Autumn Term 2023
When a child is new to the school after a period of settling in there is a meeting to discuss the ethos of the school, Making Learning Fly etc as it is then more meaningful to the parents and pupil. I can see how this would be beneficial and it is something that we can implement moving forward.
Sending pupils books home periodically over a weekend/half term would be great. I would love to spend time discussing and praising their work. By seeing them just at parents’ day I don’t get that opportunity. I like this idea, but it is ensuring that all books come back to school however we are considering sending books home as they are completed rather than at the end of the school year.
Having a formal meeting with the new teacher before the start of the year would be great. This is currently available for pupils with SEND.
Having a formal SEND meeting before the start of Year R to discuss the issues would have been beneficial. We currently provide an opportunity to talk to the Mrs Savill regarding SEND before pupils start and Mrs Savill visits the settings of pupils with more complex needs. This meeting could be more formalised if that would be beneficial. We will also ensure that this opportunity is made explicit to parents.
Spring Term 2023
At Parent Consultations we asked parents what we could do to improve provision for our pupils and parents further. You asked that correspondence with parents could make it clearer if Year R were included as it often says KS1 and KS2 but doesn't identify whether this includes Year R. All correspondence moving forward will state clearly if Year R are included.
Another request was more notice for events and then more reminders. This is something we will address whenever possible.
More events/meetings to be offered outside of working hours was also requested. This is problematic as teachers are working all day and this makes their day very long, they also have marking to do for the next day and preparation. For this reason these opportunities are difficult to facilitate and remain limited.
September 2021
Staggered Drop Offs and Pick Ups
Parental feedback regarding staggered drop off and pick up times during COVID 19 restrictions was very positive. You said that it greatly improved safety, which it did, and made accessing the school much simpler and less stressful. As a school we also found that the mornings were calmer and children stated that they preferred it too. Therefore we have decided that we will make staggered drop offs and pick up times permanent.
Parental Consultations
During COVID 19 restriction we offered parent consultations by telephone. Parental feedback stated that this was hugely successful and was an opportunity that parents would like to maintain, therefore moving forward parents will be offered the choice of either a face to face consultation at school or a telephone consultation.
Spring Term 2021
Some parents contacted school as there were not enough laptops at home for all children to access the home learning opportunities. School then provided laptops so that children could continue with their learning.
Parental feedback indicated that pupils at home were missing their school friends so Team catch-up meetings were organised to enable them to see their friends and work together.
Some parents feedback that there were areas of learning that were causing some confusion and tutorials over Teams were offered to these pupils to enable their learning to continue.
Autumn Term 2020
When we all came back in September 2020 some parents felt that there were too many pupils entering and exiting the building in one area, so the pick-up and drop-off points for Year 4 was moved to the other side of the school building. This has worked well.
Spring Term 2020
A parent questionnaire in the Autumn Term 2019 highlighted that parents would appreciate a workshop based on PSHE, so that they had a clearer understanding of how this was taught and the areas covered. Therefore, on the 5th February 2020 we had a open evening for parents and pupils where we provided an overview the curriculum and the progression. Pupils then provided workshops for parents to see the type of activities they completed.
Parents had raised issues regarding the quality of school dinners. The governors and headteacher have spent a great deal of time reviewing provision and working with the provider. Dinners are greatly improved and parental feedback regarding accurate billing is very positive.
Parents had requested the facility to book Parents Day times online. This has been introduced and appears to be working well.
Parental feedback indicated that parents would like the opportunity to meet their child's teacher for the next academic year in the July before the next academic year started. Therefore, we have introduced a meeting with parents in July so that they can put a face to a name and get an understanding of the teachers expectations for their child when they move to the next academic year. These opportunities were well attended and parents said they found them helpful and reassuring.
Parents of children with SEND needs were also invited to a meeting where their child's current teacher and the teacher for the next academic year attended so that there was effective transition of information and to maintain effective home/school links.
Parents suggested that we ask for sponsorship to enable the school to put in a trim trail on the KS2 playground and this proved very successful and we are very grateful to the companies and parents who sponsored the trim trail and enabled us to provide it for our pupils.
Autumn Term 2018
At the Parents Day on 24th October 2018 we asked parents what they valued about school and what could be even better. The documents below contain the parents responses and the Headteacher's next steps.
Autumn Term 2017
Due to the congestion and concerns raised by parents when dropping their children off in the reception class the cloakrooms were reconfigured to create more space and easier access for pupils and parents. This has greatly enhanced the provision and made access to school calmer and a more pleasant experience for everyone.
We reviewed our induction process for our new reception pupils. Feedback from parents and local nurseries was that it would be nice for the children to visit school for a day in the summer term before they started. We therefore introduced additional sessions for the children to visit school. We had three after school sessions so the children could come in small groups and spend time with their teachers. We also introduced across the school a move up day so that we accomodate the new reception pupils on a school day. The new pupils have settled really quickly into school this year and are much more confident. So thank you for your support and it has made a positive difference for our pupils.
A number of parents have asked school for advice and support when they are going through a separation or divorce. As a result the school has now purchased a set of books that you can share with your children that may help them understand and adjust to their new circumstances. These are available from Mrs Cousins and further support can be accessed if required. If you need to have a chat please drop in and see Mrs Cousins.
A parent contacted the school wishing to know more about how to support their children keeping safe regarding appropriate and inappropriate touching. After discussion it was felt that if a link was provided on the school website to the NSPCC website where materials are provided this would be helpful. As a result a link has been placed on the home page under parent information. We hope that you find this helpful when discussing such issues with your children.
Parents voiced their concerns regarding the safety of pupils when they are walking to and from school due to residents accessing their drives across the pavement. Local residents were contacted and a letter was sent to parents raising awareness of the safety issues. The school is now working towards the Modeshifts Gold Award to see if we can do more to reduce the safety issues for our pupils working with outside agencies to support developments.
In the Autumn Term 2015 we trialled a new approach to parental consultations. Instead of two evenings we trialled a whole day, starting at 8.30 am and going through to 6.00 pm. We asked for parental feedback regarding the two structures and which you would prefer. There was an overwhelming preference for the Parent Day approach (92%). Therefore, future parent consultations will follow this format. Your feedback was greatly appreciated.
Some parents requested an additional KS1 Nativity performance so that grandparents could attend therefore a third performance was arranged. Parental feedback said: Thank you so much for putting on the extra performance of the show. There is something a bit special about their first production in reception so many thanks again for all your efforts.
In 2014 we held an open evening to promote reading and to provide an overview of how reading progressed across the school and how it was taught in school. This was very well attended and parents stated that they found it extremely helpful and informative. We then asked parents which area of the curriculum they would like as a focus in the future. The vast majority of parents asked for mathematics. As there was a new curriculum for mathematics coming out the open evening was held in the Autumn Term 2015. Parental feedback was again very positive and some suggestions were made that will be put in place for our next event, these included provision for children away from the main presentation to enable parents to hear the speaker more clearly.
We were teaching our pupils French in school but we asked parents which language they would like their children to be taught and the overwhelming response was Spanish so from September 2014 we have taught Spanish as our Modern Foreign Language. There are after school clubs available for Spanish, French and German.
The height of the fencing around the Foundation Stage Area was a cause for concern for some parents. Although there had been no incidents your views were listened to and higher more effective security fencing was put in place.