Parent SurveyThank you to everyone who completed the Parent Survey through Edurio. The survey was quite extensive and has provided us with a wealth of information and feedback about what seems to be working well and things we might improve upon. Your feedback is both helpful and constructive. Please be assured we have read every comment! Using the Edurio Survey enables us to compare and benchmark your responses with parents from the other five secondary schools in Hope Sentamu Learning Trust (HSLT). Eventually, although not yet available, we will be able to compare our school with all secondary schools nationally who use Edurio as their provider. This wider range of schools will give us a helpful further benchmarking comparison.
Overall, Vale of York scores very favourably and your feedback has included a lot of very positive comments as well as constructive comments and suggestions about what we might do better. Using the headings provided by Edurio, below is a summary of the main findings in terms of positives, things we could do better and next steps.
Communication
Positive feedback overall. Our move to using a new email system last year seems to be widely used and is the main form of contact with parents.
Next steps: We will be adopting Edulink for texting in the near future and ending the use of the MyEd app. As soon as we are ready to do this we shall notify parents. We will continue to make every effort to keep our website up to date.
Mutual trust and respect
In comparison to other schools we received higher scores with regard to how our teachers help your children to learn, keep them safe and treat them fairly and with respect.
Informing parents
We scored well in terms of informing parents about progress and behaviour but less so for homework and punctuality.
Next steps: We will investigate how to develop an easy way for parents to be informed about homework and find out what should have been set. Parents say they are kept informed about attendance but less so about punctuality. I am anticipating that with the recent appointment of an additional Attendance Officer we will become much more proactive with regard to both attendance and punctuality.
School Accessibility
Responses were very positive about how easy or difficult it is to contact the school and also that parents feel the school is welcoming.
Pupil needs
Our scores compared favourably to other schools with regard to teachers’ approach to learning, homework, behaviour and attendance.
Parental Confidence
Based upon the response given, parents are clear about the school’s expectations and optimistic about their child’s progress, but would like more information on how to support their child’s learning.
Next steps: We will review and update what curriculum content and learning resources are provided on the school’s website. In the next academic year we will hold a number of face-to-face events with parents regarding study skills, curriculum information and Option Choices for Year 9 students.
General
The proportion of parents who would recommend the school to another parent is high. The written comments made by parents were overwhelmingly positive. Many parents took the opportunity to thank the school for its efforts over the past two years and recognised the challenges we have all faced during the pandemic. There appears to be a split in views about parents evenings! Some parents would like to have more opportunity to attend face-to-face events whilst others have welcomed the online provision.
Next steps: In the next academic year we aim to offer a mix of face-to-face and online events. We will continue to take feedback from parents and staff about these events. We will endeavour to maintain communication with parents as much as possible, re-establish this termly newsletter and strengthen our social media profile.
Pupil SurveyWe gave feedback to pupils at the start of term about the main findings and next steps. Responses made by our pupils were, broadly speaking, similar to other schools. However, our pupils’ responses were more positive with regard to behaviour, safeguarding and, if it has happened, how bullying is dealt with.
Next steps: We will revisit with pupils how we give feedback, how we support them with working independently and provide more opportunities for reading. We will also consider whether lunch breaks are long enough.
