Each year, we conduct surveys with our key stakeholders. We have recently surveyed all staff and, after Easter, will be sharing a survey with all students. As part of this commitment, we are also very keen to capture your views and to understand more about your experience of the school and, through your eyes, to understand more about your child’s experiences too.

We would be very grateful if you could complete this online survey by the end of this half-term. We will close the survey on Thursday 28th March at 13.00.

Your voice matters

It is important to recognise that we do engage very carefully with data that emerges from our surveys. We generate our School Development Plan each year with close reference to stakeholder responses. With this in mind, it is important to highlight some of the key areas that were identified by parents/carers last year and to indicate some of the ways this has informed our work in 2023-4.

• We have recently agreed some significant changes to the terminology and colour coding on school reports. We are confident that these changes will address some of the concerns previously raised. The new format will take effect next academic year and we will share details in due course.

• Informed by parent/carer feedback on the user-friendliness/functionality of our website, we are in the process of planning and developing a new website. This will be responsive on mobile devices and will enable parents/carers and all other visitors to more easily explore and access school information. We are planning to launch in September 2024.

• Last year’s survey raised some significant queries about the availability of curriculum information. We are confident that the new website will enable us to present information in a clear and accessible format. Planning for the website has prompted a comprehensive review of the curriculum information that we make available to parents/carers.

• We are also planning to migrate to a new Management Information System in January 2025. This will enable new and more efficient forms of communication with parents.

• As part of our commitment to listening to parents’/carers’ views, we have been very pleased to host more discussion forums as part of our Parents’ Association meetings. The session on Homework was particularly well-attended and we will continue to look to engage with parents through this route and will promote sessions through Bartholonews.

• Reading emerged as an area for development from last year’s survey. The promotion of reading through lessons (in all subjects) and through our excellent library has been a key part of our Development Plan this year. We recently invested in a significant piece of software – Reading Plus – that is already having an impact on Y7 students and some other groups across the school. This will remain a priority area for us.

Please share your views with us. It really makes a difference.