Dear Parents and Carers
We have spent some time since our Ofsted inspection (please read the report if you’ve not already done so, on our website or theirs) reflecting on our school and our improvement planning. This has involved going through all the surveys that were done a couple of months back. As it happens, our parents’ survey was still live when Ofsted arrived and whilst I assume many parents filled out both, counting all the responses together adds up to around 800 parent/carer views being shared. Even accounting for the parents and carers who would have done both, I believe this number of responses gives a steer to school leaders on how parents feel we should improve our school. To avoid going through the questions individually, they can be grouped into key areas. For example, the most positive responses were around questions to do with feeling safe at school, doing well at school, our provision for children with SEND, how leaders at all levels manage their parts of the Empire and that very high numbers would recommend the school. Thank you all for the kind words which were also included in this feedback.
As ever, I am very interested in what we must improve and overwhelmingly it is around how parents can have knowledge of what their child is learning and how to be involved in this. Next is the curriculum around personal development and how easy it is for children to take part in activities and whether these develop children’s character. Also, in the areas to improve, are parental understanding of School Governance, the behaviour of a small minority of noisy kids and rewards. Interestingly when we look at all the surveys we do, plus the Ofsted feedback, it all highlights the same areas and this was further confirmed when the school leaders and I did some strategic thinking about where our school is now and where it will be in a year.
Whilst I don’t yet have all the answers (working on it though), I hope that all our parents and carers are assured that your views are feeding straight into our next stage of planning and that we are all on the same page. I look forward to sharing our new improvement plans with you and will keep the responses from this survey as our baseline to measure progress.
We are now two terms through this eventful year and will come back for the final 13 weeks after Easter. This will also trigger the start of exam season for our Year 11s and 13s. Tricky to get a balance here as looking at the students, we have those who need a rude awakening to get into some revision, but we also have those who are piling unreasonable pressure on themselves. Revision is essential over the Easter holidays but so is rest. Please, if you have a child in Years 11 or 13, please make sure they get the balance right – meaningful revision, well planned in short bursts is best. What I mean by that is not “revising Maths” or “revising History” etc., but making sure your child knows specifically what topic they are trying to master; what aspects of the topic they feel they need to improve on and what resources they will use to do so. If they have that planned then they can do a short burst of meaningful revision and also make sure they get the rest breaks in between.
Have a good Easter.
Best wishes
Andy Perry
Head Teacher