St Monica's Catholic Primary School

You Said

We responded

Summer 19. My child is good every day but does not get recognition. A lot of attention seems to go to the children who are not well behaved.

Autumn 19. We have flipped our behaviour practice to focus on excellent behaviour first. The Golden Time charts which focused on children who were not following the rules have been replaced by Recognition Boards which celebrate the children who show lovely behaviour every day.

Summer 19. Could you consider stopping asking for packed lunches on trips to be put in plastic bags? That’s a lot of plastic going into the environment.

We have stopped requesting plastic bags on our trip letters. We didn’t buy disposable plastic drinks and crisps for Walking Day but switched to juice in cups and biscuits instead. We are reviewing all of our single use plastic. Thank you for being the catalyst to change!

 Summer 18. Thank you for the information about the Relationships and Sex Education programme. I can see that since it’s been implemented my younger child is much better equipped with the correct vocabulary, can you ensure the older children catch up?

We put in place the catch up lessons for the older children.

Statement

Percentage in agreement

My child is happy at this school

100%

My child feels safe at this school

100%

My child is making good progress at this school

100%

My child is well looked after at this school

100%

My child is taught well at this school

100%

My child receives appropriate homework for their age

100%

The school makes sure its pupils are well behaved

100%

The school deals effectively with bullying

98%  see note below

The school is well led and managed

100%

The school responds well to concerns

89% see note below

I receive valuable information from the school about my child’s progress

100%

?

R

Y1

Y2

Y3

Y4

Y5

Y6

Total

The school keeps me well informed about what events and meetings are going on.

1/1

8/8

9/9

8/8

10/11

7/7

8/8

6/6

98%

With text messaging, emails, the newsletter, the web site, access to speak to the staff, Twitter, What’s App … there are adequate channels of communication.

1/1

8/8

8/9

8/8

10/11

6/7

8/8

6/6

95%

The web site is user friendly.

0/1

8/8

8/9

7/8

9/11

6/7

8/8

6/6

89%

All the information I need is on the web site and class pages.

0/1

8/8

7/9

7/8

9/11

4/7

8/8

5/6

83%

The Annual Reports provide me with all the information I need.

6/8

7/9

8/8

8/11

5/7

6/8

6/6

81%

With their agendas of (specified) Parents evenings provide me with all the information I need.

0/1

7/8

8/9

8/8

9/11

6/7

8/8

6/6

89%

I can speak to school staff when I need to.

1/1

8/8

9/9

8/8

11/11

7/7

8/8

6/6

99%

How well do you think we communicate?    

1 well

7/8

9/9

7/8

10/11

5/7

8/8

6/6

91%

2 needs some improvement

1/1

1/8

1/11

2/7

9%

3 poor

0%

Please tick

Strongly

Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly

Disagree

Don’t

Know

1

My child enjoys school

30

6

2

I am happy with the values and attitudes that the school teaches

29

6

3

I am made to feel welcome in school

29

6

4

The school seeks the views of parents/carers and takes account of their suggestions and concerns

17

15

1

2

5

The school gives me a clear understanding of what is taught in Religious Education

20

15

6

The school enables my child/ren to achieve a good standard of work in Religious Education

20

15

7

The school keeps me well informed about my child(ren)’s progress in Religious Education

16

16

3

You said:

We responded:

January 2016: I don’t want the First Eucharist arrangements to change, I want my child to receive the Eucharist for the first time with their classmates.

For May 2016 and thereafter, we offered two ways that children could receive First Eucharist: either in the parish at a Sunday Mass or with their classmates at a special Mass on a Saturday (or both).

September 2016: I am concerned that the gate is open and anyone can get onto the school site.

Summer 2017: automated gate fitted

July 2016: I would have liked a personal comment on the Reception Annual Report as well as the subject and learning characteristics comments.

In July 2017 we redesigned the Reception Reports to include a personal comment.

Behaviour Questionnaire July 2016: We are concerned that our child is being exposed to behaviour that is unacceptable. Good behaviour should be rewarded.

• A system of red cards has been put in place and any poor behaviour results in other staff coming to remove children and deal with them out of the classroom, in order to protect the other children’s learning and peace of mind.
• The Governors have agreed to employ teaching assistants to monitor the behaviour of certain children 1:1 at play and lunch times to reduce the risk of children being exposed to incidents of unacceptable behaviour.
• The school has paid for a behaviour consultant to advise us on supporting particular children to improve their behaviour.
• All staff have been made aware of the need to praise good behaviour and use such systems as ‘golden time’ to show other children that rewards are fair.

Easter 2017: My child enjoyed the prayer stations during their First Reconciliation. Perhaps they could be spread out around the church building, led by an adult and more stations added.

Plans are underway to offer additional prayer stations, to spread them out in church and to invite members of the Year 6 Worship Team to come and lead the younger children in taking part.

Summer 2017 Y3 Eucharist Programme parent’s evaluation: What do you think could have been improved? A longer meeting for parents – it is difficult after Mass.

We have arranged a First Reconciliation parents meeting at school on the 8^th February 2018, the week before the Enrolment Mass on the 11^th.

Summer 2017 Y3 Eucharist Programme parent’s evaluation: Clearer guidelines regarding who should go up to the altar with the First Communicant.

This has been noted and will be addressed at the First Eucharist parents meeting at school on Thursday 1^st March 2018.

RE Questionnaire July 2017: all the sessions leading up to the First Reconciliations were during the day so I couldn’t attend. It would be great to have something at the weekend Masses maybe to encourage more family involvement.

Negotiations are underway to have an activity offered by the parish children’s liturgy team during the period of preparation.

RE questionnaire July 2017: could there be a progress update termly?

Staff offer progress updates in Autumn at the first parents evening, in Spring at the second parents evening and the Summer via the Annual Report which includes an invitation to come to meet with the teacher if required. All staff are happy to discuss progress at other times where there are specific concerns.

RE questionnaire July 2017: I think it would be valuable to have a more public, easily accessible way for parents to  make suggestions and see the responses.

Since September 2017 parents’ comments and school’s responses have appeared on the newsletter, and will continue to do so whenever there is an update to the web site page. A comments box for the external wall is on order.

RE questionnaire July 2017: I think it would be better for parents and healthier for the children if snacks were a choice of either fruit or veg – therefore eliminating the pester power of kids wanting crisps and chocolates as a ‘healthy snack’.

A healthy snack poster campaign is planned for Spring 2018.

RE Inspection questionnaire July 2017: we don’t get specific updates about progress in Religious Education

At the Autumn 2017 parents’ evening all staff discussed progress in Religious Education. The RE parent newsletter has been revamped and is available on the web site as well as coming home in hard copy each half term.

Spring Term Parents Evening Academic Questionnaire .. March 2016.

Many thanks for your replies. Of the 47 replies we received 100% agreed with the following statements:

• I know whether my child is working at the expected standard for their age.
• I know how school is supporting my child’s learning.
• I know how I can support my child’s learning at home.

We also received some very constructive comments, suggestions and requests which we will be addressing as follows:

• Games and fun activities would be more useful than handouts in workshops.
• I learn best by practical activities.
• I would be interested in Science and curriculum organisation.
• Could you consider mind management programmes for workshops?

 September

2015

Your comments from the ‘Survey of Parents’ Views about Keeping Children Safe’:

• Intercom system at front gate so that it is locked all day.
• Children cannot always articulate very well, so more pastoral teaching is needed.

• More supervision at breaks, more staff needed.

• I feel this policy could be conveyed to parents. (Personal, Social, Health and Emotional Policy and Sex and Relationships Policy)
• School is well organised, however, more communication with parents would be great
•  Re friendship issues – we have noticed, in the past, a tendency for one side of the story only to be taken account of. It is vitally important, in our view, for all sides to be considered carefully in order to prevent the kind of upset we have had to deal with at home.

•  Intercom system being costed and presented to the governors.
• Comments about listening to all sides of the story being shared at morning briefing and with all mid day assistants to remind all staff to be careful to take all sides of a story.
• Staff numbers on duty have been reviewed and Friday lunch time was found to be low, and so an extra member of staff has been added to the duty rota.
•  The SRE policy is on the web site, and the PSHE policy is being prepared to be added early in November.

• All staff have been asked to review their programmes to ensure that they are teaching children vocabulary about emotions to help them to express themselves. Where individual children are identified as needing extra support with this, there is a facility in school for small group or 1:1 work to be done on social and emotional skills.

September

2015

April 2015

A general survey was sent out in November / December 2014. A summary of the responses to the questions can be found separately in this section of the web site.

Thank you for your positive responses and encouraging comments. Thank you also for the constructive comments and honest ratings which will help us to improve.

We are particularly focussing on sharing children’s targets, ways to make the children feel that they are treated fairly, reviews of homework and how we handle complaints.

Measures are already in place to respond to the child who does not feel safe.

The suggestions as to how the school could be improved will be posted in the next couple of weeks when staff have completed their discussions about them.

March 2015

We would like more parent workshops.

 

A phonics workshop was held on 18.3.15. Safeguarding / e safety and maths workshops are planned for the summer term.