The Power of Partnerships: Engaging Parents to Boost Learning Outcomes

Building Parent Engagement with Dr Kathy Weston: Practical Strategies for Schools

Strong parent engagement doesn’t happen overnight. It’s built conversation by conversation, in parents’ evenings, quick phone calls, progress meetings, and everyday interactions that gradually build trust between families and the school.

For many staff, those conversations carry a lot of weight. Limited time, high expectations, and complex emotions can make them feel stressful. When communication goes well, it can unlock real progress. When it doesn’t, it can feel draining and hard to recover from.

As part of the free 2-month Parent Engagement Bundle trial, we’re offering a live webinar on 5th February 2026 (4pm - 5pm, Teams) with Dr Kathy Weston, a leading UK expert in parental engagement and founder of TooledUp Education. She’ll share evidence-based insight into what strengthens parental engagement and how powerful home-school partnerships can positively shape children's learning, wellbeing and long term outcomes.

Using the JoinUp approach, your team can access centralised, reliable insight to make parent interactions more visible, consistent, and actionable. This helps you intervene early, manage workload, and align engagement with school improvement priorities, whether for a single school or across a MAT.

A practical, expert-led webinar for school staff

The webinar, The Power of Partnership: Engaging Parents to Boost Learning Outcomes, is led by Dr Kathryn Weston, one of the leading national experts on parenting, family life, and parental engagement in children’s lives. She founded Tooled Up Education, which now supports over 160 schools across 8 countries with evidence-based resources and bespoke CPD. Kathy is also the co-author of Engaging Parents and holds a PhD in Social Science from Cambridge.

Kathy’s approach combines research with real-school experience, focusing on practical strategies staff can use immediately: how to engage parents confidently, handle challenging conversations, and build trust in everyday interactions. She believes that children thrive when there is a strong partnership between home and school, guided by research-backed strategies for parents and educators.

Rather than theory alone, this session is designed to help staff feel more confident and consistent in their practice in way that strengthen trust rather than create tension.

What staff will gain from the session

During the webinar, participants will explore how to:

• Build strong, trusting relationships with parents
• Communicate clearly about learning and behaviour
• Handle challenging or sensitive conversations with confidence
• Apply evidence-based strategies that support every pupil

The emphasis is on clarity, action, and operational streamlining helping staff move from insight to confident conversations without increasing workload.

Why this webinar is part of the free trial

Parent engagement works best when staff are supported by clear evidence, practical strategies, and shared approaches. Including this webinar as part of the Parent Engagement Bundle trial gives schools the chance to try new strategies, reflect on current practice, and take away actionable ideas, all aligned with JoinUp principles.

It’s about giving your team greater visibility into what works, supporting consistent improvement, and helping staff approach parent interactions with confidence and clarity.

Join us live on 5th February 2026

The webinar takes place live on Microsoft Teams, making it easy for staff to join at the end of the school day. Places are limited, so we recommend registering early to secure your team’s spot.

Whether you’re a classroom teacher, head of year, or part of a MAT leadership team, this session offers evidence-based insight, practical strategies, and scalable approaches to improve parent engagement, all designed to fit seamlessly into your school or trust’s improvement plans.