PARENT/CARER QUESTIONNAIRE AUTUMN 2017

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

 

100% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that:

• The school is led and managed well.

• The arrangements for my son or daughter to settle in when he or she started at the school were good.

• I am kept well informed about what events and activities are happening at school.

 

All respondents indicated that they would recommend the school to another parent.

95% or more of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that:

• My child is making good progress.

• Children behave well.

• My child feels safe at school

• Teaching is good.

• I feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions, or a problem, or complaint.

• Staff expect my child to work hard and do his or her best.

• Staff treat my child fairly.

• The school seeks the view of parents and takes account of their suggestions and concerns.

• Staff explain how I can help my child at home

• Staff encourage my child to become mature and independent.

 

94% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their child is not bullied or harassed at school.

92% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they are kept well informed about how their child is getting on.

86% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the school provides appropriate homework.

 

 

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE STRENGTHS OF THE SCHOOL?

 

Ethos/atmosphere

Friendly environment with caring teachers

All children seem to feel really comfortable and confident

Community spirit.

Strong focus on child welfare.

Happy safe environment.

Strong nurturing environment.

Very friendly and welcoming school.

Children are happy and settled.

Friendly, caring, warm.

Community spirit.

Relaxed, inclusive environment.

HIP Group – families and school work well together.

 

Management/leadership

Management – how issues are dealt with

Very well organised school where my child has developed strong relationships with peers and staff.

Good leadership which then makes the school run smoothly.

Good leadership team – friendly and approachable.

Leadership and management – very approachable.

Good leadership, organised, friendly & enthusiastic staff.

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Quality of teaching

Good teachers.

All the teaching staff –from TAs to headteacher.

Excellent teaching.

The teaching and providing a good learning environment.

Teaching and communication.

 

Approachability of staff

Staff approachable

Supportive and approachable teachers.

Approachability.  Every child is treated as a child and not just a pupil.

Everyone is approachable. 

Friendly staff – good all round school.

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Provision for children

Fantastic facilities and equipment for the children

Lots of different activities for children

Enjoyable learning activities.

Activities in classrooms.

Wide range of activities to improve learning

Flexibility re homework.

 

Communications

Weekly newsletter keeps parents informed

Good home-school communication

Excellent communications with parents.

Communication is very good.

Communication with pupils and parents.

Involving parents

Transition at end of year helps prepare children for next year

Parent engagement.

HIP Group – families and school work well together.

 

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU WOULD WISH TO SEE IMPROVED IN SCHOOL AND HOW CAN WE DO THIS?

 

Clarity re class ability groups – communicate to parents as to which group their child is in.

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This can be tricky to do as we operate flexible groupings in the afternoon, compared to the morning, with children often working in mixed ability groups.  Also, our groups for literacy and numeracy aren’t fixed, and children can move between varying groups.  Instead, we will inform you at parents’ evening how well your child is doing and the progress they are making.  We will also issue PITA assessment reports in pupil planners at the end of each term.  Termly targets will also be issued in planners to help your child at home.  Please do feel free to pop into class and speak to your child’s class teacher at any point about your child’s learning and progress.  Friday mornings are always a good chance to see their learning in books when we do ‘Learn Share’ sessions.

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More integration between nursery and infants.

 

If you have any ideas of how we can improve this further, Mrs Ball would love to hear them!

Lateness and diet issues to be directed to the children direct rather than making sticker competitions.

I suppose we have tried to do this through the use of the recent sticker competitions like ‘active travel’ challenges.  These ways are age appropriate for the children.  Discussing issues of diet and lateness with children at this age are difficult, as it is the parent’s responsibility to ensure their child is at school on time and that they have a healthy diet.  Where necessary, we will

always address attendance and health issues with parents individually.

 

Well structured homework sheets.

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School will now purchase CGP homework books on your behalf, if you would like worksheet type homework for your child.  Please enquire at the school office if you have not already placed an order.

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Do more to prevent ‘disruptive influences’.

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As a school we work with a range of children with differing needs.  We have a responsibility to ensure our provision matches everyone’s need, whilst, at the same time, ensuring all our children in school feel safe and happy.  Sometimes we have pupils who find school a difficult place to be and learn.  It can often induce worry and anxiety which can then portray itself in negative behaviour.  We also have a number of children in school with cognitive and medical conditions, such as ADHD and autism.  When children demonstrate negative behaviours we appreciate that this can be seen as a ‘disruptive influence’ and can, therefore, affect the learning of other children in school.  We are very conscious of this and employ a number of strategies to reduce this risk. This includes deployment of additional staff like Miss Wylie and Mrs Hunter, to work with children using therapies such as ‘theraplay’ and ‘fun friends’. Additional support and monitoring is also undertaken for vulnerable children in class, and on the playground, to ensure they aren’t affecting the learning and play of others.  We also work very closely with families, providing a key link between home and school.  We have a strong set of rules in school to which we expect all children to adhere.  If these are broken, then we have a clear sanctions process in place.  

When behaviour is demonstrated that consistently breaks our school rules we do use fixed term exclusions, where necessary.  We will continue applying this level of rigour to disruptive behaviour and expecting the highest standard of behaviour throughout school.

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Go back to the old lunch system. Choose school dinners online rather than in class.

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We appreciate that any new system takes a while to embed and does have initial teething problems.  Our new system is much better as it reduces food wastage (a cost to the public purse) and ensures children get the meal they would like.  I think the biggest issue is signing up in the morning and, sometimes, the potential disagreements parents have with their child over what they are going to eat that day.  In order to improve this, Taylor Shaw are developing an online system so that choices can be made in advance, and in the comfort of your own home. We will keep you posted as we find out more.

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Squash offered at lunch to encourage children to drink.

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Unfortunately, Taylor Shaw do not provide squash at lunch times due to the need for them to promote healthy lifestyles and follow strict government nutritional guidelines.  We do, however, understand that parents need to feel confident that their children are hydrated throughout the day.  As a compromise, we will allow you to add a small amount of squash to your child’s water bottle that they use in class.

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More varied times for activities for working parents. More notice of events like parents’ evenings – not always easy to get time off work.

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This is always a tricky one.  We try our best to put on events both during the day and after school hours.  For example, we have run ‘classes in action’ and some ‘welcome meetings’ during the school afternoon, but have also run ‘phonics workshops’ and ‘SATs meetings’ from 6pm in the evening.  We also run parents’ evenings until 7pm, where possible, to allow for attendance of busy, working parents.  Events are published at the very start of the school year, in our yearly planner, thus giving plenty of notice.  This is emailed to parents and published on the school website.  We also send home reminders of events in our weekly newsletter and via text message. We will continue alternating times of events and keeping parents well informed.

 

Repair uneven surface in playground to prevent falls. Concerns over the safety of the climbing frame due to injuries and broken bones.

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We couldn’t agree more with this one! Our playground surface is in a very poor condition and needs resurfacing. Sadly, the cost of this will be in excess of £10k and at the moment we don’t have this money freely available. We are hoping that in the new financial year our school budget may improve slightly due to increased pupil numbers. If this is the case, our first priority will be resurfacing the playground. Until then, we are ensuring high levels of supervision on the yard and opening up the bottom yard and fields to disperse children and hopefully avoid accidents.

Our climbing frame is safe and meets all standards required. The climbing frame is inspected annually, along with all our other fixed playground equipment, by Sheffield City Council. All our equipment is also checked by staff prior to use to ensure it’s safe. Sometimes accidents can still happen and we fully review arrangements that are in place when they do, to ensure they are still fit for purpose.

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Provision of a safe crossing on the road outside the school. Larger classrooms (though I know this isn’t possible).

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Again, we completely agree with both of these comments. Sadly, there is little we can do…and believe me, we’ve tried! The crossing has been an issue since I’ve been at the school and that’s 9 years. We have written to MPs and the City Council, but to no avail. Parent feedback to SCC and your local MP would be great on this matter.

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Would like to see CCTV installed outside of school on the gates and car park.

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Sadly, we cannot afford to purchase CCTV for outside the school grounds.

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Parking.

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We have improved this recently by leasing the land behind the existing car park and gating the access. It is worth parents noting that school does not own either pieces of land. We try and encourage as many families to work to school; not only for the health benefits, but also to reduce conjestion.