How are parents involved in their children’s education?

We believe that effective education depends upon a true partnership between home and school.  This means that we share with you the responsibility for the children’s progress.  The essential prerequisite for this is open and honest communication.  We will tell you what is happening at school. We encourage you to tell us if there is anything that we need to know about your child and, in particular, to let us know at an early stage if you have any concerns for your child’s progress at school.  Please try to do this at the end of the school day, as the beginning of the school day is a particularly hectic time and it is difficult to give you our full attention as the children enter school.  Serious concerns should be addressed to the Head Teacher.

Home Visit

We offer a ‘home visit’ to all parents of children entering their Reception year in early September, in the days before they start school.  The purpose of this visit is to give you the opportunity to get to know us a little better and for us to have a better understanding of your child.  Your participation in the ‘home visit’ programme is purely voluntary.

Homework

We set some formal homework on a regular basis, and we may well ask you for your support and assistance according to the needs of the individual child.  In particular, your child will bring home lists of spellings and tables to learn, or a reading book.  Children in Key Stage 2 will be required to complete, at home, a gradually increasing amount of work.  Details of each year’s homework requirement are given out in a class letter to parents.

Class Letter

Each term, the class teacher sends home a letter or 'curriculum map' giving details of the work that the children will be covering and the various ways in which parents can help

Newsletters

We provide a weekly update newsletter to parents every Friday. In addition this, we provide a monthly newsletter which provides parents with information on what the classes have been doing in the previous month.  

Parental Help

We welcome parental help and we aim for every class to have one or more parents working with the children at some time during the week.  We would be delighted if you can volunteer some of your time, if you are not already committed elsewhere.  Parents are also actively involved during school outings.  We are always most grateful for this help which broadens the experiences available to the children.  Each year we recruit parents and other family members to help with our Dancing Bears scheme, which aims to encourage early readers who need a little more help getting started. Regular helpers are required to undertake DBS (formerly CRB) vetting to enable them to work with the children.

Reports

We make every effort to keep you informed of your child’s progress. Parents’ evenings are held in the Autumn and Spring terms.  In the main, we arrange appointments in the early evenings so that parents who are usually at work may attend, but we are flexible.  In the Autumn term, we have an Open Day during which prospective parents may visit the school to see us at work.  At the end of the Summer term, we send home a written report of your child’s progress. An appointment may be made to discuss this report if you so wish.