to allow them to self-regulate. Unpicking what was in a sensory room and why, the science behind it and a general discussion about how parents could make this work for them at home.

Other topics you could discuss are: De-escalation strategies, SEN - Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, SEMH, Strength-based behaviour management, and pupil conflict. The list goes on! I’m sure you have loads of ideas too!

The workshops were usually held on a Friday morning and ran from anywhere between 45 minutes and 90 minutes.

A really lovely unintended consequence of these workshops was how the parents connected with each other. Parents who had never spoken to each other before were coming together to share ideas and strategies they used at home. We usually wrapped up the input from the school’s side of things in 45 minutes. The remainder of the time was spent facilitating conversations between parents/carers about their struggles and solutions in the home.

🎨Art Galleries & More

I have 100% stolen this idea from Jack from his amazing post here. I won’t spoil it all as I’ll let you read his heart-warming post. But essentially he invited parents into his classroom to look at the artwork the children had been doing. This sparked an idea in my brain.

What if you could use this model with other subjects?

Forces in science? Invite the parents to see the wooden cars the children have made to demonstrate gravity!

What if you were starting a new topic and you were planning to use a hook lesson? Invite the parents too! I’m sure they’d love to get involved with the mystery!

These are really easy and fun ways to include parents in their child’s learning. Comment below what ideas you have for this!

🎯Shared Goals

Who doesn’t love crossing off a completed goal on their to-do list? I absolutely do! It’s even better when these are shared goals and you’ve achieved them with someone else. You can do this with parents/carers too!

They’re an amazing way of fostering a collaborative and supportive learning environment for pupils. At the start of the academic year, you can use opportunities like parents' evenings to outline the academic plan for the year, highlighting key milestones and expectations. This provides a clear picture of what the children will be working towards.

This is a great opportunity to ask parents to share their priorities for their child. They don’t have to be purely academic-based either! It could be other areas such as social development, emotional well-being, or building specific skills. By aligning these insights, teachers and parents can co-create personalised, achievable goals that reflect the child’s holistic needs.

Regular check-ins throughout the year are essential for ensuring these goals stay on track. By using the other techniques in this post you can celebrate the progress (with postcards/phone calls), address any challenges (via the parent workshops) and maintain a continuous and united approach to the set goal.

There’s nothing better than setting a challenging but achievable goal for the year, working towards it throughout the year and achieving it at the end! It’s not too late to set some shared goals either, so set some at your next parent’s evening!

Conclusion 🔚

Building and maintaining positive relationships with parents/carers is essential for creating a supportive and inclusive educational experience for children. By prioritising effective communication, celebrating successes, and including parents wherever possible - through workshops, creative events, or shared goals - schools can foster stronger partnerships with families. These connections not only enhance the child’s academic and social development but also create a sense of community and collaboration. With a proactive and inclusive approach, teachers and parents can work together to ensure every child thrives.