Home/School Links

It is important that a child’s education is a venture jointly shared by parents and teachers.

Parents/carers are encouraged to visit the school whenever they feel they need to talk about any aspect of their children’s education.

A quick question or exchange of information is usually acceptable at any time but an appointment is desirable if the discussion is likely to be lengthy.  Staff are usually available before or after school for a quick word or a meeting can be planned. All staff are normally available at the end of the day. 

Parents/carers are kept informed of the day to day school activities by a weekly newsletter which is sent by Parentmail. Paper copies can be requested from the school office. We publish class and whole school stories on our secure educational  platform, ClassDojo (where appropriate). This can also be used to message a member of staff on an informal basis. We ask that for formal matters, email to the office is used. 

Termly Parents’ Evenings are arranged when parents can meet the teacher to discuss their child’s progress and a written report is given annually. In addition, parents/carers are invited to an open time where you are welcome to come into school and spend some time sharing your child’s work, looking around the classroom or seeing what the children are doing.

We have occasional workshops or information meetings where parents can find out more about what is happening in school. Parents receive a Termly update on the topics or curriculum themes that are being taught in their child's class. The curriculum section of this website also has valuable information.

We have an annual parents' questionnaire and parents are given the results of the questionnaire through the school newsletter with information about any follow up actions that have taken place.

In addition parents are welcome to make comments on the OFSTED Parent View website which can be found at parentview.ofsted.gov.uk

Homework

We encourage the active involvement of parents in the home/school partnership of educating children.

Homework is a means of developing this involvement, to the benefit of children.  Homework helps children to develop independence and extend skills learnt.

Homework will be set at the class teacher’s discretion and may include:-

• Appropriate reading practice: children are encouraged to read each night.  Even older children can benefit from reading aloud in a safe and comfortable environment. Year 5 and Year 6 children are expected to read a chapter a night and aim to read a new novel fortnightly.
• Children are set weekly spellings differentiated to age/ability and are tested weekly.
• Children are required to practise times tables and are tested on their speed and accuracy each week. There are a several levels to complete. The expectation is that Year 5s should be able to complete 144 Club and Year 6s, Fraction Club. 
• Finishing classwork: children will be encouraged to meet reasonable targets and deadlines for the completion of work.  Also essential work may be set to cover gaps left by absence.
• Routine practice: this is to consolidate work already taught and understood.  It may include the rote learning of multiplication tables, spellings, curriculum facts, etc.
• Subject research or project: this could be to contribute towards the class subject theme, follow up a personal interest or find out about current events. It may also be a holiday project where children are given a choice of how they present their topic.

We review our homework policy regularly and a copy of this will be available for you to comment on and is available on the school website.

Parental help in school

We are grateful to many parents who assist the staff with a variety of activities in school, including reading, craft, cooking, library, swimming and games.

As well as being a benefit to the children’s education experience, being in school can give parents an insight into how the school runs.  Each September a form is sent home for parents to indicate how they are able to offer help to school. However please feel free to come and offer at any time during the year.

We run a short workshop on how to help in school and all regular helpers need a DBS check which we will arrange for you. If you have a particular skill that you feel would be useful to school please let us know. At the beginning of each term you will receive information about the subject areas that your child will be studying during the term. If you have resources to support these studies the teachers will be very pleased to speak to you.

We are often offered art and craft resources, paper etc. from companies and parents and are very grateful for these. Our difficulty lies with the ability to store them.  If you offer resources to the school and we are unable to store them at that moment, we would be grateful if you could hold onto them until we need them.