How we're organised: Involving parents

Brindishe SchoolAt Brindishe we try to build a strong partnership between staff and parents because we know this is important in helping children to achieve and to enjoy learning.

We aim to keep parents well informed about the school and involved in their children’s education.

How do we do this?

Newsletter
Every Friday the head teacher sends home a newsletter with each child to tell you about special events, school activities, news and to give you information on day to day school life.

Parent/Teacher meetings
Meet the teacher (September)
At the end of September parents will be invited to make an appointment to meet the teacher who will be taking your child for the year. No work will be available at this meeting as it is very early in the term. During this first meeting each year we also carry out a data check to make sure we have the most up to date information about your child.

Parents’ meeting (February)
Mid-way through the school year, there will be a chance for all parents to come into school to discuss your child’s progress, and set targets for the rest of the academic year. Your child’s work will be available for you to see and discuss with their teacher.

End of year summary (July)
In July your child will bring home their end of year report, written by their teacher. If you would like to discuss this you can make an appointment to talk to your child’s teacher. Parents are also invited to return a parents’ comments section of the report.

Curriculum evenings and open learning days
These are occasions when parents can come into school to find out about different areas the children are learning about and how they’re being taught at Brindishe. For example, we have held sessions on maths, literacy, sex education and information and communication technology. Sometimes a guest speaker will be invited, sometimes children and staff give demonstration lessons or illustrated talks. These opportunities give staff and parents time to share ideas and information on important education issues.

Consultation
We have working parties to formulate school policies and parents are invited to join them. As school policies are being developed parents are formally invited to give their views particularly on draft and final policy documents.

Each year parents are asked to consider and review our school development plan and to make suggestions about future targets and areas for development. Parents are particularly asked to contribute to policies such as those for behaviour and the home-school partnership.

Sometimes a policy is not subject to consultation at school level and parents would then be informed of how to make their views known at local and national government level. This would apply, for example, to the Local Authority’s admissions policy and government regulations and requirements.

Copies of school policy documents are freely available from the school office.

Talking to the teacher or a member of staff
Brindishe SchoolIf we have any concerns about your child’s progress, happiness and well-being or behaviour the teacher will contact you straight away to discuss this with you.

If you have any concerns that you want to discuss with us then please contact us or come and see us as soon as possible. If you want to talk to the class teacher or head teacher then it is a good idea to telephone or send a note to request a mutually convenient time. The most difficult time for teachers to talk to parents is at the beginning of the school day. It is important for teachers to give their attention to welcoming and settling in all the children in the class, so please try to help us by leaving discussions until the end of the day.

If you cannot come to school, or do not want to arrange an appointment, you can write to or telephone us instead.

Parents with a serious worry or complaint should arrange to talk this over with the head teacher. We hope that most problems or worries can be sorted out in this way. If you do not feel that the discussion with the head teacher has resolved the difficulty then you can make a formal complaint. There is a formal procedure for making serious complaints and copies of the procedure are available from the school office or from Lewisham Education.

Home-school contract
Since September 1999 it has been a legal requirement that all schools and parents to sign a contract known as the home-school contract. Our home-school contract includes a section for parents, for teachers and for children.

This contract sets out what we can all expect of each other in order that children are well supported in their learning both in and out of school. You will be asked to sign a contract with us when your child joins Brindishe.

Serious breaches of this contract by any party will be fully investigated by the governing body of Brindishe or the complaints officer of the Local Authority.

How can parents get involved at Brindishe?
Brindishe SchoolThere are many ways in which parents can support the work of the school. Most importantly you really help us when you support your child in coming to school on time and ready to work each day. You help when you discuss with your child the work that they are involved in and when you follow it up at home. Research shows that children learn more successfully when their parents are interested in what their child learn at school.

We realise that children are not always willing to tell you what they have been doing at school each day. You can find out more by asking the class teacher or the head teacher for any of the following documents:

You are very welcome to come into the classroom after school to see your child’s work.

There is always lots of learning that you can do at home to help children - reading to them, hearing them read, discussing books, taking them to the local library, helping them to learn their tables, to understand money and change, tell the time and by playing educational games such as Scrabble.

Out of school activities, interests and hobbies such as dance, gymnastics and football enrich children’s lives but our view is that they should not be allowed to dominate a child’s life at the expense of their learning in school.

Helping in school
Brindishe SchoolWe welcome parental help in school but we ask that you commit yourself to a regular time slot so that we can plan for and rely upon your coming. Parents help in classrooms in many ways including reading with children, working with them on their writing or providing extra adult support. You may also be able to share a special interest or skill with them – pottery, computing, sewing or sports coaching, for example. Please let the head teacher or your child’s class teacher know if you would like to help us. All adults who work in school are subject to Criminal Records Bureau checks.

Outings and educational visits
When we take children out of school on an educational visit we need to increase the number of adults going with them. If you can come along when a class is going on an outing, please let the class teacher or school office know.

Home School Association
Our home school association is called PHAB (Partnership of Home and Brindishe)

There are three main aims of PHAB:

Meetings are usually held in the evening at school. Notice of the times and dates of meetings, plus information about events, are in the Friday newsletter. If you have any ideas or offers of help but cannot come to meetings, please

Website
Finally, we have our website where visitors can access information about the school, write to us and view or download copies of our current and previous Ofsted reports.

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