ICT in learning and teaching
Action Research
Primary and Early Years > Interest > Home and school
P64: Using ICT to increase parental involvement with their child's learning by encouraging Y1 pupils to take a laptop home
Author: Barbara Scott, Willington Primary School, County Durham
Date: 2006
Summary
The children in Barbara's class were used to using a computer that was already logged on and she wanted them to be able to do this for themselves in order that parents could become involved in helping their children with set pieces of homework. Questionnaires were set up and sent to the parents. 19 agreed to have a laptop at home and most were really enthusiastic. Training sessions were set up for those parents with little skills. The children were asked to fill in a different questionnaire on how they viewed working with their parent/carer. In the future Barbara would like to see more courses run in how parents can help children with their homework and make learning more fun.
> Download this research: PDF 
- Microsoft Word 
Primary and Early Years > Interest > Home and school
P65: Evaluating the effect of creating a website to improve communication between school and parents
Author: Pauline Blade, Teaching Assistant, Furze Infants School
Date: 2006
Summary
The idea of creating a website evolved from an Ofsted inspection which highlighted that home/school links need improving, but before Pauline could develop her website she had to wait until the end of 2004 for the Local Authority to set up its template. This was needed for consistency. Headings and sub-headings were agreed and a questionnaire was set to all parents in December 2006. Comments received ranged from 'excellent' to 'it's a bit dull compared to other websites'. It was clear from the results of the questionnaire that parents do access the website and actions suggested will be acted on. As a result links between the school and the parent/carer and the wider community have improved.
> Download this research: PDF - Microsoft Word