What's the best thing about your Primary School?

[TracyS]

Evening Geeks,

So my son's school have today sent out a questionnaire basically asking parents if they have any issues regarding the school and how we would like to see it improved. It's a primary school and he's in year 2.

Now I've got a couple of issues and a load of ideas as to how to improve but I thought I'd throw it out there...

So, for those of you who have currently or have had contact with Primary School education - what was the thing that you thought 'brilliant' regarding the school? Could be teachers, after school clubs, ethos, communication, anything you like

Would love to read your responses

xx

 

[mrstruman]

Going a little off topic i know when i was at school the best thing for me was chocolate concrete and pink custard
With regards to the education side, i really wish my sons school offered an after school club as its sometimes a pain arranging for someone (usually my mom) to pick him up, they used to do one then just stopped and i dont think it was due to low numbers as there was a waiting list.
Another thing that drives me mad is the way we aren't given any notice with regards to dressing up day, bring a tin/bottle/cake/toy day some things i have to hand like tins ect but when it comes to dressing up or character days i usually have to dash out the same night i recieve the letter to buy something for the next day, im not very creative when it comes to things like that so dont make the costumes haha, sorry that was a bit of a rant haha

 

[dandelionpoppy]

This is called consulting the stakeholders, and is good practice. The great god Ofsted would approve!

It might be a good idea to prioritise 3 issues and state these.
I would suggest you highlight really key issues, rather than minor matters that could be resolved by a quick word with the school.

It can be useful to suggest ways to improve your issues.
An example might be:

" The school asks parents to hear children read at home, but I'm unclear what to do to help my child. Could the school hold a reading workshop for parents?"

Hopefully the school will use the feedback, but remember that not every issue will be taken up.
HTH

 

[airendaie]

Hi there,

I currently work part-time in a primary school. There's a couple of things that I think are really good in mine.

The teachers have put in place a system for the kids to be able to have a discreet chat if they have a problem. The headteacher has a plastic pocket on her door for them to slip a note in with their name. That way she arranges a meeting with them. There are posters up in strategic places (eg the toilets) just telling the kids to put a note on teachers desk or on the head's door. This doesn't sound like much and I don't know how much its actually used but I love the idea.

They have a 'chill out room', if a child is feeling upset or angry they can use this to have some space to themselves for a few minutes or have a quiet chat with a teacher.

My school and the others around here do a lot of fundraising for different charities. I think this is great as it helps the kids learn about helping others. What worries me though is when I talk with the teachers and they speak about having to buy items themselves for the children. I mean basic things like pencils and crayons!

I think this is probably getting the same everywhere with cuts etc. I find it shocking as when I was little my mum always sent me in with the essential bits and bobs in a pencilcase. If it were me I would suggest doing a bit of fundraising for the school rather than giving it to charities everytime (that sounds awful lol)

I would suggest the school create a list of essentials a child needs for class, this probably wouldn't be popular with a lot of parents! As a parent myself I can't imagine sending my daughter to school without pens but I would like guidance as to what is useful and what is just wasted money.

Something that would be great would be for the school to be more active on a website, or maybe social media eg Facebook. Even an emailing list would be good so that parents could receive updates as to whats going on eg no uniform day etc. Our local council are good on Facebook regarding school closures and that kind of thing, but it would be great to have info directly from the teachers about new clubs and things. So often the newsletters get forgotton on a desk or at the bottom of a school bag.

Wow sorry about the essay! I hope I gave you a few ideas for your school. Its lovely to take the time to think about these things I'm sure your headteacher and the others will really appreciate it.

Air x

 

[TracyS]

Thanks guys.

I'm about to put pen to paper in a response and yes dandilionpoppy - you're right, no issues without offering suggestions, it's kind of the way I work as a default setting! lol!

One of the problems is with exactly the kind of thing outlined here, I'd like to know how they teach aspects of maths which my son has a problem with so at least I can be consistent so I'm going to ask for a parental workshop.

It's a pretty small school, 100 kids or so, and their choices of after school activities are not great, at the minute there's nothing until you get to year 3 so I'm going to suggest they could look into the possibilities of brining in external people to offer different things - funded by the parents of course - but given it's a Catholic school so is mainly funded by the parents a diocese anyway....!!

Thanks again for taking the time and all comments and contributions welcome!

x