Aims

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• We aim to work in true partnership with parents and carers, effectively sharing information to ensure together we know and understand your young people across home and school.

• We work to ensure we have shared thinking and knowledge of up-to-date key priorities and progress and that we work together to best support your young people across settings.

• Ensure staff maintain Professional Standards (boundaries) when communicating with parents and carers.

 

We want parents to feel well informed, listened to and supported whilst ensuring balanced time and attention is given to ensuring that what we learn through our Communication impacts on the learning, teaching and curriculum that is planned.

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How we communicate with Parents/ Carers and what you can expect

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• All teachers share a weekly update on Evidence for Learning which includes a personal update or highlight around each young person. Corridors also produce regular newsletters with updates and highlights.

• Home-School Communication Books offer parents/carers and staff alike to opportunity to update each other on the learner's progress.

• The class email offers parents a way of sharing information with the teachers and class team. Teachers are able to check emails before school and check and reply to any correspondence after school (and following any meetings). This offers an effective way of sharing updates, messages and photographs of moments to celebrate.

• Evidence for Learning (EFL) allows parents / carers and staff to share photos and video updates of the learner.

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Phone calls

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• Teachers will phone parents/ carers (regularly) to keep up to date and in touch. If there are particular changes, wow moments to share or challenges, teachers will ensure parents are aware and have had an opportunity to share their thoughts and discuss together.

• We a currently piloting and developing our use of the Evidence for Learning system, to allow two-way sharing of our young learners' progress towards the priorities we have agreed together.

• We know that there will be times for young people and families that enhanced, regular contact is necessary and we want to do all we can to support at times of particular challenge or change.

• Current work is being undertaken to improve the effectiveness of information sharing through the school website. This should further support parents to be able to find key information regarding whole school and class updates and events.

• More formal Learning Conversations take place termly, providing an opportunity to discuss progress in detail (consider the current picture for your young person currently and how this shapes their curriculum and learning) as well as re-examining current priorities and next steps.

• At the end of an academic year if your young person is changing teacher in September, parents will be offered a transition meeting with their current and ‘new’ teacher to ensure important information is shared and reassure parents there is a comprehensive and carefully planned transition and information sharing process between Teachers and teams.

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Getting the right balance together

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• Just as individual parents/ carers have their own preferences around methods of communication, teachers may also have their own favoured ways of sharing information and photos and reaching out to you. It is important that teachers work with parents in their class to ensure they are working to fulfil our aims (as shared above)

• We all feel that communication with and supporting parents and families is a priority, but teachers must ensure they are giving their time and attention to supporting young people and their teaching. Particularly during the school day this means teachers will not be able to be in direct contact, as a matter of course. Therefore, to ensure important messages are received quickly we would ask that any information that needs action or knowledge of before the end of the day should be phoned in through the school office.

• Teachers will endeavour to return calls and respond to communication in a timely manner – there will often be meetings they will need to attend after school to ensure we continue to develop our practice as a whole school.

• In order to support teachers to maintain professional Standards / Professional Conduct we expect teachers not to contact parents/ carers into the evening time or at weekends, except in exceptional circumstances that they discuss with a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

• Again, to support our teachers and staff to adhere to Professional Conduct, we would expect that no teacher is in contact with parents/ carers through any Social Media platform.