Hamish and Milo Families Together
Hamish and Milo: Families Together is a programme for parents, carers and family members, providing them with understanding, practical approaches, skills and language to support the mental health and wellbeing of their children collaboratively alongside school.
Working in partnership with parents and carers
We firmly believe that schools, parents and carers working collaboratively are essential to maximise both the pastoral and academic outcomes of students. Partnership working has been shown to have a positive impact on students’ overall wellbeing, behaviour, sense of belonging, development and academic achievement regardless of their social and economic backgrounds.
This shared knowledge provides vital insight into how to support students, particularly when they are facing more difficult life experiences and need support with co-regulation and big emotions.
What is Hamish and Milo: Families Together?
Hamish & Milo: Families Together is a series of workshops for parents, carers and family members that link directly to the Hamish & Milo wellbeing intervention programmes.
Families Together offers insight into the programme themes, concepts, theory, content and approach, as well as building on the collaborative partnership with school. Family members experience Hamish & Milo, gain insight into what their children are learning, share home-to-school experiences in a safe environment, and meet other families to benefit from mutual support network.
Each week has a different emotion theme covering the main theory and learning, practical techniques and skills and an opportunity to share thoughts and develop a common language to help better support their children’s social and emotional development and wellbeing.
Who delivers the Families Together programme?
Members of the Intervention Team Pastoral run the Families Together programme in the Beacon.
A support network for parents, carers and families
Parents and carers can often feel isolated and unable to share their experiences, worries or hopes. Families Together is a way of building a network between parents, carers and family members and provides a safe space to share ideas, thoughts and experiences and develop a common language and approach to support children whilst supporting each other. It is a powerful opportunity for parents to reflect safely too on their own childhood experiences and their experiences of parenting.
Workshop format
Like the Hamish & Milo intervention programmes, the workshops follow a structured format. The first half of each workshop is just for the parents and family members to enable discussion and shared insight, and then the students join for shared family activities and reflection.
This is an opportunity for the parents and carers to meet the children ‘in their world of school’ and to engage in activities that encourage thinking about different emotions. The activities are creative and thought-provoking as well as fun and build on the adult/child relationship offering special time together. It really is an opportunity to deepen and reflect on relationships and to grow together.