Introduction to Parental Survey of November 2009

Click here to see the Parental Survey Results

10th February 2010

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I trust that you are all keeping well and that with Spring on the horizon we can all look forward to more pleasant weather.

The survey analysis is now complete.  I wish to thank all of you who managed to respond.  Your views are important to us.  They allow me and the Governors to gauge the level of parent/guardian satisfaction and provide us, also, with indications where further focus may be required.

There was a staggering 834 responses (67.2% of the school population), many thanks indeed.

The overall picture for pupils, yourselves and the school is very good.  Responses show very clearly that there is an extremely high level of satisfaction, for all areas, with what the school does and what it achieves.  Nonetheless, there remains room for improvement and/or consolidation in what we strive to provide.

The criteria for highlighting the following areas for extra focus were:

Concerns, problems or complaints (Question 4)

As a school we endeavour to address areas and complaints as quickly and as efficiently as possible. I will:

Should Parents/Guardians not be satisfied with the manner in which a concern / complaint has been addressed or dealt with they may write or contact me directly via my personal helpline web address:

helpline@canonpalmer.redbridge.sch.uk

The matter will then be followed up by me personally or by an appropriate senior member of staff.

Celebration of Cultural Diversity (Question 5)

I believe that the rich cultural diversity within our school community and the  manner in which we address cultural cohesion has resulted in the formation of a quite unique harmonious school community.  Cultural diversity is celebrated  via assemblies, Citizenship, PHSE and R.E. lessons.  Schemes of work have  been developed in subjects such as English, Science, History and  Geography that incorporated the  works of great writers, scientists and scholars from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds.
We have done this because we do not believe  that the celebration of cultural diversity and achievement should be confined to a slot of time within a school year, but should be embedded throughout the  school curriculum.

We have also invited prominent speakers from a range of cultural backgrounds into the school, as role models, to speak to the pupils, for example, Levi Roots of  “Dragon’s Den” fame, Mr. Patrick Marche – entrepreneur and restaurateur  (Carribean Scene – in Stratford and Docklands) and, shortly,  Kulveer Ranger, Director for Transport Policy on the London Assembly.

The pupils, as part of their enhancement/PHSE curriculum visit mosques, temples, synagogues and churches, where they will receive talks from a variety of religions and cultural leaders.  This is to deepen our understanding and  appreciation of other faiths.

On the “social side” we will put a promotion in the school canteen when  our kitchen prepare food from around the world.  This is much enjoyed by the children.

Our big annual event for parents has been International Evening. Unfortunately due to matters beyond our control this had to be cancelled twice, in recent years. This may have been reason why parents/guardian overlooked this. Nonetheless, in my nine years as headmaster, there have been seven very successful events and the new format for the 2009 International evening was a great success.

I will ensure:

Treating all pupils fairly and equally (Question 6)

As a school, I believe we do treat all pupils fairly and equally. All pupils  have equal and fair access to all curricular and extra curricular activities. We have in place codes of practice within the school’s Discipline and Equality Policies to ensure this is the case. Regardless of this the principal of equality sits at the very core of the school ethos. I will;

Parents/Guardians who feel that their child has not been treated  fairly and equally may contact me, in confidence, on my direct email address:

helpline@canonpalmer.redbridge.sch.uk

Responsibility for pastoral care of my child (Question 11)

The basic information for pastoral responsibility is contained within the pupils’ Log Book.  I appreciate, however, that they may not give Parents/Guardians the fuller picture of who is responsible for various aspects of the pastoral system.

I will, therefore, put together a written outline of the school’s pastoral system. This will outline who is responsible for each year and also the responsibilities of the Senior tutors and Senior leaders. This will then be sent to Parents/Guardians and placed on the school’s website.

Provision of high quality resources to support learning (Question 14)

You know that we strive to provide the best resources that we possibly can. Indeed, I believe that over the past years with your magnificent support we have put in place 'State of the Art’ technological resources for pupils. As you will appreciate, the continuance of this is much dependent upon the funds available to the school and the priorities within a wide range of departments.

The major areas of focus for 2010/11 will be:

Homework/Coursework Related Matters (Question 15 to 18)

I have grouped these questions together as they are very closely linked and any action taken by the school will affect all these areas.

These questions clearly refer to key areas for Parents/Guardians. Whilst we are pleased with the extremely high and positive response we are conscious of the need not to become complacent and are aware of the need to maintain and enhance the current high standards. To this end we have put in place;

Information  or choices at KS3 and KS4 (Questions 21 and 22)

Both these questions returned very high numbers of “neither agree nor disagree” responses. Also, significant numbers of  written responses indicated that Parents/Guardians felt  that they could not respond accurately to them. In hindsight  this survey was, maybe, not the best format in which to pose these questions, as they were very specific to Year 10 and Year 12.students. In future these will be incorporated into surveys designed specifically for these year groups.

I feel that the school have robust programmes in place to advise pupils on subject choice at KS3 and for  progression to 6th form, college etc. I do appreciate, however that Parents/Guardians may not be fully aware as to when these occur.

Therefore, in future years I will ensure;

Although Parents/Guardians felt that the school was very good at keeping them informed, there was an issue, in written responses, as to an improved system for the sending out of letters from school. One suggestion was that the school nominates a day e.g. Thursday and letters are only sent home on a Thursday. This way you will know to ask your child on a Thursday if there are any letters – instead of finding them a week later at the bottom of his or her schoolbag! Many letters are sent out from school for many different reasons. We will look into possible systems for streamlining/rationalising our letter system. I will keep you informed.

I would like to thank you, once again, for taking the time and effort to complete the questionnaire.  I hope the responses herein reassure you  that we appreciate your input into the development of the school.  This is important in order that our partnership continues to flourish, so that we can provide an excellent learning environment for your children.

Finally, may I take this opportunity of wishing you all a restful half-term break.

With very best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

 

F. Maguire
Headmaster.

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