Is your children's school really GREAT (or not?) at communicating with parents?

[Saffron]

Little Saff has just started reception at Gordonbrock (same federation as Elliot Bank). She's happy, and I'm pleased with her class teachers. However, I must admit to being really disappointed with the level of communication from the school to parents.

The school has a text system, which seems rarely used, or used incorrectly. There's very little information on the school website, and it's often not up to date anyway. We didn't even get a copy of the curriculum and daily class schedules until 2.5 weeks after the start of term.

More worryingly, I couldn't find any written advice to parents on how to make official enquiries or complaints, or how such enquiries/complaints are handled.

Am I crazy to think that if parents are to be an intrisic part of their children's education, then the school has to make a concerted effort to communicate with parents?

[EmilyPie]

Watching this thread with interest as my oldest is likely to be starting at gordonbrock next year. The latest 'weekly' newsletter on their website is from July! Am hoping that's because everyone is so busy interaction with the children?

[nunheadmum]

Sadly I don't think that's so uncommon. At Ivydale I often feel the same. Although I must add that it's got an awful lot better than it used to be and I think the school have listened to parents and made an effort. I think a lot of that has come from parents getting involved and driving new channels for parents to be listened too - such as the Parent Forum.

Ultimately though I think the school is busy with the business of teaching the kids and direct their efforts where it will have the maximum effect on the kids, regardless of how engaged their parents are. But for parents who want to be engaged, it is frustrating.

Have you tried speaking to the head? I've found a genuine attempt to understand the issues preventing better communication can get a better response than a complaint. Also are there ways around it? We started up Facebook pages for each year and often use them to share info specific to the year groups. It's a sign that communication has got better that the groups gradually have become more social than school info oriented.

[edanna]

I think this is hard for schools to get right and as nunheadmum says their primary focus is teaching the kids and rightly so. Having said that there are real benefits to better communication and involvement of parents so if you care about this you could help drive improvements. You could for example find out what other schools do and then ask your head if your school could try some of them, eg workshops for parents explaining how phonics is taught, parent reps, half termly letters telling you about the topics the kids will be focusing on etc. If there is a way of canvassing parents' views of their experience of the school then communication will come out as an issue if others feel the same way you do, which would mean you wouldn't be a lone voice.

[peggoula]

Bessemer Grange is great at communicating (and from what I heard they didn't used to be) but definitely are now.

We get weekly newsletters with what the children have been doing, twice a week updates on their homeschool diaries and letters with upcoming projects as well as communication from the PTA (@fab)

My daughter has started in Reception in September and despite it not being our first choice (we are much closer to Heber but didn't get in) I couldn't be happier.

[Otta]

Our daughter's school (St Bart's, Sydenham) send a weekly newsletter home which is quite useful.

In terms of actual info about how your child is getting on in the classroom, info last year was so hard to come by and we were made to feel like a we were being a nuisance whenever we asked about anything. This turned me VERY much against the school, because our daughter would come home upset or with different clothes on and we couldn't find out if she'd had an accident or put the wrong stuff on after PE. This is unbelievably frustrating.

This year things are 100% better, so I think it very much just depends on staff in the class your kid is in.

[JDR]

Ours wasn't but the newish head (3 years ish) has been slowly but surely making improvements ( st Johns and St Clements)

We get a weekly newsletter, now sent by email. The website gives term dates upto 18months ahead and the newsletters at the beginning of the year give out dates for assembly's, Christmas nativities, curriculum meetings etc. Even a year ago it wasn't this good so if they aren't great encourage them. It makes a big difference as I'll be able to book leave in advance and attend more things

[Belle]

Also at St John's and St clement's (recently moved from another local primary) and find the communciation excellent. The newsletter comes from the head which I feel gives you a sense of who she is/what she's about, plus she does a useful summary of what bits of paper you should be getting in your bookbag - handy for the times your little one mislays letters etc. We also got a calendar a couple of weeks back to put on your fridge, with term dates and key events. The PTFA is really good at contact too, and there's a class rep system - do you have one in place? could be worth chasing that. Can you speak to the PTA and/or the Head about who is in charge of school communications?

For me personally, communication is fundamental, particularly in the early years when you're new to the school environment. It's not why we moved school but it's been a huge plus to our move. I think a lot of people find reception year quite bewildering, and I can relate to Otta's experience - we definitely had times where my son missed out on something last year because we didn't get the relevant info, or something would happen at school and it would be impossible to get to the bottom of it. I don't think that experience was necessarily restricted to the school we were in, but I think parents can and should push to change it. and yes, as much info electronically as possible!

[Belle]

Also, ask if your daughter can have a communications book - somewhere you can exchange messages with her teacher about progress/anything concerning you - some schools do this (not all - but worth asking for it if they don't).

[newtoedf]

I came across this school website recently (was interested in their school building initially not the website) but was completely blown away by the level of communication... http://www.montgomery.devon.sch.uk/category/learn-here/

Clearly it takes a lot of time and you could quibble about typos but the amount of information about what is going on in the school and the number of resources for parents explaining what the children are learning are just amazing. Sadly it's not a standard of communication that I've ever experienced personally!

[Saffron]

Thanks for the ideas. I do not believe that educating children can be separated from communicating with parents. In fact, I think it's dangerous to do so.

I would prefer to offer constructive criticisms than just make complaints, because I actually (mostly) like the school. I like the idea of FB pages. I thought about LinkedIn pages as well because they're easy for uploading documents. I thought this might make it easier to check what documents we might have missed, and also download new copies when they invariably get destroyed with mud/jam/bathwater.

The PTA as such is a 'Friends of Gordonbrock' group which does some fundraising and has annual general meetings, but they didn't really seem to have any solutions about the communications issue. It could be because this group is small, relatively new?

Overall I got the impression that when it comes to tackling sticky problems, we're more likely to hear excuses why new things can't be done, than to find solutions to accomplish them.

I can see that a few other parents are trying to make in-roads. There is a coffee morning parents group. But how the heck are working parents supposed to regularly attend that?!

Also, at the annual general meeting, parents were asked for ideas on how to spend some the money fundraised by the Friends group, e.g. classroom teaching supplies. But how are we supposed even to know what learning tools our children regularly have access to? -- I've only been in her classroom once for 10 min!

Thanks again for all the great ideas. So far I've refrained from complaining to the school because I wanted to get some better ideas about what is feasible and what other schools and parents are doing. I think I've got a better feel for it now.

Can I also ask, in other schools, how many governors are parents?

xx

[SebsC]

Hi Saffron,

Sorry to hear about your experiences. I hope you don't mind, but I am acquainted with a member of staff from Gordonbrock who has read this thread and is saddened to hear of your experience and has asked me to post this message on the school's behalf....

We have noticed your thread regarding Gordonbrock Primary School and are very disappointed to hear about your concerns with our school. We would really like to speak to you in person regarding your concerns. Please contact Maria Gilmore, Head of School, via the school office to arrange a meeting.

[Saffron]

Thank you SebC, how very kind of you to take the time to post that. :)

As I stated previously, my daughter is happy, and DH and I are generally pleased with the school. I absolutely will contact the school, but I wanted to hear others' experiences and opinions prior to doing so. I don't want to be one of those annoying parents that unreasonably criticises things without offering some feasible suggestions for change!

I'm really interested in what people think makes for good parent-school communication, so I hope people will continue to post here or PM me. xx

[souc1a]

We are no longer in ED, but also have a child who has just begun reception. We feel almost overwhelmed with the amount of information we receive from the school. This half term we have had a 'meet the teacher evening' when we were invited into the classroom with the teacher and were talked thought the weekly timetable, rewards, sanctions and other school systems. At this evening there was also ample time to discuss questions about the term so far. We have also had an e-safety talk and a more formal parents evening this week. We receive a weekly whole school newsletter and a Reception newsletter which details the learning objectives and foci for the week, both by email.

The school has a very open feel and we are encouraged to communicate with the class teacher and other staff at the end of the day or by phone of it's more appropriate. The class teachers give us a wave as they hand over the children if they need to have a quick chat about anything which has happened from a grazed knee to an explanation as to why they're wearing different socks! We feel very connected to what is happening for our daughter at school because of this excellent channel of commincation. I feel that I should also add that I am a teacher and realise the strains on teachers and schools in terms of time. This makes us even more grateful to be part of a school community who clearly value sharing our experience to help our children.

To the OP, it sounds like you just want to have an understanding of what happens in your child's school day and I hope that some of the above examples will be helpful in your discussions with the school. It's great that they are keen to enter into a discussion about how to improve communication, a very good start.

[Belle]

I think in reception/Year 1 at least, the teacher being available for the quick word the poster above describes is ideal. At pick up times that is. For families who aren't going to be there for pick up due to work, if the teacher is accessible on email that is great - I was impressed when ours replied to my email really promptly and with the info I needed when I contacted her recently.

[Roscommon]

Hi OP (Saffron)

Really hope you see my reply........

My son is due to start school Sept. 2015 & we are round the corner from Gordonbrocks - I've tried to visit and have been told I've missed the open day (yesterday) and that I can't meet the head or speak to anyone about the school!!!!!

I'm seriously not impressed!

They've told me I can get shown around by some year 6 students after half term and that's it!

How to you rate the school? ESP. as the parents view on Ofsted is so bad......We desperately want a parents opinion?

Thanks,

Aoife

[iaineasy]

Personally I don't place too much stock in anything ofsted-related. Although, if you're talking about the Parents View feature for the last 365 days/2013-14 school year, that is a very small cohort (12-15 responders) and is very low compared to responses from previous years, where more parents than not thought that the school was good in the categories polled.

Overall, as I stated above, DH and I are happy with the school, and Little Saff definitely enjoys her time there. I don't have any serious concerns over health & safety or learning outcomes. It's only that considering the shcool has a good/outstanding rating, I had expected better communication. I have now talked to quite a few parents, those with children previsouly at Gordonbrock nursery, and those --like me-- whose children attended nursey elsewere. Interestingly, we seem to have some of the same concerns, which I note are also common to some posters on this thread, who are not Gordonbrock parents at all. So this seems to be an area where the school-parent dynamic struggles in general.

And that is exactly why I started this thread-- to find out what other parents think about communication at their schools, AND hopefully to hear some success stories. Btw, the montgomery link above makes for very useful reading!

So I don't want to sidetrack the thread too much by focusing on Gordonbrock, but I'll PM you more info. xx

[iaineasy]

Oh b*****! I just posted on DH's acount. Sorry. xx Saffron.

[Saffron]

That's my post on Hubbie's account. Sorry forumites. xx

iaineasy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Personally I don't place too much stock in

> anything ofsted-related. Although, if you're

> talking about the Parents View feature for the

> last 365 days/2013-14 school year, that is a very

> small cohort (12-15 responders) and is very low

> compared to responses from previous years, where

> more parents than not thought that the school was

> good in the categories polled.

>

> Overall, as I stated above, DH and I are happy

> with the school, and Little Saff definitely enjoys

> her time there. I don't have any serious concerns

> over health & safety or learning outcomes. It's

> only that considering the shcool has a

> good/outstanding rating, I had expected better

> communication. I have now talked to quite a few

> parents, those with children previsouly at

> Gordonbrock nursery, and those --like me-- whose

> children attended nursey elsewere. Interestingly,

> we seem to have some of the same concerns, which I

> note are also common to some posters on this

> thread, who are not Gordonbrock parents at all.

> So this seems to be an area where the

> school-parent dynamic struggles in general.

>

> And that is exactly why I started this thread-- to

> find out what other parents think about

> communication at their schools, AND hopefully to

> hear some success stories. Btw, the montgomery

> link above makes for very useful reading!

>

> So I don't want to sidetrack the thread too much

> by focusing on Gordonbrock, but I'll PM you more

> info. xx