Moving Up
Helping your child make the move to Secondary School

We are proud to announce that Parentalk has been successful in its application to the Parenting Fund to deliver a new Parentalk Transitions programme in 4 areas of the country.  Parentalk has successfully recruited 3 part-time Transition Coordinators in 3 new regions - Southwark, Peterborough and Norfolk - to complement our established regional base in North East Lincolnshire.

We know that parenting is a challenging and rewarding job. Research suggests that over 75% of parents and carers, regardless of background, feel that there are times when they need access to additional information and support.  The teenage years can be the most challenging for many parents, yet services for parents with older children are at best sporadic and at worse, non-existent.  It is against this background that Parentalk applied to the Parenting Fund to support our Transitions ‘Moving Up’ Programme, a programme aimed at parents of pre-teen children who are making the important transition to secondary education.

This key transition flags other important events in the life of a family.  ‘Letting-go’ both physically and emotionally as our children travel independently, often for the first time in their lives, and trusting them in the decisions they make when we are not there can be a difficult change for all members of the family.  The need to establish clear boundaries and to continue providing unconditional love as well as facing our own challenges as role models are all topics that will be covered in the 4-week Moving Up programme.

The programme will also cover other relevant issues such as sexual health, bullying and behaviour and drugs & alcohol.  The context of the Moving Up programme also provides an opportunity for schools to consult with parents about their policies and expectations and work together to ensure that parents continue to be involved in their children’s education.  We aim to provide parents with the opportunity to ‘off load’, share experiences and seek support for themselves.  Parentalk will seek opportunities to develop this important work into other regions of the country and will evaluate the programme to enable us to share information with other organisations.