School-Family Partnerships
I work with schools, trusts and education organisations to understand parents’ experiences, strengthen communication and develop more meaningful partnerships with families.
We start with your context and turn what we learn into practical changes.
What is it like to be a parent in your school?
Schools put considerable time and energy into communicating with families.
However, messages can still miss the mark. Parents can receive plenty of information and remain unsure about what matters, who to contact or how to contribute.
We often hear from the most vocal parents. It can be harder to understand the experiences of the busy, broadly supportive families whose voices are less visible.
My work helps schools explore that experience, identify avoidable friction and build more purposeful relationships.
What I offer
Parent Partnership Review
Understand the experience families are having now.
Through conversations with leaders, staff and parents, alongside a review of communication and systems, we map the parent experience and identify where things become difficult.
You leave with clear priorities and a focused 90-day action plan.
Mobilising the Middle
Build relationships with the parents you hear from less often.
A tailored session explores what makes involvement difficult and how schools can create more useful opportunities for parents to contribute.
You leave with two or three practical approaches to test.
Next and X Practice Lab
Develop and test new approaches together.
A four-month working group brings leaders, staff and parents together around a significant school-family challenge.
We explore possibilities, design small experiments and review what happens, producing practical tools and learning to inform wider practice.
A focused project with wider value
Year 7 transition provides one practical starting point.
From allocation day through to the end of the first half term, we can explore how families experience your communications, support and key transition moments.
Together, we identify improvements, test them with incoming families and gather feedback. A pilot can also include selected School Compass transition resources.
What we learn can inform relationships with families across the school.
Why Work With Me?
My name is Joe Pardoe
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Nearly 20 years as a teacher, head of department and senior leader, bringing an understanding of how schools work and the pressures staff face.
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Founder of School Compass, helping parents make sense of education, navigate applications and feel more confident about school life.
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Working with Whole Education to develop support for schools to strengthen relationships with parents and carers.
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Former Head of CPD at Big Education Trust, leading professional development for staff and leaders across schools and nationally.
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Former Head of Curriculum and Assessment Innovation at School 21, bringing experience of turning new approaches into everyday school practice.
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A parent myself, combining professional experience with an understanding of what it feels like to place your trust in a school.
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A flexible, practical approach, grounded in the realities of school life and family life, helping schools and parents understand each other and work together.
Who is this for?
I have worked with a range of different organisations to deliver high-quality authentic real world learning. From entire Local Authorities, MATs and individual schools.
Local Authorites
I have worked with local authorities to develop plans to support and encourage strong relationships between schools and families
Multi-Academy Trusts
I have worked with MATs to offer training across a network of schools and run cross-school workshops to improve relationships with families and local communities
School / Leaders
I have worked with individual schools and headteachers who want to explore ways to improve relationships with families and carers