The previous news article described your responses to each of the fourteen statements at the start of the Annual Survey. Of the 39 responses, the vast majority of you indicated that you agreed with the statements; only two people disagreed with just four statements. Here, we describe the general comments you made.
Excellent school at all levels: high academic achievement, superb community spirit and good fun. I feel my child is stimulated, pushed to learn more but enjoys every minute of the day. I think the success of the school is that everyone is enthusiastic and follows a consistent policy / approach. (Year 4 parent)
We’re really pleased with this comment and think you’re right that the enthusiasm and consistency are key factors in our success.
Of the 39 responses, just under half made no comment at all. Of those who did make a comment, very many were entirely positive. Most of the other surveys contained a simple suggestion only; for example, “My son would like an after-school cooking club” or “… a science club”.
At Moortown, we like to be as open and honest as possible. We’re not perfect, and not complacent either. Here’s a list of things which some of you identified as could be improved.
Clubs and extra-curricular activities
Three people suggested a cookery club. We have had one in the past, and would love to run one again. Clubs such as this rely on a member of staff volunteering to run it, or we buy in the services of an after-school provider. We’ll continue to encourage staff to consider offering their culinary skills, and we’ll investigate (again) costs of external companies (in the past, we’ve found these to be expensive). Another solution – would one or two parents like to volunteer? We’d be delighted if they did!
One person said their child would like a science club. Unlike cookery, we’ve not had one of these. Sadly, like cookery, these can be expensive to recruit an outside agency. We think this could be popular amongst children so we’ll certainly continue to suggest this to staff to lead, and we’ll continue to monitor the potential cost.
One parent expressed concern that due to Mr Catherall’s new role and following the departure of Mr Baynes, there might be fewer competitive sporting activities. We know this is important to many parents and in recent years we’ve made a concerted effort to increase the number of sports events. To replace Mr Baynes, we have recruited Mr Lawton who has a lot of experience in sport; he’s running a lot of after-school clubs this term. Mrs Taylor, our Health Leader, has also bought into the services of the local authority’s Active Schools programme – we hope this will provide at least as many competitive sporting activities and other opportunities for physical activity.
Other clubs suggested were choir, gymnastics and sewing, and a coding club for younger children. Do bear in mind our reliance on adults to lead the club and enough children to sign up – without either, we can’t run a club. However, like the other suggestions, these will be passed to Paula and Nicky who help to organise the clubs.
School dinners
Three parents said they were unhappy with aspects of school dinners. This is a tough aspect of school life to sort out. Here are some of the challenges we face:
- the introduction of universal free school meals for all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 meant a significant rise in demand for a school dinner and therefore a lot of re-thinking of routines
- (the imminent U-turn on this policy?)
- the kitchens at Moortown Primary are very small
- trying to manage expectations around portion sizes and how much / what we should insist a child should eat
One parent was unhappy that some foods run out, especially because their child is in Key Stage 2 and therefore they pay for them. They encourage us to adopt a new system and look to what happens in other schools. Please be assured that there is always a main course with vegetables, and a dessert, available. Nevertheless, we’re concerned and unhappy about this, too, and have looked at electronic ordering: as each child comes into the class, they choose their lunch. Some staff have visited another school to observe, but were concerned that this took up valuable learning time. For now, we’re monitoring food availability closely. We’ve also established that the classes who are last to have their lunch vary each week, so in the rare event that a certain food runs out, across the year it’s not the same class who have a more limited choice.
Another said that the standard of the meals has fallen. This also concerns me and we really encourage any parent to speak with Mr Roundtree and Mrs Weekes if this concern remains. The parent makes a link with the problem and the introduction of free school meals for younger children. There might be some truth in this as the catering agency we (and most schools) use, Catering Leeds, did struggle to recruit enough staff to cope with demand. Another factor later in the year is that our regular cook, Mrs Appleby, was absent due to illness for a lengthy period. This year, more staff are having a school meal on a regular basis and they’ve so far reported that the food is good. We’ve noticed some children don’t seem to choose their food wisely and end up with meals they don’t like – it might help if you talk through the menus at home.
The third parent expressed concern about portion sizes – and had already spoken with Mr Roundtree meaning that this issue was solved quickly. This year, we’ve made clearer than ever before to catering staff that we expect each child to have two portions of vegetables / salad, and made clearer to our own lunchtime assistants who clear up that we expect children to eat this.
Communications
A few parents this year, and in previous years, have asked for more information around expectations. We knew a new National Curriculum was coming, so didn’t respond sooner, but we’ve added a new page in the Learn More section dedicated to describing the expectations set out nationally for children from Year 1 to Year 6. (Also published are expectations for a typical child in Reception, along with lots of other information, perhaps most importantly about characteristics of effective learning, a key aspect of Early Years.)
“I’d like more updates on the website…” was one comment made, alongside another praising the support on the website: “Clear guidelines and support for homework on the website. Great communications…” We are aiming to gradually increase the frequency of class news posts, but you’ll understand teachers must ensure they have a healthy work-life balance, too. I know that overall you appreciate the news posts – and the website is often cited as best practice to other schools. Ultimately, we’d like to aim for lots more on-line and fewer (or no) newsletters. You’ll agree that balance is needed to suit varying preferences and lifestyles.
One parent asked for more parents’ evenings at the end of the year. Traditionally, we offer parents’ evenings in October (to review the previous year and offer initial comments about settling in and progress), and then another in February (when we discuss progress in the year so far) – at both, teachers should always talk through ways to support your child at home. These are followed by the end of year reports. A third parents’ evening is offered to all, and more and more parents decide they’d like to take this opportunity to review the year – we’ve encouraged this parent to do so.
Finally, one simple and important suggestion has already been solved – we hope! “Would like better communication of multiplication tables to be learnt and tested on…”. As well as this information being available on-line, there’s a space in our new Learning Lists books for this to be noted (please note, tables are learnt and tested from around mid-Y2 only). You can also find out what tables are expected in the age-related expectations tables – a new page on the website.
Other comments
Of the other comments, only one parent raised each point and they varied so much. As a result, we’ve not listed them all, typically because the comment was contradicted by a greater number of other parents.
One parent expressed concern that homework is not always marked by an adult. Look out for the open afternoon on Wednesday 02 December at 2.40pm. This is an opportunity for you to get to know more about how we review homework. In the past, some parents / carers have also expressed concern that the homework in books did not appear to be marked – at the workshop, we want to show you that marking is not the only way to provide feedback (and in fact may not be the best way – more and more research suggests the instant, direct feedback we provide, and assessment from peers with the class, can as effective or even more so). In this session, you’ll see teachers and pupils review and celebrate the creative homework of the class.
Finally, a parent was disappointed with the school trips that had taken place in the year. We don’t know what year group their child was in so can’t easily respond to this. In Year 6, we don’t have expensive trips as we are aware that the Summer residential approaches. In Year 4, we’ve just introduced an additional residential. When we do organise trips, we rely on your voluntary donations so that they go ahead, and need to be sensitive to this pressure on family finances. Coach travel is increasingly expensive, too, so we do have a lot of visitors come to school 0- already this year, we’ve welcomed West Yorkshire Playhouse actors. We’re sorry the parent felt disappointed and will keep an eye on the range and quality.
Moortown Primary continues to provide a warm community feel. My son is very settled and his confidence has grown year on year due to the support and nurturing environment that the teachers and support staff have provided. Many thanks! (Year 5 parent)
The community atmosphere of the school is long-standing – people often describe the school as like a village school in both looks and feeling.
The third and final feedback about the surveys will review your comments about English, Maths, topics and other learning – coming soon.
