Your child, your schools, our future – and DadTalk

A recent white paper presented to Parliament gave a commitment from The Children’s Plan to build a 21st century school system.

"Schools are central to our Children's Plan vision to make this the best place in the world to grow up. They exist to give a great start in life for every child, not just for some. That is why teachers join the profession, why school leaders take on their challenges every day, and why we are taking the radical and ambitious steps set out in this White Paper." (Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.)

The paper sets out some challenging targets:

• Our ambition for every child: an education that prepares them for the challenges of the 21st century
• In every school: excellent teaching and the extra help each child needs
• Every school working in partnerships: because no school can do it alone
• Every school improving: strong accountability and rapid intervention when it is needed
• Every school and school leader supported: the right roles for local and central government
• In every school: a well-led and highly skilled workforce

In addition the role of sites such as DadTalk was acknowledged and a new pilot scheme announced:

"Parents value the support they get from other parents. Social networking sites like Netmums and DadTalk are increasingly used by parents to link with one another, sharing advice and information about parenting issues and local services for families. We want to find out whether this approach would also be effective in supporting networks of parents whose children all attend the same school – it may have particular value in secondary and special schools where parents have fewer opportunities to meet at the school gate. We therefore propose to work with Netmums and Dad Talk and a small number of schools to set up a pilot, from September 2009, of 'virtual school gates' for parents and carers."

You can access the full report on the DCSF website.