Charter School Communication

[tivat]

I have a child at the Charter and whilst mostly mostly positive, we are feeling quite let down with regards communication with the school. Is there anyone else out there who finds it difficult to be listened to.

The school constantly harps on about the parent/school partnership whilst seemingly ignoring any concerns we might have.

[clare]

We have 2 children at the Charter School.

We find their communication fine. We get texts and e mails and feel the school listens to any concerns.

We don't have any problems with them at all. Pretty impressed actually.

[toast]

None of my business!

[tivat]

Sorry, I didn't think I was being negative, I was just asking for other peoples experiences as that was how we feel.

I am quite surprised by your reaction

[toast]

none of my business.

[sillywoman]

I wonder which year your child/ children are in tivat? I only ask because we certainly found that the change from primary to secondary was marked for us by (amongst other things) less contact with the school for us as parents. So by the middle of year 7 I was feeling a little as you do now.

At secondary level the school tends to rely more on the children to communicate with us about school issues. This is good and bad i.e. the children quickly learn that they need to up their game or they miss out on stuff because their parents didn't know about it, but yes - sometimes stuff falls through the net. I have found that I also take more responsibility for finding out what's going on in the school by regularly checking their website and keeping my ear to the ground. Certainly in primary I was much more dependent on the regular letters home in the bookbag for communication, the lack of these combined with no-longer actually being present in the playground (it's probably not even called that at secondary school) meant that I/we had to get used to a different way of operating with regard to school communications.

From asking around though I think that this is common at Secondary level.

[tivat]

We're really happy with that level of communication, re school events etc. Apart from perhaps the website!!

No, its just trying to get in touch with teachers with regards discipline etc., its as if you can't question or challenge anything ,and getting any response to letters emails etc. is very difficult. It makes us feel very vulnerable and isolated, that's why I was wondering if anyone else had experienced issues like this, as it would be great to chat them through, in fact if anyone has a new kid at any secondary school I would love to hear if this is just normal at 'big' school

I don't want to put a downer on the school as most of it seems fantastic and our kid is really happy most of the time.

[sillywoman]

I have found that an email direct to the appropriate teacher, making sure to cc in the tutor, year head & key stage head to be the most effective way of getting a response. Also giving a polite time frame for expected response e.g.:I hope to hear back from you by Wednesday before I take this any further".

[simonethebeaver]

My stepdaughter is in Yr7 at another secondary school with a very good reputation and we've experienced similar frustrations. I do think it's down to the primary to secondary switch in most respects. There is though a real issue about getting hold of teachers sometimes - the head of year is definitely a good conduit on this - and on relying on a non-particularly communicative 11 year old for information. Hopefully we'll get used to it...

[Ann]

I thought also that tivat's post was partially parents adapting to ' Secondary School Life', but I would never undermine their anxieties.

It's a huge step jumping from primary to secondary. One of the aspects I missed was that regular drop off ( if not pick up), you could always have with the teacher if needed. You were also in regular contact with other parents. That doesn't really happen at secondary school and it's a big adjustment for us parents.

I don't have children at The Charter but would suggest that if your not receiving e-mails, texts from then they have no concerns.

I would suggest sending an e-mail to the head of year copied into the child's form teacher. They won't mind.

Good luck. If this has been tried already persist and escalate to deputy head.

[prickle]

I have a child in year 8 at Charter. I am happy with the level of communication re: specific concerns. I have been in email contact with several teachers and on one occasion, the year head has rang me back to discuss on phone too. I have found that my concerns have been forwarded to the relevant teachers and have been dealt with to my satisfaction.

I agree with others that it takes a while to get used to the more distant relationship you have with secondary school teachers and you have to rely on feedback from your children and also gut instinct to a certain extent.

[Vik]

Very much agree with the comments about feeling out of the loop once they start secondary school.

My son is in year 8 at Charter and I am more than happy with the communication I have had with the school, aside from the usual texts and letters, he was having a problem with another boy in his class which was causing him some upset, I called the school in the morning and explained the situation to someone in the office, they then passed a message to the behaviour officer, who spoke my son during the school day, I then got a call from his tutor after school to tell me what they were doing to rectify the problem. By the next day all was sorted and my son is now his happy self again.

I'm sorry you are having difficulties, perhaps give the school a call when they go back and ask for the tutor to call you back as soon as they can, if you don't have any luck I would probably then ask to speak to the head of year.

Good luck.