Grazeley Parochial CE (Aided) Primary School

'Be courageous; Be strong; Do everything in love'

Parent Survey

April 2024: The Results

Parent Survey April 2024

The Results

Thank you to everyone who completed the parent survey before Easter.  We had 76 responses in total.  Overall, the feedback you have provided was overwhelmingly positive with many comments about the strong community and family feel of our school.  Our aim is to very much provide a broad and balanced education and it is wonderful to read that so many of you feel that we are doing a good job. The many positive comments and praise for our dedicated and hardworking staff team were also much appreciated.  The results of this survey will be discussed and shared at the next governors’ meeting and with staff so that we can make our school an even better place to be for children and parents. 

General Comments

 

 

Agree or strongly agree

Neutral

Disagree or strongly disagree

2

The school is led and managed well

100%

 

 

3

The senior leadership team are accessible to me

97%

 

3%

4

The school deals well with any concerns I have

81%

17%

1%

5

Communication is appropriate

96%

 

4%

6

The office staff are welcoming and supportive

100%

 

 

7

I am encouraged to play an active part in the life of the school

96%

 

4%

8

I understand the role of governors in school

Yes- mostly

33%

Yes-a little

46%

No

21%

10

The majority of children behave well

97%

 

3%

11

Where behaviour is unacceptable, school staff deal with it effectively and behaviour management is consistent.

89%

 

11%

12

My child feels safe in school

100%

 

 

13

My child knows who they can talk to in school if they have concerns or worries.

93%

 

7%

14

School deals effectively with bullying (repetitive and intentional hurt/name calling) effectively.

55%

My child has not been bullied-36%

9%

15

The school teaches online safety well.

99%

 

1%

16

The school teaches my child to lead a healthy and active lifestyle and how to keep physically and mentally healthy.

99%

 

1%

17

My child enjoys coming to school most of the time.

99%

 

1%

18

My child has a positive attitude to their learning.

97%

 

3%

19

My child is taught well and teachers have high expectations.

100%

 

 

20

I am well informed about what my child is learning throughout the year.

93%

 

7%

21

I am pleased with my child’s progress this year.

97%

 

3%

22

My child’s mental health and wellbeing is given a high priority by the school.

93%

 

7%

23

The school meets my child’s needs.

97%

 

3%

24

The school supports my child to develop resilience, confidence and independence.

96%

 

4%

25

The school curriculum engages my child in learning.

97%

 

3%

26

My child experiences a wide variety of learning opportunities.

93%

 

7%

27

The level of home learning is appropriate.

Yes-about right

74%

No-too much

7%

No-too little

20%

28

My child is encouraged to have good attendance and punctuality

99%

 

1%

30

The school reflects the ethos and practices of a Christian school well.

99%

 

1%

31

The school has a positive, respectful culture in which my child is well cared for.

100%

 

 

32

The school shares its Christian vision and values effectively.

99%

 

1%

33

The school is welcoming to all.

100%

 

 

34

I would recommend sending a child to Grazeley.

 

99%

 

 

What we do well (this is a selection of comments from the various sections of the survey)

 

  • Small school where everyone knows each other
  • Head teacher is always present i.e. parents evening, standing at the front gate each morning which is good to see.
  • It is clear that the leadership of the school has a vision for where they want to go.
  • Please make sure Mrs Critchlow stays! She has been amazing since starting and has made such a huge difference!
  • I highly appreciate how visible and accessible Mrs Critchlow is and how keen and open she and the leadership of the school are to include parents and seek our views, feedback and involvement.
  • I feel that there is a high level of communication regarding what both children are learning each term.
  • The transformation of the school under the leadership of the new head teacher has been extremely positive. The interaction and communication between the school and parents has also improved immensely over the last two academic years.
  • I think the leadership of Grazeley is superb – brilliant led by the fabulous Mrs Critchlow and Miss Easton who are so kind and lovely and provide such a welcoming and nurturing environment for the children
  • The community feel and learning opportunities that the children are given.
  • The teachers know each child individually as it’s a small local school.
  • The community spirit. I really like that the school encourages the year groups to mix and support one another.
  • The staff and the care they have for the children.
  • Strong and caring leadership; high quality teachers who really know and care about the children; inspirational teachers who inspire the children to learn really well; the support of a great PTA who are keen to help the school make as much money as possible to enable it to do things or buy things it needs to help it thrive. Oh and the fabulous Christian ethos! It’s so important. We are so thrilled with Grazeley and its supportive network!
  • Inclusivity and clear boundaries
  • Community feel, friendly staff and children
  • Pastoral care, staff and Head
  • Welcoming, office staff, teachers plus the Head
  • The community feel and learning opportunities that the children are given.
  • Welcoming, communication, phonics teaching, pleasant atmosphere for children to learn.
  • Its size, the children all know and respect each other across all the year groups.
  • Community feel, management, friendliness to parents, welcoming, 1 form entry, local events.
  • Caring for each other
  • Teachers are brilliant and have helped my child

How could we improve the school?

  • Feedback was along similar themes, so please find the generalised comments and the school response.

Parent comments

School response

  • More iPads in school
  • Last summer we purchased a class set of Chromebooks.  This has made a huge difference to the teaching of computing.  We do have a set of iPads but these are generally used for TTRockstars or other apps.  The iPads and Chromebook are timetabled across the school. Year 6 have an iPad each. Unfortunately, we do not have the funds to roll out individual iPads to other classes.
  • A wider range of after school clubs
  • A new wrap around care provider
  • We are restricted by the space we have available for after school clubs. We aim to offer a range in the space we have.  We are always looking for new ideas so do talk to Paula in the office if your child has a particular interest.
  • We are currently reviewing our wrap around care provision and will send an update shortly.
  • Further information about what children are learning in school and how to support with home learning
  • More home learning
  • More structured and accessible homework
  • Curriculum maps for each year group are available on our website. https://grazeleyprimaryschool.co.uk/curriculum/year-group-overviews/
  • From September, we will also produce ‘Curriculum Newsletters’ for each half term which will be in more parent and child friendly language.
  • We will continue to put home learning activities on Google Classroom.
  • We will clarify the home learning expectations for each year group and publish these on the website, so parents have more information about what their child should be doing at home.
  • The amount of home learning a child receives increases as they move up the school. The focus in Reception and KS1 is on reading above anything else.
  • Clearer communication when a behaviour incident has occurred
  • A specific anti-bullying policy needs to be in place
  • Renovation of the school buildings and grounds
  • We have painted Chestnut classroom and refurbished the KS1 library area and Willow classroom (including new carpets).  The diocese has agreed to pay to replace the septic tank this summer and to sort out the drainage and play surface underneath the adventure playground.
  • The plan is to paint Hazel and Cedar classrooms as soon as possible.
  • Improved communication at busy times such as Christmas and end of terms
  • All dates and information are in the newsletter. We have limited office capacity so are not able to send reminders. 
  • We try to give as much notice as possible for events and activities.
  • A Forest School
  • We would love this too! However, we don’t have any woodland on our land, limiting our ability to run forest school sessions.
  • More school trips
  • The expectation is that all classes from Year 1 up go on a minimum of two trips each year as well as local area walks..
  • Having completed a full year of our new curriculum, we will be publishing a list of trips for each year group and approximate cost so that parents have this information at the beginning of the year.
  • More support for children’s mental health
  • Our Family Support Advisor, Mrs Crowley, is also a nurture assistant.  Her role is primarily to support children’s mental health and wellbeing.  In addition, our new PSHE scheme of work has a unit each year in each class called ‘Being my Best’ which is very much focused on talking about mental health.
  • We are going to carry out a mental health survey with all KS2 children after half term.  The survey will help us identify how we can further support children.
  • If you have particular concerns around the mental health of your child, please discuss with the class teacher as we can make a referral to the Wellbeing Hub for further support.
  • Specialists to teach music, PE and drama
  • Unfortunately, we do not have the budget for specialist teachers.

Thank you once again for your valuable feedback. Feedback is always welcome and so, if you have any comments, thoughts or ideas, don’t wait for the next survey.  Pop in, talk to your parent forum representative, email or just chat on the gate.