We were awarded with the Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA), a recognition of the work we have put in place to build a greater partnership with all parents and carers.
Prior to this, we issued a questionnaire to parents to help us gain a better understanding of how they felt and what their needs were. We also followed this up with a focus group discussion with some parent volunteers, to gain a more in-depth insight. As a result, the following things are in place-
- Open Classrooms – every term we open the classrooms for half an hour, first thing in the morning, for parents to join their children in their classroom, gain an experience of what they get up to when they’re at school and see their work. Parents’ and children’s feedback on these has been incredibly positive.
- Improved feedback on your child – we now provide a report each term and an opportunity for formal parent-teacher discussions each term. In the Autumn term, the focus is on how your child is settling in and discussing any challenges they may have faced so far. In December, a progress report is sent home outlining your child’s current attainment as well as next steps to help you support your child to move forward in the next stage of their learning. In the Spring term, there is another parents’ evening where you will be provided with a second progress report and will have the opportunity to discuss their progress and next steps in their learning. In the Summer term, you will receive their end of year report, which gives a summary of what your child has achieved across the curriculum areas. Following this, there is a third optional parents evening, should anything have been raised in the end of year report that you would like to discuss. We also provide individual PiXL reports over the course of the year in KS2, which identify children's strengths as well as weaknesses which parents can provide additional support for at home.
- Easier access to teachers – KS2 teachers now bring the children down to meet parents so that they are visible at the end of the day should you wish to speak to the class teacher about anything. We have provided clearer guidance on how you can reach teachers in our newsletters (e.g. speak to them before/after school; email the office to make an appointment; have email correspondence via the office)
- Twitter – We have class Twitter accounts for each class and parents love being able to see what their children are up to on a daily basis. Teachers will post news and photos showing what your children are up to. There is also a Twitter area on the Homepage of the website which will update with Tweets throughout the day.
- Parent Partnership Display- There is now a ‘Parents as Partners’ display opposite the main office. It has key term dates as well as being interactive, giving parents the chance to volunteer their expertise to help out in class and fill in contact slips if they wish to pass a message to their child’s class teacher.
- While we have been using Teams for remote learning, there have been a further increase in parent communication and we have welcomed feedback to tailor and improve our approach to home learning to make it as easy as possible for both parents and children.
The Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA) recognises that increased parental participation in school life can lead to improved pupil progress, punctuality, attendance and behaviour and we are always looking at ways in which we can build on our relationship with our parents and welcome feedback.
