Parent Questionnaire – Summary of responses
A big thank you to all of you who took the time to complete and return the questionnaire at the end of last term. Your feedback is important to us and we have been analysing and considering your responses and comments over the last few weeks.
We were pleased that over half of all parents at the school filled in the questionnaires (77 returned in total which is a 58% return rate). The overwhelming majority of parents (98.7%) indicated that their child likes school and 88% of parents felt that their child is making good progress at school. A small percentage of parents (almost 6%) indicated that they did not feel that their child was progressing at school and we hope that parents in this group will be able to express any concerns at the forthcoming parent/teacher meetings.
In relation to child behaviour at the school, most parents who responded to the questionnaire feel that pupils behave well (82%), that their child is not bullied or harassed at school and 91% feel that staff encourage the children to become mature and independent. Overall, 90% of the parents perceive the teaching at the school to be good and expressed the view that the school is led and managed well. An impressive 98% of parents feel that the arrangements for pupils to settle in at school were good and 90% of parents feel that the school treats their child fairly.
The questions which elicited the greatest percentage of ambivalent or negative responses related to concerns about communication at the school – both in terms of the school failing to take into account parental concerns and/or parents feeling unable to approach the school with questions and also in terms of teaching staff failing to inform parents about how to help their child at home. 36% of parents either weren’t sure or felt that the school did not seek the views of parents or took into account their suggestions and 24% either weren’t sure or did not feel comfortable about approaching the school to make a complaint. A quarter of respondents feel that the arrangements for teachers to explain how parents can help children at home could be improved. These concerns are important to us and we are feeding them back to the teaching staff so that they can take steps to improve dialogue with parents.
Communication between all parties has been highlighted as a high priority issue for governors. We are very aware of the importance of good communication and have set up the Governors’ blog, as well as planning other initiatives at the school, to assist in this and to provide an additional forum for discussion. The school dinners blog is used regularly by parents/pupils and receives 10-20 hits per day on average. Parents and pupils are utilising this channel and we hope that you will start to use the Governors Blog in the same way. We also hope that more of you will take the opportunity to let us know your views and complete the questionnaires next time.
