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Ideas for a successful Parents' Week event

Parents' Week is designed to be flexible enough to fit the needs of a wide range of practitioners working with families; from parent and toddler groups and extended schools, to libraries and primary care trusts. This year's theme – Getting it right for families? – has been designed to give you an opportunity to evaluate or celebrate (or both!) the services you provide to families
We hope that you will find the ideas below useful.

EVALUATION EVENTS

Service evaluation is a requirement for the majority of organisations and asking families what they think of the service they receive is a key element of this. A number of organisations have taken the decision to hold their annual service evaluations in Parents' Week adding weight to the process and demonstrating their commitment to meeting the needs of families in their area.

IF YOU'VE GOT FIVE MINUTES…

The Ideas Wall
Make a wall in you service free and cover with blank paper. Encourage your users to write up their ideas for the service on the wall – this means people don't feel put on the spot, it can be anonymous, and takes a few minutes to complete. Try putting up different sections: 'what I like about here', 'what I would change about here' to encourage a greater range of responses.

Suggestions Box
It may seem obvious but it's a good way to get feedback as people can write something down quickly and informally. You could set one up with a theme about a particular part of your service or just make it general. If you're going to have a permanent box, decide how often you're going to tell people what's been said and what you're going to do about the suggestions – people will only keep writing if they are being read!

Cup of tea survey
A survey doesn't have to be a long, time consuming document – if you give people something they can complete over a cup of tea, you're much more likely to get a response. Try asking for one thing they love about the service and one thing they'd like to change.

IF YOU'VE GOT A COUPLE OF HOURS…

Focus Group
Invite a small group of users to come along for a discussion about the service they receive from you. Keep it fairly informal, to encourage participation, and make sure you're clear about what you're going to do with the information you get from them. Plan some open-ended questions (Icon: Acrobat PDFsee questions document) that will help you get the most out of them. Provide childcare and refreshments to enable more people to attend.

Make an Ideas Tree
Invite parents and children to take part in making a cardboard tree (or paint or draw one onto a wall) that could be on display, with a supply of paper leaves available to attach to the branches. Encourage your users to put their ideas for improvements to the service on the leaves. Supply the art materials and overalls and get painting!

Question Time
Get a panel of your workers together, including someone from management, and ask users to think of questions they'd like to ask – you could give them specific topics or just let them ask anything. It's a good idea to have the questions beforehand so that you know who wants to ask what and to make sure that you have a good range of questions. Provide a crèche to enable more people to attend.

CELEBRATION EVENTS

Parents' Week is an ideal time to get your service promoted and to celebrate your contribution to the community. From a coffee morning to an all day event, your event will demonstrate your commitment to supporting parents and families and showcase what you do best.

Family Fun Day
Make a range of activities available in your service and encourage the whole family to come along. You could put on some activities for parents only – massage or relaxation - whilst the children take part something more energetic!

Design a poster competition
Run a competition to get children and adults to design a poster advertising your service – encourage families to work together on a creation. You could announce the winner at an exhibition of all the entries, and use the poster to promote you service in the local area.

Last updated: 4th September 2008 at 05:09:55