The Last PEP Forum of 2024
PEPs next forum is on Thursday 31 October at 18:30
CEN’s last PEP Parent Forum session for 2024 was an OPEN FORUM on Thursday 31st October. The session was delivered by PEP Team who discussed the importance of proactive parenting, offering advice on the issues that matter to the parent who attended. Including SEND, Exclusions and managing the relationship with the school.
PEP Forum webinars are facilitated monthly by Communities Empowerment Network Sessions are free to attend and are designed to inform, upskill, and empower families who want to learn and contribute more to their children’s education.
Our forums aim to:
Offer information, advice and guidance on issues concerning your child’s education
Provide you with a range of early intervention tools required to prevent issues from escalating to the point where children are excluded
Develop your understanding about why it is important for parents to have a collective voice and build supportive peer networks
We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events!
Kind regards,
The PEP Team
Garden Court Chambers School Inclusion Project
Guardian article about the School Inclusion Project (SIP)
The School Inclusion Project is a group of 200 lawyers collaborating to fight the increasing number of discriminatory school exclusions.
Read the Guardian article here
It's World Mental Health Day!
What are you doing to celebrate?
10th October 2024 - is World Mental Health Day (WMHD).
We at CEN hope that this WMHD finds you well and happy. Don't let the issues that may arise with your child's school get you down. You don't have to deal with it alone.
Contact CEN for a conversation with our Parent Coordinator. Our Directory of Services may enable us to help you find the expertise that you need to ensure that your child's educational issue is resolved.
In the meantime, we hope that this World Mental Health Day is a happy day for you.
October is Black History Month!
October is Black History Month and the 2024 theme is 'Reclaiming the Narrative'
October is Black History Month and the 2024 theme is 'Reclaiming the Narrative'
Yes, we know that Black history is made every day of the year but do you talk about it with your child? Do you know why the US celebrates our heritage in February while in the UK it’s October? Do you know everything about your family’s cultural background, and have you expanded on that knowledge and passed it to your children, nieces and nephews?
If the response to any of those questions is ‘No’, that is the reason why Black History Month exists. This is our yearly reminder to get back in touch with all that is great, good and wonderful about our Black Heritage. So make an effort to learn, enjoy and bask in your culture this month, you can begin by checking out Black History Magazine which explains the reasoning behind this year’s theme and there are a list of events that you can attend as well as opportunities to purchase the magazine if you’d like to learn more… because we all need to.
Black History Magazine can be found here.
Join us at our next PEP Forum
The last PEP Forum was in September
The subject of the last PEP Forum is School Selection & Transistion (Y6 - Y7).
We discussed the benefits of proactive school selection, academy, maintained, special or home schooling? Advised about school admissions and criteria and how to prepare children to transition from primary to secondary school.
Apologies if you missed the the discussion but you can join us for the next forum by..
Clicking here to register
Celebrate Black History Month with a book
Following on from their successful 2023 theme to celebrate the achievements and contributions of black women throughout history. Black History Month (BHM) Magazine hosted a national BHM poetry competition engaging over 3000 poets across the nation, the competition highlighted the indispensable role of poetry in fostering education and cultural expression.
A panel of esteemed judges shortlisted 105 exceptional poems from a staggering number of submissions,17 talented poets advanced to the final stage before 4 exceptional winners were selected.
‘Saluting Our Sisters: An Anthology’ is the brilliant result.
If you’d like to read the wonderful entries that made it into the book you can pre-order a copy of the Anthology here.
Find information on 2024’s black history month theme and celebrations in Black History Month Magazine.
Government Funded Childcare available
Free childcare will help working parents
From Monday 2nd September, working parents of children from 9-months-old will be able to access 15 hours of government-funded early education per week (subject to availability).
Parents of primary school aged children, new childcare places will be available before and after school, commencing a long-term process of reform to deliver an early education and childcare system from the end of parental leave to the end of primary school, boosting parents’ flexibility to work and live.
This kick starts the government’s plan to expanding to 30 funded hours from September 2025.
Further information can be found on the DfE website.
Single headline Ofsted ratings to scrapped
The current Ofsted single headline ratings are set to change
Single headline rating for schools will be scrapped with immediate effect to improve school standards and increase transparency for parents, the government has announced today (2 September 2024).
For inspections this academic year, parents will see four grades across the existing sub-categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership & management.
This reform commences the introduction of School Report Cards from September 2025, which will provide parents with a full and comprehensive assessment of school performance and ensure that inspections more effectively drive improvement. Recent data shows that reports cards are supported by 77% of parents.
Further information on this can be found on the DfE website.
PEP FORUM: Parenting & Behaviour
Behaviour Expert, Tracy Campbell
On Thursday 18th July the PEP team explored the subject of ‘Parenting & Behaviour’ with Black Talent Awards Solopreneur Finalist 2023, the brilliant Tracey Campbell, CEO of the Academy of Behaviour Leadership. Tracey is the author of ‘Behaviour Basics for Parents: Giving You the Tools from Schools’ and Will You Be the One? – Touching the hearts of teachers, changing the lives of children with challenging behaviour’. Tracey’s expertise has been utilised by the likes of Channel 4, Coram Adoption and Viacom Media.
During a very open and active discussion parent/carers gained insight from Tracey's experience as a behavioural expert and learned how they could use her books to strenghten their parenting skills.
Buy Tracey's book from her website here.
Click 'Join PEP' on our website to sign up for the next PEP Forum in September on 'School Selection'.
CEN is 25
CEN has come a long way from a community project fighting to keep ethnic minority children in mainstream education to a movement that collaborates with schools while educating and empowering families to be proactive about their childrens education to secure improved outcomes for them.
Intervention is prevention, we know that proactive parenting is the key to avoiding school exclusions.
2024 which means that Communities Empowerment Network (CEN) has been ‘fighting for Justice in Education’ for 25 years.
Congratulations to us, our volunteers and all the families who have benefitted from our services.
Government to ban mobile phone use in schools
Children will no longer be able to use mobile phones at anytime during the school day
Mobile phones are to be banned in schools across England as part of the government’s plan to minimise disruption and improve behaviour in classrooms.
Guidance on mobile phones in schools (issued on 19 February 2024) supports headteachers in banning the use of mobile phones during the school day, including at break times.
According to Ofcom, at the age of 12, 97% of children have their own mobile phone. However, using mobile phones in schools can lead to online bullying, distraction and classroom disruption which, in turn, can lead to lost learning and potentially, exclusions.
Remembering Jonathan Bob-Amara
Jonathan Bob-Amara 18.07.68 - 20.12.23
Join us in remembering our former colleague, Jonathan Bob-Amara who supported CEN for many years, both as a volunteer advocate and as a member of the CEN team.
Jonathan is held in dear affection by many of the parents and families who he helped over the years, some of whom still ask for him when they contact CEN seeking further support.
As a colleague, Jonathan was popular, very supportive to other team members including volunteers. He was a great team player, known for being a sympathetic ear to parents using the service.
We continue to wish Jonathan’s family our very best wishes.
Jenn Lewis
CEO
GOOD NEWS - WE'RE GETTING AN AWARD!
CEN received an award for Community Activism from NABSS (National Association of Black Saturday Schools). This award was in recognition of CEN's work within the community.The event took place on 4th January 2019.
Diversity In The Workplace
