A new cohort of Enfield Parent Champions gathered at the Civic Centre for a graduation ceremony to mark the end of their training and to celebrate their work in the community.
The aim of the Parent Champions is to empower parents and to ensure they have a platform where their voices can be heard. In addition, Parent Champions have become central to decision making, helping to shape the delivery of services to improve the lives of children, young people and their families.
Following five days of intensive training by Enfield Council, the 29 new Parent Champions are now able to offer advice, guidance and informal support to local parents.
During their training, they focused on six common core skills – safeguarding and recognising vulnerability; listening and communicating; information sharing; transition; resilience; and integrated working.
Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Achilleas Georgiou, said: “Enfield Council is committed to involving parents in the design, delivery and evaluation of services. Run by volunteers, the Parent Champions and Parent Engagement Panel (PEP) members alike are an invaluable resource, helping parents to voice their concerns, ideas and opinions.
“I would like to congratulate the latest graduates and look forward to hearing of their journeys as they connect with parents from across the borough.”
The Champions also spread the word about the work of the PEP, a network that is made up of local parents, guardians, grandparents and carers. The PEP is representative of the cultural diversity that we celebrate in the London Borough of Enfield and is an inclusive organisation which embraces parents from all walks of life. There are currently six PEP area group meetings all over Enfield, running in Upper Edmonton, Lower Edmonton, Bowes, Southgate, Enfield Town and Turkey Street.
Along with the new graduates, there are now 130 Parent Champions in Enfield who work alongside almost 500 PEP members.
If you are interested in getting involved, please contact pep@enfield.gov.uk In addition, you can sign up to our newsletters which will keep you up to date on work being done by the Council.