What's in your school newsletter?

[Saffron]

Our weekly school newsletter has a big section for attendance percentages, and also sports (usually football).

What's in yours? Do you find it useful?

xx

[nunheadmum]

Usually 2 weekly. 2 sides of A4.

A calendar of up and coming dates (class trips, big in school events, parents meetings etc).

A short note from the head (or very occasionally other key person eg.governor) highlighting something that's going on or the school has been focusing on etc.

Notes on various things going on around the school - sometimes a note from the actual group itself (e.g. PTA note re summer fair, a message from After schools club etc) or a paragraph about some housekeeping bits (e.g. reminder re parking, lost property) etc.

I have the say they've become a lot more helpful over the past couple of years after feedback from parents. It really is where I look to see what's happening at the school. Not always 100% perfect but a big improvement.

[alaska721]

I get two newsletters per week via email. One is a more general school-wide letter and the other is more class specific.

The general school-wide one contains news regarding events, school trips, teacher news, school plays and warnings of any chicken pox/head lice outbreaks.

The class specific one contains details of what the children have been learning in class that week and it's usually divided into sections including literacy, maths, social development and physical activities.

I find the class specific one particularly useful as it is very detailed and lists everything they have done in class that week. I work full-time and never get to speak to my daughter's teacher/teaching assistants to find out what she does in class. If I ask my daughter what she has done in school that day I get the same response every time "I don't know"!

[Norfolkvillas]

Our sounds similar to nunheadmum's. We get 1 or 2 sides of A4 once a week with upcoming dates, housekeeping, PTA info, general school news, attendance, and parent reminders. We also get one side of A4 every Friday which is a year-group-specific learning letter, which outlines what the focus is going to be in the forthcoming week in literacy / numeracy / phonics / psed etc.

I find both really useful, but the learning letter especially means I feel better connected with what my son is learning at the time he is learning it, and can weave the info into discussions we have at home. I work full-time and do barely any of the school run, so this source of info is particularly appreciated in this household.

Edited to add: Cross-posted with the poster above - Alaska721, snap! :-)

[Saffron]

nunheadmum Wrote:

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

> Usually 2 weekly. 2 sides of A4.

> A calendar of up and coming dates (class trips,

> big in school events, parents meetings etc).

> A short note from the head (or very occasionally

> other key person eg.governor) highlighting

> something that's going on or the school has been

> focusing on etc.

> Notes on various things going on around the school

> - sometimes a note from the actual group itself

> (e.g. PTA note re summer fair, a message from

> After schools club etc) or a paragraph about some

> housekeeping bits (e.g. reminder re parking, lost

> property) etc.

>

> I have the say they've become a lot more helpful

> over the past couple of years after feedback from

> parents. It really is where I look to see what's

> happening at the school. Not always 100% perfect

> but a big improvement.

How do you think they changed? What feedback did parents give? Sounds like a really good result. xx

[Saffron]

NFV/Alaska, love the idea of class specific/curricular info in the news letter. Did parents request that, or was it a school initiative to reach out? xx

[Norfolkvillas]

The learning letter idea was something that our (new) head brought with her from her last school I believe. We have termly parent-school feedback forums, where I think most parents confirmed it was useful, but the initial idea came from the school rather than the parents.