About us
Mouse Club was developed by Emma Beresford and Janet Davies, Directors of the Parental Engagement Network CIC (PEN). PEN's mission was to support schools to engage parents, families and communities in their child's learning and development.
In 2016/17, with support from The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, The Sutton Trust and Oxford University, PEN's Mouse Club was trialled with over 40 early years settings and schools as part of a Randomised Controlled Trial and was found to have a significant effect on the child's Home Learning Environment. You can read more about this on the Sutton Trust Website or by downloading the report here. Unfortunately, PEN closed in 2023, but Mouse Club continues this important work independently.
"80% of parents thought having Mouse helped to get their child ready for school."
In 2017/18, the resources were further trialled as part of the Parental Engagement Project with schools in Suffolk funded by the Suffolk Community Foundation "Raising the Bar" fund. You can read the dissemination of those results here.
"100% of staff said they would use Mouse and some of the resources and strategies again."
PEN collaborated with a group of schools in Edgeley, Stockport, in 2018 to explore the networking aspect of Mouse Club. The work demonstrated the advantages of bringing schools together to enhance support for families in preparing their children for school in a particular area. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive; the teaching staff appreciated the opportunity to network and adopt a unified approach within the locality. Read the feedback from schools and parents here.
"There was improved readiness to learn. More children demonstrated improved self-regulation, toilet training, using a knife and fork, could change for PE and put on their coats themselves."
From 2019 to 2021, the OVO Foundation and Institute of Employment Studies (IES), in collaboration with Sutton Trust and Professor Kathy Sylva (University of Oxford), evaluated the impact of the Mouse Club on children's communication and language skills from June 2019 to December 2021. The research was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Still, parents and practitioners reported "how useful Mouse had been around the transition to school by preparing children and encouraging things like eating independently and potty training... Mouse also helped with children's social-emotional development... Parents told us how much Mouse supported their children and helped with their concerns over transitions."
"I am much more confident with parents; they approach me much more to talk about their children."
More recently, Thrive at Five has been using Mouse Club as part of their essential Ready Steady Stoke work to improve primary school transitions. In their recent Year Two Delivery Implementation and Process Evaluation report, they note that:
"Mouse Club can serve as a valuable tool for introducing essential skills to children preparing for the transition to school or nursery. School staff appreciated the flexibility it offered, allowing them to adapt the resources to suit their school's requirements."
Mouse Club has helped over 50,000 children with home learning and school readiness. More than 160 schools have used this project to support early years transition and parental engagement. If you think Mouse Club could be the resource you need, please get in touch with us. We are always happy to answer any questions, share case studies, and offer support in delivering the project.