The school works hard to build positive, productive relationships with parents/carers. We appreciate that many parents/carers experiences of schools before their child transferred to Elemore may be negative, and we aim to ensure that this does not remain the case. Working closely together can help the pupil to be more successful as they feel supported on both sides. We know from experience that those pupils whose parents/carers show an interest in their education and are supportive of the school and their child, are frequently more successful than those pupils whose parents/carers are disinterested. Consequently we see working in partnership with parents/carers as essential and have put into place the following systems to help support this:-
Every pupil is assigned a Personal Tutor who will attempt to maintain regular contact with parents/carers. Where possible there will be a weekly telephone call from the Personal Tutor to the parent/carer, this call will be used to convey any information about the week including successes, progress made, engagement with school, matters arising, incidents, etc. The conversation is intended to be a balanced summary rather than school using the opportunity to list negative aspects of a child’s week in school. Some parents prefer a particular time slot for a phone call or less frequent calls, this is possible to arrange. The Personal Tutor is also the first point of contact for parents contacting the school.
The school also arranges a number of meetings and functions throughout the year where parents/carers can come into school. There is the annual meeting to review the pupil’s statement of special educational needs or Education, Health and Care Plan. The school organises a termly Progress and Achievement Meeting where pupils, parents/carers, personal tutor and teacher tutor meet to look at a pupil’s progress and set short term targets that are important to the pupil. There is the annual Open Day towards the end of term in July and the Christmas School Meeting to which parents/carers are invited. At other times parents/carers can meet school staff by arrangement or as part of wider, multi-agency meetings.
We were recently awarded the Leading Parent Partnership Award in partnership with the National Children’s Bureau, in recognition of the work that we do with parents/carers.