St Chad's Survey Feedback

                           

Response to parents' feedback

This is a lengthy document because I wanted to respond to as many of your points as possible in some detail. Firstly, I’d like to thank all of those of you who took the time to respond to the questionnaire.

According to the results of the survey, what parents feel the school does best is to make sure children feel safe and secure, learn about healthy living and, most of all, enjoy school. The school is generally felt to have high standards of work and behaviour giving children a sense of achievement.

Issues that were raised most frequently as needing improvement by some parents were communication, after-school activities and opportunities for children in-line with their abilities.

In order to help with communication the newsletter will, from now on, be published here on our school website as well as being printed. I hope that this will help with the problem of newsletters not being received at home for whatever reason. On the positive side, parents mostly felt that staff were friendly, approachable and easily available to discuss issues with. If you do not find this easy you can always ring and make an appointment through the office.

One complaint from several parents was short notice of trips and events. Sometimes this is hard to avoid but I do agree that we need to give you as much notice as possible when we can and will try to work on this. Calendars will be sent out for very busy terms and other dates in the newsletter.

If you feel that your child’s needs are not being met in terms of their ability then please talk first of all to the class teacher. This is very important and something every teacher will aim to get right and if it seems not to be happening let us know.

Many people are concerned about parking and driving in Alverston Gardens. As you know I have asked the police and Croydon Parking Control to patrol. I have no authority outside the school gates and must say that if you see dangerous driving or parking you need to report this to the police.  

There were several complaints concerning the behaviour and manners of a few parents on the way in and out of school. I wish I could do something to help here but again it is down to the individuals themselves to set an example that we would like our children to follow.  
This is a Catholic school and we expect children to treat each other with care and respect – which they do very well, and it saddens me that a few adults don’t share this consideration.

After-school activities are almost all delivered by teachers in their own time. There is currently a wide range of clubs but obviously in a school this size it is going to be difficult to cater for all children. If parents with talents want to share these in school I am happy to discuss any offers of help, subject to CRB checks.

There was some concern over uniform e.g. trousers for boys and the new coats. Uniform changes are the responsibility of the governors and so you need to write to them via school if you feel strongly about this.

At this time when our children are being tested and there is so much discussion about the future of SATS it was obviously important to some of you. We legally have to administer tests at KS1 and KS2. The KS1 assessments are actually based not on tests but on teacher assessment, whereas KS2 results are reported as test and teacher assessment.

The most important issue about assessment is that it informs both parent and teacher of a child’s progress. League tables show raw scores and this is not the most relevant factor. Value Added shows how much progress a child has made. It can appear that a school is doing very well, i.e. ranked high up the league tables when children have made only average progress from KS1. What we are looking for is that each individual child is making good progress in line with their ability. For example, a child who has difficulty with Literacy may achieve Level 1 in Y2 and L3 in Y6. This would not look well in league tables but the child themselves would have made very good progress, taking into account their needs.

As always, what matters here is the progress of your child and if you have any worries or concerns about that please talk to the teacher.  The same also applies to any concerns about homework.

There were a few comments about supply teachers and changing staff. We are very lucky at St Chad’s to have a very stable staff but needless to say there are times when someone is off sick and I need to use a teacher from an agency.

All teachers are entitled to Preparation, Planning and Assessment time (PPA). This is covered by part time staff that get to know the children well and plan with the teachers. So in any week every class will always have two teachers. PPA is a legal requirement and it is impossible to cover with fewer than two teachers in the week.

There were a few comments regarding the Admissions Criteria and admission to Reception. The governors agree the criteria and these are applied fairly to all applicants. All applicants are given an application form with the criteria and the criteria are available at all Open Mornings/Afternoons. This was a very unusual year in that we had many more applications than places, which led to the governors being unable to offer places to a large number of children. If you would like to see the Admissions’ Criteria it is available in the office.

Over the next year we hope to be able to address some of the improvements needed in the playground and toilet facilities. You will be updated as these occur.

Your overall response was very positive and I thank you for that but I hope this very long letter reassures you that note has been taken of the points you have made. I have not covered every single issue that may have been mentioned by only one or two parents but am happy to discuss those on an individual basis if you would like to make an appointment.

Thank you again for your constructive feedback.


Response to children's feedback

Thank you to all of you who replied to my questionnaire. It was very helpful. I am glad that nearly all of you like coming to school and find lessons interesting and fun. 

I hope that if you are not happy that you will let your teacher or Mum or Dad know so we can sort it out.

Lots of you said you like your friends, your teachers and the interactive whiteboards. Your favourite lessons seem to be P.E. and Art. We will try to do as much of these as we can but we do have to fit in lots of Maths, English and Science or I will be in trouble!

I agree that we need to sort out the toilets, give you some more shade in the playground and some more games for outside. I have talked to the governors (the people who help run our school) about these things and we are planning to improve the playground and toilets over the next few months.

I have read every questionnaire that was returned and made notes for myself but it would be too much to write everything down here. If you have something important to say then please talk to your school council representative, your class teacher or come and tell me and we can talk about it.

You have been very grown up in your ideas and I’d like to thank you again for some very useful feedback.


Yours sincerely,                   
                                 
               
Mrs Ruiz