South Tyneside school delighted with parnership award

Simonside Primary School was presented with the Parental Partnership Award by early years specialist company ‘Spread the Happiness’ for its work with families to establish links between parents and the school.

Over the last year the school on Glasgow Road, Jarrow, has worked with early years specialist, Shonette Bason-Wood, who came into the school to deliver ‘Spread the Happiness’ workshops for staff and parents

Parents and carers also get involved in numerous activities including, ‘stay and play’ events, family learning courses with the Foundation of Light, and came along on school visits.

The link also extended to social media, as reception and year one parents got involved in the school’s ‘100 things to do before you’re six’ challenge where they sent in photos of pupils taking part in some of the activities on the list to win an outdoor trip. The photos have also been used to create a display in school.

Deputy head teacher Lisa Pegman said the school was extremely proud to be presented with the award.

“I think we are the first school in the borough to get the Parent Partnership Award, so we are really proud of that,” she said.

“I think the parents deserve it for the way they all got on board with the programme.

“We started working with early years specialist Shonette, sometime last year and she is the one who awarded us with the Parent Partnership Award.

“It is all about promoting positivity and wellbeing with children and working with their families.

“As part of this we held workshops with parents in school and held a competition through our Twitter feed.

“As a school we place a lot of emphasis on the links between home and school to achieve the best possible outcome for the children, something that we are really passionate about.”

For more visit: spreadthehappiness.co.uk