I am not particularly clear about how the Montessori approach has been incorporated into my child's learning……

Perhaps a charter of what the Montessori approach means in terms of their learning would be good to highlight how this improves their learning.

Since our accreditation was received in June this year we have been putting information every week about the Montessori method and approach in our weekly news for Nursery and Reception. This will give weekly snippets of information about how the method enhances the children’s learning.

I think there are too many communication methods. For example Classlist, Gateway, Marvelous Me, Facebook, Email, Text & Paper Letters.

Currently too many different modes of communication. Needs to be streamlined / standardised.

 Put the information in the actual email rather than an attachment! 

We are looking into one platform for all our communications and are working with a company who will visit us on 15^th October.

They claim to “connect schools  using modern technology...
making essential communications much simpler for everyone.”

If this system were to be adopted by us, we would be looking at swapping over from early 2020.

In terms of using PDF’s on our website and via our emails, PDF’s protect our documents from being tampered with or altered and we must ensure that what we publish is actually what we said.

PLEASE BE AWARE any communications via facebook, twitter, whatsapp or other social media platform DO NOT come from the school. We do not use these platforms.

The new stoney path in front of the parish hall is not a lot better than the old waterlogged path.

Surely it could have been agreed as part of planning permission that they would sort that path out? or that somewhere in the councils budget there is funding for a proper path?

The school and one of our parents spent over 2 years collecting petitions and negotiating with highways and planning over the state of this footpath.  Unfortunately highways did not want to help at all.  Planning would not make this a condition as it is the other end away from the housing and nothing to do with them.

We eventually persuaded the Town Council to put funding in for a new path.  We were led to believe that it would be a tarmac pathway but it turned out to be shingle. They are not prepared to do anything further.  This pathway is ‘unowned’ and does not fall on any legal deeds or documents.

The path itself is somewhat better in terms of waterlogging as it no longer holds puddles, however it is not effective for the moving of buggies and bicycles.

I believe the school over promotes a healthy living lifestyle.  I appreciate that you need to meet government guidelines and you do not have complete flexibility, but I am concerned you over compensate

In January 2019 we achieved a School Health UK ‘Beyond Healthy’ mark.   

In June 2019 All schools in England received an email from Nadhim Zahawi MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families In the email it referred to a report and inquiry and quoted it  “raises some important issues and I would urge you to read it and consider whether your school is doing all it can to ensure pupils are able to enjoy healthy food at school”.

Further it highlighted the need for schools to consider some particular issues raised by the inquiry, in particular:-

A positive lunchtime experience: Children highlighted the importance of an enjoyable and relaxing lunchtime experience. They want the school dining area to be a welcoming place where pupils can socialise, and would like a genuine voice in shaping their school meals. Children placed a high value on affordable healthy choices, avoiding queues and having enough time and space to eat with their peers.

We feel we have really worked hard to improve the whole lunchtime experience for our children and that they are really beginning to understand the importance of being healthy for their future.

14% of parents disagree that they are kept well informed on progress and 2 strongly disagree

In Nursery and Reception we operate an electronic system for observations to record progress.  Parents are sent all the photos and observations that we have carried out every half term (6 times a year) so you can see what your children have been doing, what learning has taken place and the next steps recorded by their teachers.  As well as this, you receive a Personalised Learning Plan for your child in November which is reviewed and shared with you again, in February.

On top of this and in line with the rest of the school we operate the following:-

October each year – parent consultations

February each year – parent consultations

July each year – a full report on your child’s progress and attainment.

This is very consistent with all schools in the UK where at primary level there are two face to face meetings per year and one full report.

Children on the SEN register may have more meetings across the year to review their Individual Learning Targets.

If parents are particularly concerned or worried about their child’s progress additional meetings can be planned with the individual class teacher across the year.

3 people disagree that bullying and harassment is tackled well and 4 strongly disagree

Bullying and harassment are taken very seriously by the school.  However, if parents do not approach the school direct about these issues, we cannot unfortunately deal with them. If issues occur outside of the school, for example at private birthday parties or events, the school cannot be responsible for this and again, if we are not informed direct, we are unable to help you.

We would ask that you clearly state any concerns you have over bullying direct to the school.

We pride ourselves on the exemplary behaviour that we have in school each day and would not like to feel that any child feels unsafe.

A reminder from the anti bullying alliance on what the term ‘bullying’ means:-

RUDE – if someone says or does something that is unintentionally hurtful, and they do it only once, they are being RUDE.

MEAN -  if someone says or does something that is intentionally hurtful, and they only do it once, they are being MEAN.

BULLYING -  If someone says or does something that is intentionally hurtful, and they keep on doing it, even if you ask them to stop, that is BULLYING.

Communication about assembly dates and

dates for end of topic presentations to

parents were not communicated early enough

for people to make plans and attend.

All the dates for the whole academic

year 2017/18 have been posted on our website calendar.

You were unsure whether our youngest

children in Nursery, especially those

attending 30 hours, were able to rest if they need to.

We have a quiet area and have

purchased ‘snooze mats’ should any

of our younger children need a rest

during the day.Both Reception classes

already use their book areas for rest time

if children need it.

You are worried about the traffic along

the side alleyway and the dangers to children

We have been liaising with the Local Authority

for several months on this. We have met with

the new site manager, Daniel Gladstone,

who is responsible for the construction of the

new housing and we have made an agreement

for there to be no work traffic during drop off

and pick up times.

You wanted to know when the zig zag lines

will be changed on the Forebury to outside

our school gate.

We have been liaising with the Highways

department for 2 years now regarding this issue.

It apparently requires a court order to change

the markings on the road and this is what is being sought.

You are worried that by the school allowing

children to bring sweets in on their birthday

and hand them out at the end of the day,

it goes against our healthy schools status

and doesn’t give parents the opportunity to refuse.

We will no longer accept sweets into school on

children’s birthdays and instead have asked via

the weekly newsletters you receive for parents

to send in a favourite book or story that can be

shared at the end of the day where everyone can sing happy birthday.

Some of you were not finding that you

received enough messages for your

child on Marvellous Me.

Some of you were concerned that you

could not use Marvellous Me on an

android device.

We have discussed the use of Marvellous Me

as a staff team. Each week the teachers are sent

through an analysis of their use compared to

other teachers and are encouraged to make

sure they are in line with each other and

sending out enough badges/messages.

Overall last year 93% of our parents were

engaged with Marvellous Me.

From 1^st Sept – 21^st July a total of

9289 updates were sent;

1036 learning activities were posted home

with 7704 general messages sent home.

We have spoken to the creator of Marvellous Me

and asked him whether people on android

cannot access it and this is his response:-

Not at all, the app is designed for Android and Apple devices.

Windows users can use it on their web browsers, and toggle

to receive email alerts.

If you are specifically having problems accessing

Marvellous Me, please do come to the office,

who will be happy to sort this out for you.

You are concerned that Nursery children

cannot bring their scooters to school as

they cannot access the scooter hut if

they leave at 11.30 or arrive at midday.

We have ordered a new small scooter rack

for the Nursery children which will be erected

near to the nursery entrance.

Some of you are concerned that there is not

enough supervision at lunchtime.

The canteen was also the least favourite place in school.

We are working with School Health UK on

developing a whole systems approach to health

including how lunchtimes work for children. We will

inform you of how this is progressing as the year

moves on.

We are looking at a full refurbishment of our canteen

over the next 12-18 months.

YOU SAID

WE DID

Security on the main gate was an issue.

We relocated the main gate to outside the main office area and introduced a buzz entry system for visitors during the school day.

We installed 1.8m metre fencing around the carpark area and new lockable gates.

The website needed to be updated and improved.

The website was re-designed over the summer holiday and went live in the first week of the new term.  It is updated each week.

You were not aware of our marking policy and the codes we use.

Our SLT (Senior Leadership Team) hold VIP (very important pupil) meetings with your children to help them understand what they need to do to improve their learning.

We sent you the marking codes home with a letter explaining what they mean and put them on the website for you to refer to.

You were not always aware of the workshops we provide for children during the year.

We now include information about our workshops in your class weekly news.  We remind you about them on our marvellous me app.  We have created a ‘workshop news’ tab on the News page on our website.

You wanted more feedback about your children and their learning.

We have introduced 2buildaprofile online learning journals for the children in the EYFS so you receive regular email learning journals.

Introduced ‘marvellous me’ an app for your phones, ipads and android systems so that we can instantly send you a message/photo/badge during the day direct to your phone.

We put the teacher’s direct email on the bottom of our weekly news in case you need to contact them direct.

You wanted the newsletters numbered.

We clearly date them and put them on the website in date order.  They are removed each term so only the newest and relevant ones are there.

You asked for suggested resources online.

We added a suggestion to each class page on the website.

You asked about before and after school clubs.

We introduced ‘get up and go’ club once/twice a week for the nursery siblings who arrive earlier due to nursery timings.

We hold a range of clubs on a Tuesday from 3-4pm for all Year 2 children who choose to attend.

We will continue our discussions with local providers and our feeder junior school regarding wrap around care.  We can provide you with details of local providers/childminders that we are aware of.