How to reduce parental anxiety
Imagine this scenario. An extremely agitated parent marches into school with her son or daughter trailing behind, on a day when the school is closed to students.
With the teaching staff involved in a training session the parent finds you and demands to know why she was not told that children should not be in the school this day.
Patiently you explain that she was sent a letter, but she claims she didn’t receive it. You tell her that the dates of school closures are on the website but she claims she doesn’t have internet connection.
You apologise, but she says that’s not good enough. So what next?
It’s a tough one because you know that the parent is quite possibly not giving you the full facts, but you can’t actually say so.
Although such confrontations are thankfully rare, and quite possibly you’ve never faced one at all, it can be worth creating a way around such a problem – not just because it deals with this particular parent but also because it has associated benefits.
Imagine that in this situation you were able to walk with the lady and her embarrassed son or daughter back to her car, parked at the school entrance – where you could indicate the notice on school closure dates on the entry point notice board.
Indeed, where installed such a board can have lists of all the forthcoming events of relevance to parents – sports matches, trips, visits, parent’s evenings, etc.
Not only is this an additional way of getting information to parents, but it also has other benefits. It actually can bring parents together as they gather around to read the notice. And it can reduce the number of parents who seem to find a regular excuse to pop into the school office.
Although the number of entry-point notice boards declined at the end of the 20th century, they are now very much in use again with around two thirds of schools now having at least one – with most of them recently installed.
The major supplier behind this re-discovery of external notice boards is my company: Greenbarnes. And you can find more information on our website at: http://www.greenbarnes.co.uk/product-type/notice-boards/
Alternatively you can call us on 01280 701 093.
Michael Barnes