Parents and carers: Speakeasy
It’s all very well talking about the importance of parents, but how do you get them into school or interested in SRE the first place? How many of us have been to SRE meetings involving three parents and a dog…. (if we’re lucky)?
We think Speakeasy is a great way of doing it!
Cornwall Healthy Schools introduced the fpa's Speakeasy programme to schools in Cornwall in 2007 after hearing about its accessibility for parents and its effectiveness elsewhere in the UK.
Speakeasy is a fun and relaxed course that helps parents and carers become more confident in talking to their children about sex, relationships and growing up. They learn together, building on what they already know, as well as gaining new information and ideas for how to talk to their children.
We have been training facilitators to support Speakeasy courses throughout Cornwall and have appointed Mandy Lancaster to develop the training and the programme.
One of the best things about Speakeasy is that parents and carers who attend the course can become facilitators themselves, thereby building capacity and sustainability for the school.
Speakeasy can also be delivered in different ways to meet the differing needs of parents or carers. One really good way is to run a taster session as part of a policy consultation session, or on its own. This can stand alone or be an introduction to a full Speakeasy course running over several sessions.
What teachers have said about Speakeasy
'I thoroughly recommend the Speakeasy programme to all schools and their parents/carers. The team are friendly, professional, and entirely approachable. They provide a service long needed to hard-pressed parents/carers who might want to know how to talk to their children, and understand more clearly, about complex growing-up issues, or need to over come a natural reluctance, maybe face up to a few understandable inhibitions. This is a real opportunity for our wider school community to learn together with us in schools. I thank the Speakeasy team for their time, energy, and commitment.'
Andrew Fielder B.Ed, ASTA Headteacher, Sandy Hill School
“Speakeasy is a fun and relaxed course which complements the school curriculum. It also helps us to include family learning in the community in a really positive way”
Carol Breakwell, Headteacher, Devoran School
What parents have said about Speakeasy
“The Speakeasy course was fantastic for breaking down barriers and giving us as a family the confidence to start talking openly about the subject”
“If you could can all the laughter and give it to people no parent would be afraid of coming”
To help manage capacity and meet the areas of greatest need Speakeasy courses are being targeted in areas of higher incidence of teenage pregnancy in the first instance. If you would like to find out if your school is in one of these areas please email Mandy or call 01209 313419 for more information.
