Introduction
Back in November, we worked alongside national early years consultant, Helen Battelley, who led a parent workshop in Grangetown Primary. This was to target parents within the early years to share key messages around the importance of physical activity with the aim to improve knowledge of parents and hopefully change behaviours.
What happened?
The event was held straight after school drop off to encourage more parents to attend which worked as we had 25 parents/guardians attend. The parent workshop was informal with Helen starting with a game using an ice breaker which instantly made parents feel at ease. She slowly drip fed key messages alongside fun and reflective questionning which worked great. Parents engaged throughout and were asking questions. You could see lightbulb moments amongst parents who when reflecting, openly and honestly explained they could do more and need to do more. This was also confirmed during evaluation (see attached parent comments)
Who was involved?
It was ran in Grangetown Primary and involved Helen Battelley, school staff and parents. Other school staff took any pre school children to their EYFS provision so parents had the time to fully listen and be involved in the session. This worked really well as parents were able to fully engage in the session and also kept noise level to a minimum when Helen was sharing key messages.
When?
One off session, however, Grangetown are keen to replicate with other year groups due to the success of the session. The learning was also shared at our CAS community of learning meeting and other schools are keen to utilise the time of the Creating Active Families Officer to replixate the sessions in their schools due to the success and feedback of this session.
Where?
The session was held within the school hall which was a large space to allow informal activity which is what helped the parents feel at ease and reinforce the messages that physical activity makes us happy, helps us connect, creates laughter etc. This was held in an area of high deprivation so we weren't sure how the 'fun' activities getting parents involved would go, however, this proved highly successful.
How?
It was a mix of parent involvement and listening which worked really well. Helen did hoop game where parents had to hold hands in groups of 5 and get in and out of the hoop and pass it round without leaving go of hands. This particular activity had parents laughing, working as a team, competitive and focussed. All reinforcing the messages that Helen was sharing.
She had an ice breaker which involved 'I like chocolate, I have blonde hair, I am a girl' and if you agreed with the statement, you swapped chairs with someone else in the circle. She then took a chair away so it left someone without one. This then meant the parents had to get involved and come up with ideas. Parents fully engaged with this and again, Helen reinforced the messages of fun, social etc.
Why?
Grangetown expressed the difficulties they faced engaging parents and openly said they'd never done anything around key messaging for physical activity with parents.
Obesity data shows a negative trend with levels of overweight and obese children, particularly in areas of high deprivation.
Mental health data shows a negative trend in terms of children with a diagnosable disorder.
Children learn more physical skills within their first 5 years so catching parents and sharing these messages early is crucial.
So?
By sharing these key messages and getting parents/guardians to reflect, it has hopefully led to some behaviour change e.g. a few parents said their children spend too much time online and they are going to go away and reduce the time spent sitting gaming.
See parent quotations in terms of the impact the session had.
The deputy headteacher of Grangetown, Stephen Jackson, said it was the most successful parent session that he'd seen there and they were shocked at how engaged and positive all of the parents were within the session. They are now keen to replicate with all year groups within school to share these key messages in a fun, engaging way.
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