It’s not an unusual sort of comment by visitors to Rush Common primary in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, a school which has many times being praised for its relations with parents and the wider community.

This time, however, the speaker was not a parent or inspector. It was the deputy head of the local comprehensive school and what he was expressing was envy - not surprising perhaps when you examine the difference in parentschool relationships between primary and secondary schools.

Malcolm Wright, deputy head of Fitzharrys School, continued: “Everyone talks of partnerships, but it is much more difficult to get parents really involved in secondaries and extremely difficult to get them into the classroom.”

This year Rush Common and Fitzharrys are giving it a good shot. As part of the Royal Society of Arts “Parents in a Learning Society” project they have begun working together to see if the active involvement built up in the primary school can be sustained into the secondary. “Link parents” from both schools, who together with children and other parents, are organising activities for Years 6 and 7 pupils and their parents, are the linchpin.

The aim is twofold: to ease the transition for pupils and to encourage parents to play a part in the secondary school. Most Rush Common pupils go to Fitzharrys, but strong links have also been formed with other neighbouring schools.

“Shared responsibility” is a phrase which is often on the lips of Rush Common headteacher John Fisher when discussing parents. “If we’re pulling one way and they’re pulling another and the pupil is in the middle, nobody wins. We want parents in on planning so they can see the difficulties we’re up against, and work with us.”

The formal structure was put in place five years ago. The school already had a strong parent-teacher association, but, as is often the case, found that a small minority of parents were driving it, most of whom were at the lower end of the school.

The decision was taken to set up 17 home-school associations, one for every class in the 460-pupil school, made up of parents from the whole class who meet to organise both curriculum-based and other activities. Parents elect representatives to a social committee to organise fund-raising and other events. Each class association includes a school governor.

The result has been far more parents coming forward to help. Gill Thomas, the home-school links coordinator, says: “Ideas are often triggered by the children. They go home and say, ‘I’m doing this at school,’ and then parents will come in and offer help or ideas. The class reps will then contact others, so that sometimes most of the class parents will be involved.”

When Year 6 did a Second World War project, parents and grandparents came in to give first-hand accounts. Workshops on subjects such as maths, reading and computers are organised by classroom associations. John Fisher says: “You suddenly find yourself tapping into a seam of expertise you didn’t know you had.”

The “get involved” philosophy extends further. Once a week after school there is a “surgery” when parents can talk to teachers. Every Tuesday and Thursday is an early morning shared reading session when parents andor grandparents are encouraged to come in and read with their children. Discos, quizzes, bonfire night celebrations are organised by parents.

This is the sort of leaf that Fitzharrys would like to take out of the Rush Common book. The exact agenda, the school recognises, has to be set by the parents, but Fitzharrys is keen to build on the work already done by Rush Common. Five “link parents” have been found, two from Year 6 and three from Year 7 and their job is to liaise with each other, teachers and parents. So far the main result is a series of workshops and joint events including workshops on computers, music and a joint disco.

But parents also looked forward to some involvement with the school. One, Jill Millin, said: “We can support them better if we know what’s going on in school and, let’s face it, education has changed. I want to work with the teachers, not against them.”

It is an advantage already perceived by Mr Fisher. “We want to get rid of the old playground grapevine. If parents are actively involved in the school and have trust in the system they can be prepared for what might happen and know what we are up against. Then they can then work with us.”

Parents acknowledged that the kind of involvement which they had at Rush Common would be hard to emulate in a secondary school. There were many more teachers to see and talk to in secondary school; mothers often go back to work at this time; and parents are apt to see it as a time when their children want them to be less involved in their school. But Mrs Millin said: “It’s important that the school knows that there are parents out there who want to help.”

Fitzharrys has now received an offer from Rush Common parents already involved in organising social events for parents and children to continue to do the same thing at Fitzharrys. It is a small start, but one which bodes well for the future.