Archibald First School, Gosforth, Newcastle Upone Tyne | Having fun, learning together

Parent Questionnaire

June 2016

Results and Feedback

Dear Parents and Carers

A huge thank you for the time taken to complete the recent parent questionnaire. 108 were returned in total and analysed.  All the comments that you added have been collated and shared with the school staff.  Your feedback, thoughts and ideas are valued, and as always this has been considered carefully by the school team. The collated results can be accessed via this link: Parent Questionnaire Responses May 2016

 
An exceptionally high percentage of the questions were scored under strongly agree and agree with your comments overwhelmingly positive. With 99% agreeing or strongly agreeing that your children enjoy school we think that this supports our vision of having fun at school whilst our standards continue to speak for themselves.
This was supported by the fact that 99% of you feel welcomed by the school, acknowledge how happy your children are at Archibald and would recommend us to others. Thank you!

A staggering 100 % of your responses recognise the brilliant behaviour of the children in school and our high expectations. Alongside this 98% expressed that the children are safe and well looked after. Our recent amendments to the ‘It’s Good to be Green’ reward system will continue to place the emphasis on good behaviours and choices with children being rewarded for this.

The questionnaires also expressed how well the staff know your children as individuals (95%), expect them to work hard to do their best (97%) and prepare them for the next step in their learning journey (93%).
94% of you expressed how valuable the meetings with staff are, and in terms of reporting your children’s progress 90% feel well informed about the progress they are making.
In 2016-17, we will continue to hold a ‘Meet the teacher’ evening, two informal parents’ afternoons, two formal parents’ evenings and send out two sets of report cards. This will culminate in an end of year report in July. The staff are always willing to talk to parents about their children, if you would like to make an additional appointment at a mutually convenient time please speak to your child’s class teacher.

At Archibald we continue to provide a vast range of additional activities for your children and 100% of you supported this view. This term alone we have had at least 14 different clubs going on before, during and after school… German, tennis, football, art, multi skills, violin, science, trumpet, cooking, Taekwondo, green team, school council and singing to name but a few! Blue Reef Aquarium, Beamish and Alnwick Castle are the latest places the children have visited. We are happy to receive information about potential clubs and providers, as well as any visits or visitors that may enhance the curriculum for the children.

Over the last few years the questions and parental comments that have continued to prompt discussion are predominantly related to homework. The results this year again show that 87% of you agree or strongly agree that school sets appropriate homework for your children. The additional comments continue to express the need for ‘more’, ‘less’ or ‘just the right amount’ of homework.
We have worked hard to devise a balanced approach, and to provide homework that can be completed together which is age appropriate for your children.

Many of the additional comments focused on high quality communication between home and school, and in particular the website and how valuable this is as a resource. Communication with parents is very important to us. Our website is our main source of communication with letters, text messages also supplement this. A copy of all letters are put onto the website as soon as possible therefore if you are unsure if a letter has made it home or not then please check the letters page.   If a letter is missing please inform the office and it will be added.  We are also increasingly sending out letters that do not need a reply via email. This is the email address that is linked to your Parent Pay Account.

There is also a diary which all key dates are added to well in advance. Please keep checking on this to see up and coming events https://www.archibaldfirstschool.org.uk/parents-information/diary/ .

Half termly curriculum booklets are sent out and also added to the website; the aim of these is to inform parents about the topics and activities taking place. Alongside this the ‘You and Me’ tasks are another way of sharing with you the learning taking place with your children.

A couple of parents would like the headlice to be eradicated (a big ask!). As part of the Take a Peek Once A Week initiative we aim to keep the little visitors at bay as much as we can, and would like to thank you all for your support with this. Regular checking, and treatment when needed by parents at home is the only way in we can work to keep them at bay.

As we continue to aim high and work hard to maintain our Outstanding status, we value all your feedback, we will use it to continue to improve the school and provide the best experiences for your children. We would love to hear about what we are doing well as well as any ideas on how to improve any area of the school; please let us know so that we can consider what action we can take.  This can be done via a letter put into the Parents’ Suggestion box, situated in the main reception area, via a class rep from the PTFA or by sending an email to the school email address.

Yours sincerely

Mrs. J Bayes and the Archibald Staff