What is a Parents’ Forum?
Parents’ Forum Meetings provide Parents and Carers with a panacea to discuss and review school developments and initiatives. In light of a brand New Senior Leadership Team this is very important process for our school. The group won’t have any statutory responsibilities, duties or powers in the school, but it will help us to communicate more effectively with our parent/carer community. The only qualification you need is to be a Yattendon Parent or Carer for a child at the school! This group would act as a ‘sounding board’ for the school to try and ensure that we are really able to get a feeling for what you think about school issues. It would not have decision making powers, as the Governors do, but would be an important element in the development and further improvement of the school. We are expecting to hold one meeting a term, after school.
Format of Sessions
Providing the sessions remain ‘solution-focussed’, they promise to be a very effective tool with which we can drive forward school improvement. Yattendon’s Governing Body will be represented at the sessions; it is so important that our School Governors, as ‘Critical Friends’, get an opportunity to talk to parents directly.
For each 30 minute session we will run a crèche for the children, so that the session is as focussed as possible. Minutes of the forum will be taken and will be posted on this page of the school website (within 3 weeks of the meeting). In light of the fact that the minutes will be published, the issues will need to be ‘school-wide’; issues which relate to individual children should be discussed with a child’s classteacher in the first instance and then, if necessary, with either Mr Perkins or Mr.Cole.
We must emphasise that while we can listen, we can’t always act immediately. Where possible, we will try and act on your feedback straight away, and on other occasions we will need to take the issue back to the whole staff and plan the best way forward. The 3 weeks between the meeting and the posting of the minutes will give us this time and ensure we have carefully considered the best way forward.
To ensure that ALL parents and carers are given the opportunity to attend, we have changed the days and times for the meetings. Those parents and carers who are unable to attend can leave feedback in the post-box outside Mr Cole’s office. This will be emptied prior to the meeting and where practically possible, the feedback will be raised at the meeting.
Dates of next sessions
Spring Term 2012 - 3:30pm on Thursday 8th March 2012- Class 3G
School Governor in attendance: Mrs Sarah McHardie
Summer Term 2012 - 9:15am on Friday 15th June 2012 - OSCAHs / After School Club Room
School Governor in attendance: Mrs Rachel Bowron
A new voice for parents
On 20th October 2011, Ofsted launched Parent View, a new online questionnaire that allows parents and carers to give their views on their child’s school at any time of the year. Covering over 22,000 schools across England, the 12-question survey will help other parents as they make important choices about their child’s education and provide Ofsted with information about schools that will help inform priorities for inspection.
Parent View has been produced with the assistance of a panel of parents who contributed to shaping the questions and the way the site functions. The questionnaire covers a range of topics, including quality of teaching, bullying, behaviour and levels of homework, allowing parents to give a view about their child’s school on each issue, with a final question as to whether or not they would recommend the school to other parents. The questionnaire does not allow free text comments but invites responses to a series of closed questions.
