Whether you have attended one of our PEP Forums, Coffee Mornings or just followed us via social media, we appreciate your company on this incredible journey.
CEN’s Parents Empowering Parents PEP was created specifically to address the fact that parents are too often not included in conversations about their children early enough to assist in addressing a problem before it escalates. We have unfortunately become used to hearing from parents only once a school exclusion has already taken place.
During our conversations with parents, we often hear their bewilderment when recounting that the first time they had been contacted by the school, is to be presented with a catalogue of prior incidents committed by their child, about which they had not previously been informed.
PEP provides parents with the support tools to ensure that they are able to be more proactive in approaching schools and work more effectively to support their children remaining in mainstream education.
CEN / ARE (Action for Race Equality) Partnership
In 2021, we partnered with Action for Race Equality through their flagship role model and mentoring programme, Routes2Success (R2S), to expand our service offer. R2S matches Black, Asian, and mixed heritage young people with role models from similar backgrounds to support them with their personal development and inspire them to succeed in education, employment & entrepreneurship.
Together, ARE and CEN deliver the Parents Empowering Parents (PEP) Programme which provides opportunities for parents to empower and upskill themselves. As part of the offer, parents have access to free monthly online Parent Forum sessions designed to build supportive peer networks and learn from guest speakers and other parents with similar experience.
The CEN / ARE partnership, The R2S programme invites parents of young people participating in the programme to attend these PEP Forum webinars and in turn, CEN refers young people to ARE for group and individual R2S mentoring.
As partners, we are determined to ensure that all children have the right to access mainstream education and that parents have the knowledge and tools to be active partners in their child’s education.
Advocacy is often regarded as some sort of emergency service with parents contacting us only after a school exclusion has occurred, but at CEN, we want to ensure that parents know that we also focus on early intervention and are able to be involved before exclusion is an option.
PEP encourages parents to understand why it is important for parents to be involved in their children’s education and provides parents with the following:
PEP Forum webinars
A directory of services which offer specialist support
A bespoke referral and signposting service for parents and young people
Assistance for parents to create PEP Hubs in their own communities
The PEP Forum sessions cover the following topics:
Tips on How to advocate on behalf of your child
Understanding the exclusion process and how to prevent it
Challenging behaviour - How to address it
Transitions - What to look for in a school
Father's voices
Recognising parental expertise
If you would like to know more about joining a PEP Hub or want help in getting a PEP Hub started in your school/local community, contact CEN’s Parent Coordinator using the details below:
T: 020 7733 0297