Earlier this month we submitted our response to the Department for Children, Schools and Families’s consultation about Parental Engagement. In it we outlined the evidence showing how children fare best in education when their fathers are engaged in care and education settings from the earliest stages in their children’s development; and summarising the evidence about effective approaches to engaging with fathers. Read our consultation response.

Our response to the call was greatly enhanced by the case studies we were able to use, many of which came to us as a result of an e-shot we sent to our Fatherhood Institute Network database before Christmas. From the response to our e-shot, it is clear that Children’s Centres are now often at the forefront of ensuring that dads play a part in their children’s lives. We had responses from schools and local authorities throughout the UK as well, and from as far afield as Australia and Canada.

As promised, we have awarded prizes to the best examples of father engagement to come from the e-shot, and we are happy to announce that the following exemplars of good practice have won a day’s paintballing for themselves, their colleagues and service users:

• S Lanarkshire Home School Partnership
• Greenwich Children’s Centres
• Stepney Partnership, Redlands Primary School
• Campaign for Learning, Solihull Children’s Centres
• Pen Pych Community School
• West Berkshire County Council.

In their different ways, each of these settings showed us that father inclusion is possible, that innovative recruitment methods draw men in and that having quality time with dads has a positive impact on children’s behaviour and achievements. Well done all!

We would like to thank everyone who took part in this call for information, and to remind them all – and all service providers reading this – that becoming a Think Fathers Champion is a great way to share in our work and to inform policy and practice to make a difference in fathers’ lives.