Kirsty savours community spirit at Pembroke Dock school

Cabinet Secretary for Education Kirsty Williams was full of praise for the way leaders at Pembroke Dock Community School are involving parents and carers in the education of children there.

The school, led by headteacher Michelle Thomas, takes pride in their family and community engagement and runs a comprehensive range of family and adult learning activities to encourage parents to become more involved.

Speaking following a visit to the school on Thursday (14th July) Kirsty Williams stressed the importance of family and community engagement in raising the educational attainment of children and young people in Wales.

“In these changing times, providing every child with a world class education requires more from all of us. We are all – teachers, students, parents, elected politicians and community leaders –accountable for our children’s success.

“Teaching and learning doesn’t just happen in the classroom. We must work together to help more children, in more ways and more effectively.

“I would like to see more centres of learning engaging with parents, like Michelle and her staff here do. I want to harness parent’s aspirations as well as those of their children.

Headteacher Michelle Thomas said,

“We were very pleased to welcome the Education Secretary today and proud to show her just some of the ways we are engaging with our community and their families.

“We are currently running a training programme for parents and members of the community, training them as teaching assistants, gaining NVQs/diplomas. We also provide crèche facilities to allow parents to take part which can lead on to basic skills and GCSE courses in English and maths.

“Since the inception of this project we’ve trained more than 150 people and through them securing employment, put back over £1,500,000 into the economy of Pembrokeshire.”