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Parent Voice

Regular and open communication is important to us at St Swithun’s Catholic Primary School.  Parent Voice aims to represent the views of all parents and carers, to be a voice to inform our school of the needs of children and families.  Parent Voice helps us to improve the school for all.  Having a parent’s perspective on current policy and practice and input into decision making and planning for future provision is invaluable in ensuring the school is the best it can be.  The role of Parent Voice is to be consultative and advisory.  The Governing Body and Headteacher remain the decision makers of the school and provide strategic leadership.

The Importance of Parent Voice

There have been numerous studies into the importance of Parent Voice that have found that there are many benefits for schools that include Parent Voice:

 

‘In the best cases seen, joint working between the home and the school led to much better outcomes for pupils; in particular,

this helped pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities,

those with low attendance or who were potentially vulnerable in other ways’. Ofsted

 

 

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) highlighted in

several studies the positive impact increased parental

engagement has on student outcomes. When parents have an

active input in contributing to school policy creation, they can

be more likely to support and champion their implementation.

For example, if parents have participated in the consultation

process about school uniforms, they may be more willing to

support staff when uniform rules are enforced’.  EEF

 

What does Parent Voice look like at St Swithun’s Catholic Primary School?

  • Annual family surveys – results and actions are shared with families (see below)
  • Half termly Family Forums; if you are unable to attend please email any suggestions to [email protected] with the title ‘Family Forum’
  • Specific forums for SEND and curriculum
  • Informal feedback during parent workshops
  • Informal feedback during Showcase afternoons
  • Informal discussions on the gate with SLT and Family Support Officer daily
  • Join Friends of St Swithun’s School, (FOSSS), [email protected]
  • Ask Mrs Verhiest about opportunities to be part of our governing body
  • Invitations to shape our International Days that celebrate diversity within our school
  • Informal feedback with SLT during parents’ evenings
  • Parent views collected on reports via feedback forms
  • Look out for additional ways of Parent Voice via our newsletter
  • Email [email protected] with the title ‘Parent Voice’ if you have suggestions or ways you can support our school

 

Specific Concerns

Parent Voice emails and other forums are not a place to address specific concerns about an individual child or issues relating to individual members of staff.  Parents and carers who need to discuss these issues should approach their class teacher or the Headteacher to request a confidential meeting.  Meetings can be arranged by emailing [email protected] for the attention of the Headteacher.

 

Support

If you need support please use our support page HERE and speak to Mrs Verhiest, Headteacher or Mrs Hawkins, Family Support Officer, who will do all they can to support your child and family.  Mrs Verhiest and Mrs Hawkins are on the gate daily or you can email Mrs Hawkins directly [email protected] and Mrs Verhiest via [email protected] for the attention of the Headteacher or by phoning the school on 02392 829339.

Latest Family Survey Results and Actions

Family Questionnaire Results October 2024

2023 results in ()

2022 results in ()

Questions: Strongly Agree or Agree Neither Agree or Disagree Disagree or Strongly Disagree
My child is happy at school.

98.5%

(97%)

(98%)

1.5%

(2%)

(2%)

 

(1%)

(0%)

My child feels safe at school.

98.5%

(99%)

(99%)

1.5%

(0.5%)

(0.5%)

 

(0.5%)

(0.5%)

Pupils are well-behaved and any issues are resolved quickly.

98.5%

(98%)

(93.5%)

1.5%

(0.5%)

(5.5%)

 

(0.5%)

(1%)

I feel informed about what my child is learning at school.

92.5%

(88%)

(81%)

7.5%

(10%)

(17.5%)

 

(2%)

(1.5%)

I feel informed about the progress my child is making.

97%

(88%)

(Question not asked)

3%

(11%)

(Question not asked)

 

(1%)

(Question not asked)

The school has high expectations for my child.

98%

(93%)

(86.5%)

2%

(7%)

(13%)

 

(0%)

(0.5%)

I feel the school offers a good range of subjects.

99%

(96.5%)

(96%)

1%

(3%)

(3%)

 

(0.5%)

(1%)

My child can take part in clubs and activities at school (out of school hours).

93.5%

(94%)

(85%)

5%

(5%)

(11%)

1.5%

(1%)

(4%)

The school supports my child’s wider personal development.

95%

(94%)

(91.5%)

5%

(6%)

(8%)

 

(0%)

(0.5%)

I would recommend this school to others.

100%

(98%)

(98%)

 

(2%)

(1.5%)

 

(0%)

(0.5%)

Communications are good.

95%

(94%)

(88%)

5%

(3%)

(8%)

 

(3%)

(4%)

The showcase afternoon was useful.

96%

(94%)

(Question not asked)

1.5%

(4.5%)

(Question not asked)

2.5%

(1.5%)

(Question not asked)

Does your child have special educational needs and/or disabilities?  If yes, do you feel we give your child the support they need to succeed?

96%

(88%)

(97.5%)

4%

(12%)

(2%)

 

(0%)

(0.5%)

 

131 replies received from YR-Y6

 

Positive feedback (25) from families:

  • My daughter is improving and developing quickly, she also seems interested and curious in what she is learning. I am happy with everything.  Thank you.
  • Thank you very much for your effort and dedication for our children.
  • Very happy with the support. Thank you.
  • Good teachers, good school.
  • Good staff, very helpful and friendly. Thank you.  ?
  • I am very happy with my son’s positive start to year 5. He loves coming to school and is keen to share his learning, with me at home.  He has loved reading even more this year.
  • I am happy with my daughter’s progress and happy for her to be considered to do some circuit activity to help her get ready for her learning.
  • Thank you!
  • Great feedback on progress and a solid learning plan for future learning.
  • My daughter loves coming to school and tells us everything she’s been doing. Sounds great!  Thank you.
  • I think St Swithun’s is a very good, caring and helpful school.
  • My daughter is very happy and settled in really well. Thank you.
  • My daughter is very happy at school, she is thriving and doing so well. We appreciate all that St Swithun’s has to offer.
  • I feel that this school has always been very supportive to both parents and children. The curriculum is great.  We have never had any issues with anything about our boys’ learning or the teachers teaching.
  • We think and believe that St Swithun’s is a good school. Our child loves going to school in the morning and this makes us happy.  He is learning a lot and he is developing a lot.  We would highly recommend St Swithun’s School.
  • Great school, children very happy, I feel supported.
  • Great school. Great Headteacher!  Great Staff!
  • Thank you all for your efforts with all the children.
  • (Y1/2 child) I hope we do maths again and school is great.
  • We very much enjoy coming into the school for showcase afternoons.
  • Amazing job to all the teachers! And wonderful work of Headteacher.
  • I am happy my child is in this school and she has improved so much recently.
  • We have a wonderful experience at St Swithun’s Catholic school. The community is warm and welcoming.  The staff and administration are very helpful and takes the time.  My kids love going to school every day and I’ve noticed how much they’ve grown academically and socially.  Recommended St Swithun’s school to everyone!  BEST SCHOOL EVER!!!
  • We are happy with the progress of our kids in this school. They are doing excellently well.
  • My daughter is very happy with her teacher. She is settling well and as a mother I’m happy with the support given by the school.

Suggested improvements (5) from families:

  • The showcase was useful but better once a term: 96% of families found the showcases useful, so we will continue to have 5 per academic year.
  • I would really like the assemblies back. I am looking at the books on parents evening in two weeks.  I think assemblies are very important for children to practise their skills: Although the class assemblies were lovely the time it took to produce them impacted on learning.  We offer other opportunities for presenting including Christmas celebrations, Easter, productions, singing, Friday assemblies…
  • It is early days but more information on what year R children are learning would be helpful as time goes on: This was also reflected in the YR survey below, we will be looking at ways we can ensure this happens as well as reinforcing the information we have on the website about children’s learning.
  • It would be useful if the number of apps/logins is reduced. It is difficult to keep up and remember the number of current apps used and also have homework emailed:  We have reduced the parent apps to SCOPAY and Arbor.  Unfortunately, PCC have not approved Arbor for payments yet, this is under discussion with the local authority if it happens we would use Arbor for everything.  All children have a Teams account which can be saved on their home devise so they do not have to login constantly.  This provides all the homework links and information.   Emailing out homework would increase teacher’s workload and duplicate information sent to families.
  • Outside school unsafe driving behaviours observed, lack of consideration for others: Unfortunately, we do not have control over events outside of school.  However, we put regular reminders in the newsletter about safe driving, we have designed posters and had banners made to highlight the need for safe driving, we have also worked with the council to change the layout of the sports centre car park, we have also taken part in initiatives with PCC like Stomp to School to try and reduce the number of families who drive to school.
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