Two weeks in and the new term is off to a flying start. Already our website is jam packed with magnificent works of art, reports about exciting visitors to classrooms and news of high quality music and song coming from our new music room. A great start, suggesting this term’s learning will be just as enjoyable and exciting for the children as last term’s.
I know you’ll recognise this description of learning at Monteagle because that was one of the clear messages communicated in your responses to the parent questionnaire completed during last term’s parent consultation meetings. Using the opportunity to tell us about your children’s experience of school, an overwhelming 99% of you reported that your child ‘is happy at school’. A similar percentage agreed with the statement ‘My child feels safe’, and with the statements ‘My child is taught well at this school’ and ‘My child makes good progress’.
Your answers to the question ‘What do you like most about Monteagle School?’ were similarly positive and wonderfully effusive. They focussed on how much your children enjoy school and are excited by the things they study, on how much you appreciate being part of a diverse and friendly community of children and parents, and on how friendly, helpful and professional you find the staff to be.
All of us in school shall certainly do our best to maintain this high standard.
You also communicated some other clear messages. While 87% of you indicated that you felt your child ‘receives appropriate homework for their age’, 13% of you disagreed that this was the case. It was this subject that dominated your answers to the question ‘What would you like to change about Monteagle School?’
To address your concerns, I would like to invite you to join me to discuss homework and begin to plan a new approach. I shall send a letter out with details of a date and time for this meeting very shortly.
The other area that came up frequently in your answers was ‘clubs’. It is clear that at present we are not providing enough opportunities for your children to extend their learning and develop their interests before and after school. While you appreciate the breakfast and activity clubs that run each morning before school, and the long-standing after-school provision, you would like us to provide a wider variety of clubs to a larger number of children. To achieve this, our new Assistant Headteacher, Katie Teage, who is responsible for specialist teaching and enriched learning in the school, shall be writing soon to invite your thoughts on where we might start.
There were a number of other ideas for improvements in the comments written by you (see the a full summary by clicking the image below) and the staff shall discuss these and get back to you all shortly.
In the meantime, I look forward to speaking with you in person at the homework event or, as ever, in the playground before or after school.
