ParentKind Partnership

Strengthening Partnership with Families: ParentKind Accreditation Across Character Education Trust

Character Education Trust is proud to celebrate a significant milestone in our work with families following successful ParentKind accreditation across both Wrotham School and Aylesford School.

This achievement reflects a sustained commitment across our Trust to strengthen relationships with parents and carers, ensuring that partnership working sits at the heart of school improvement.

Building Stronger Relationships with Parents

Over the past year, our schools have worked closely with Parentkind to move beyond compliance-led approaches towards a culture where communication, trust and collaboration with families are embedded in everyday practice.

The ParentKind Partnership focuses on three core principles:

• Clear and supportive communication

• Constructive resolution of concerns

• Celebration of positive feedback and school success

Across CET schools, this work has supported a shift from managing complaints reactively to proactively building confidence and openness with families — turning feedback into opportunities for improvement.

What Accreditation Means in Practice

Achieving ParentKind accreditation recognises the practical steps already in place across our schools, including:

• Improved clarity around how parents can raise questions or concerns.

• Increased opportunities for parent voice and engagement.

• More transparent communication between school and home.

• Celebration of compliments and positive experiences through initiatives such as Love My School.

Staff engagement has been particularly strong, with leaders and pastoral teams working to ensure that parental communication is consistent, timely and supportive.

Supporting Our Associate Membership with LSEAT

As part of our Associate Membership with London South East Academies Trust (LSEAT), the ParentKind Partnership also provides an important foundation for collaborative working across trusts.

Both CET and LSEAT share a strong commitment to inclusion, community engagement and ensuring that families feel confident working alongside schools. The accreditation strengthens alignment between our organisations and supports shared approaches to engagement, particularly within SEND and inclusive practice.

Through this partnership, we are able to share learning, refine systems and contribute to wider sector improvement in how schools work with parents.

Looking Forward

Parent partnership is not a single initiative but an ongoing cultural commitment.

The next phase of our work will focus on deepening parent voice through trust-wide surveys, continued accreditation development and sharing effective practice across schools within both CET and our wider partnership networks.

We are grateful to staff, parents and carers whose engagement has made this recognition possible and look forward to continuing to strengthen the relationships that help our pupils thrive.