Parent and Child Questionnaires 2007
Parent Questionnaire 2007
Thank you for completing this year's Parent Questionnaire. It was great to hear all your fantastic comments about our school. You raised several issues which I intend to answer. I have grouped them under general headings to make it easier to read. If you would like to come back to me on anything, I can be contacted via the school office. (Gill Hartley ~ Chair of Governors)
Curriculum matters Sport and PE: Year R children have one whole class PE session each week, and on top of this the children undertake a variety of physical activities ranging from parachute games, playing on the trikes, ball skills??.. which make up the PE time they have in a week. The children don't always get changed for PE activities ~ it depends on the nature of the activity. Extra clubs this term will include football and multisports which the Year R children were able to participate in. Al other year groups have PE 2x per week and the children are able to access the extra clubs. French: This will be part of the curriculum for all year groups from September 2007. Progress and targets: Children's targets are discussed at the termly consultatives and next steps explained. Some of you felt you would like more informal meetings with staff, and we will look at this for the next academic year. However, it may be difficult to implement due to all the other work staff undertake in Directed Time. Home/school book: It is difficult for staff to write in detail in the home/school book due to time constraints, but we will try to ensure that general messages are put on the notice boards. Music: All the children have music weekly with Mrs Warren, and we intend to look at ways in which we may build in additional musical activities. Labelling work: I am sorry to hear that children with the same first name have sometimes had their work mixed up; this has been mentioned to the staff. The children are encouraged to write their name or ensure a member of staff is aware if they need help. We will remind the children that they need to ask if they are finding it difficult to record their names in full. Extra curricular clubs: These have started this term for Year R children ~ due to the limited number of spaces and developing the children's confidence we wait for some of the activities to start in the Summer term. The clubs are open to Year 1 and 2 all year. Home learning: this term we have started using How to support your child: Target books were sent home in September and the half termly home learning projects provide many opportunities for supporting your child. Please let us know if you have any other ideas as to how we can help you support your child. Spellings: The children start having weekly spelling lists towards the end of September; these are usually only missed when we have the special theme weeks, INSET or sometimes when staff are absent. Mrs Moore will remind staff that consistency is important. We do try to ensure that the children get them each weekly. More reading books at weekends: Your children?s reading is helped if they read a range of books beyond the Oxford Reading Tree and 'sticker' books. Please do record any books your child reads in the home/school book. Themed projects and homework: some of you were concerned about the balance between these, but we do try to give several options. Always remember there is an element of choice and no obligation to undertake projects. We are always looking at ways of increasing the range of skills involved in home projects. More able children being stretched: The curriculum is differentiated for all abilities, and you, as parents, must speak to teachers if you feel your child is not being stretched or supported. All curriculum planning clearly identifies suitably differentiated activities.
Communication Newsletters and changes of dates: Mrs Moore will try to ensure that if dates have to be changed a note on a newsletter will clearly indicate this to avoid confusion ~ we apologise if dates change but do try to ensure that we give you advance warning. Mailings and e mail: We trialled e mail for newsletters last year and had very little uptake. We will explore this again in September 2007 as part of our Sustainability programme. Urgent mailings: The office staff will explore how this may be resolved ~ we reduced mailing to Fridays to save it coming home each day and will now see if we can find a way to prioritise the mailings for your attention Message board: When the exterior of the building has been redecorated we will be putting up a new noticeboard for the Year R and 1 parents. School update meetings: Over the past years we have held several curriculum workshops for parents and attendance has been minimal. We will look at the feasibility of holding them again during the next academic year. Calls to parents when school closed: A few of you asked if working parents could be informed first. We do try to ensure we do ring as many as possible but as a significant number of parents are at work we are not able to call you all at once.
Other Induction for Year R: We reviewed the procedures for September 2006 and they had the support of the overwhelming majority of parents. Our timetable and procedures for September 2007 having been based on the comments we received. School day: I am sorry that start and end times of the school day are sometimes less than punctual, staff have been reminded about this. We will try our best! Flexibility of start and end times: It is difficult to implement complete flexibility as we must have enough staff at school to ensure the children's safety. Due to the number of other school's that parents often have to drop / collect children from, we are not in a position to change timings as it makes it difficult for parents to make the journeys safely. Bigger hall: Hall: a number of parents have suggested that we should try to extend the school hall. Whilst we agree that this would make a great facility for times when we have a large event, it would unfortunately be a very costly and difficult venture. You will be aware that we are due to have some work done to the roof of the hall and we have been told by our surveyors that this will involve bracing the roof and that to extend it would require major re-engineering of the roof. It is only about six times a year that the hall is full to capacity and unfortunately we do not feel that this sort of use would justify such major work and expense. Lunchboxes: Children attending after school clubs have found it difficult to retrieve their lunchboxes - staff will discuss this situation and try to find an acceptable solution. Playground equipment: The Friends are hoping to buy new equipment for the Barn Playground ~ this is dependent upon raising sufficient funds - £18,000 is needed! Support for events such as Quiz Night, sponsorship etc would help us to raise this much needed equipment School dinners: We are in regular discussion with HC3S regarding school dinners. We will continue to ensure you are kept informed of changes to the menus etc. Road signs: Some of you suggested that the children design road signs e.g. 'slow down' etc that could be used along Parking: We realise that this continues to be a difficulty for many parents at the start and the end of the school day but unfortunately there is very little we can do about it. We have consulted with Security of school grounds at weekends: We have not been able to lock the main gates as they were damaged for a long period. We do try to remember to close the gates in the evenings and at the weekend. The Governors and school staff discuss security regularly and would implement necessary measures if there was a need. The school pays for a security patrol to manage the site at weekends and school holidays and they liaise with us over any issues that may arise. No vandalism or other incidents have been reported to school in this academic year. Road safety projects with Rushmoor: You will have seen that Rushmoor BC have placed a crossing point in front of the school. This is designed to slow traffic at this point and to make a safe focus for children and parents crossing the road to the school. If everyone tries to use this as a crossing point it will improve safety for all the children. Parents and staff have been trained and Road Safety training will start after half term for all Year 2 children. Shelter for parents: Some parents asked whether we could provide a shelter for collecting children from Y1 classes. Unfortunately this would very difficult to do without restricting the use of the playground and access to the building. Happily with global warming there are very few days when it rains at 3.15pm! School trips: We have to limit trips from school because of the high cost of coaches etc. To balance this we have arranged for more theatre groups to visit school as these enable us to provide a range of activities for all children Flexibility of start and end times: It is difficult to implement complete flexibility as we must have enough staff at school to ensure the children's safety. Due to the number of other school's that parents often have to drop / collect children from, we are not in a position to change timings as it makes it difficult for parents to make the journeys safely. Use of park for extra curricular sport: Mrs Moore has talked about this with the sports' coaches as safety etc would be their responsibility and parents would have to give their permission. No decision has been reached yet Friends' events: Your comments on events and money making schemes have been passed onto the Friends' Committee. Only a tiny minority of parents expressed any concerns about these. The Friends provide additional resources for school and are a valuable group ~ we need to support the activities they arrange to enable us to provide additional resources such as playground equipment for the Dragon playground which the school would be unable to fund Governors: Some of you felt you would like a termly newsletter updating you about decisions and issues discussed. I will talk to the other Governors about how we can best achieve this. There are always Governors at school events, but any ideas you may have to raise our profile would be warmly welcomed |
| Thank you for completing.................we will update you throughout the year. |
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