‘You said……..and we did’
A response to requests made at our Parent Voice Meetings
| You said that you …
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We … |
| Were concerned that we did not have sufficient toilets in school. | are looking into opening toilets on B corridor for Y7 use (finances permitting). |
| Would like more information about options. | hosted an evening for Y9 parents to come in and discuss KS4 options.
All curriculum information is now clearly displayed on the website. We gave you the opportunity to speak with a senior member of staff about your son/daughter’s options at a Parent Voice meeting. Options taster sessions are running for Y9 prior to Options deadline. Each subject will deliver a 15 minute presentation detailing the requirements of their course |
| Would like the school planner to be promoted more. | expect all students to have their planners out in every lesson, parents and form tutors are to sign them each week and teachers will use them to communicate messages home |
| Wanted us to review our procedures for children with Type 2 Diabetes. | have undergone training on the symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes. |
| Wanted another opportunity to discuss your child’s progress in Year 11. | Have introduced additional Parents’ Evening for parents of students who were not making expected progress in order to discuss their child’s progress. |
| Required help to support your son/daughter with revision. | produced an informative text: ‘ How Can Parents Make A Difference?’
and gave advice and guidance given during parent workshops at Y11 and 10 parents’ evening. More to follow to include parents of students in other years |
| Would like material that is distributed during parent voice meetings to be published on the website. | Introduced a Parent Voice tab on the website |
| Didn’t feel that there were enough trips for all children. | are now working on creating trips and experiences for all. Every child in the school has been offered the opportunity to attend an end of year experience. Every child in Y7 went on the pantomime trip and all Y7 students were invited to attend a trip to Magna. |
| Would like to know what was on our curriculum. | have published our curriculum maps for every subject on the school website. |
| Felt that it would be helpful to receive information about where you could take your son/daughter in order to improve their subject knowledge. | have included details of exciting and interesting places to visit with your child/children on the curriculum maps on the school website |
| Would like students to receive a visual careers document that made it clear what careers were available if you opted for a particular subject. | held a meeting with Mr Yates, Mr Langford and Mr Lilleyman to discuss ideas. Every subject lead has been asked to consider how they will promote careers in their area. |
| Wanted to receive the information about Parent Voice meetings two weeks prior to the meeting. In addition, we should publish the dates on MyEd. | published dates at the start of each year.
Flyer advertising parent voice pinned to Twitter and website 2 weeks prior to meeting. Invitations sent home one week before Text message set home three days before |
| Thought parents should be invited to attend a STEAM event. | regularly invite parents to share successes. We have hosted a Summer Garden Party and Winter Wonderland Makers’ Market in the STEAM garden. |
| Thought it would be useful to conduct a skills audit of parents. | Conducted audits with parents/ carers. Parents will have the option to complete a voluntary audit when they attend other events in school. |
| Felt that we would benefit if we invited local businesses in one afternoon. | arranged for an afternoon tea event, to be held on Friday 15th September, during which students will pitch their ideas, for the new STEAM cultural space, to our visitors and ask for their support with creating the new space. |
| would like a timeline of events | produced a calendar of events which we published to parents. |
| would like us to plan some social events | planned a fund raising trip to Peel Tower 5.11.17
Summer Garden Party 12.7.18 and 11.7.19 Winter Wonderland 20.12.18 Café introduced prior to shows Refreshments available at Parents’ Evenings |
| were dissatisfied with the bus service | met with the Mayor and Local Councilor regarding the buses. We contacted both bus companies and we are waiting for their responses.
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| would benefit from more parental engagement evenings | hosted two extra parental engagement evenings, in addition to the full parents’ evenings for year 11; an additional parental engagement evening for year 10; a transition evening for Y6; two Y7 parents’ evenings; a parents’ evening and options evening for year 9 and a parents’ evening for Y8.
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| needed us to improve how we communicated homework tasks | trialed Sims Learning Gateway but we are still struggling to log homework. The planner is still our main method of communicating homework. However, Sims and MyEd will log behavior points when homework has not been completed.
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| didn’t understand the new grading system and flight paths | distributed information on flight paths and targets: Mrs Lamb explained the new grading system. |
| wanted letters to go out with the interim reports explaining the levels
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Issued letters with all reports to explain levels |
| would like to discuss the reward system further | asked Mrs Davies to present at our next meeting |
| felt that parents could get more involved in school-life | distributed a skills audit to all parents, responses have been collated. As a result 15 year 7 girls have visited Manchester Metropolitan University, exhibited work, debated and toured the science labs; parents participated in the Deputy Headteacher Interviews; parents
· will accompany the French trip; · will coach the Y7 Boys’ Football team · played in the ‘Our House’ pit band
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| Would like a ‘Human Library’ like Salford Royal Hospital have
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started to record careers vlogs. |
| Suggested a parent voice café at our Winter Showcase
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opened a café at the Winter Showcase.
Friends of The Derby selling refreshments at Parents’ Evenings |
| Suggested we have a parent voice café at the school production
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opened a café each night of the production. |
| Would like to be identified as members of Friends of The Derbygroup.
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Made identity badges for members to wear at school events |
| Were concerned about queues at lunchtime | have changed the queuing systems at lunchtime (Year 7s have a separate queue). |
| Were concerned about movement of 935 children around school | conducted Health & Safety audits and we have implemented a keep to the left system on all corridors and stair ways.
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| wanted a clear key to acronyms used on reports. | have produced a key with reports
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| were concerned about earlier start and finish to the school day. | opened a breakfast and after school homework club. |
| wanted to know when homework was set. | have improved the use of the planners and we are using Sims to record when homework is not completed on time |
| wanted us to include letters on the website. | added letters to the website under ‘School Letters & Downloads’. |
| would like exam timetables adding to the website. | added the Y11 mock exam timetable on the student area of the website: ‘GCSE Mock Exam 2018-2019’. |
| were concerned that rewards weren’t always issued consistently. | are monitoring how rewards are issued and this is a common agenda item in departmental meetings. |
| felt that we could raise money as a parents group. | Launched ‘Friends of The Derby’ in Autumn 2018.
Mrs Provoost has submitted the first bid on behalf of the group. |
| wanted a text to be sent home when letters are sent home. | felt that this was too expensive to do for every letter. We are trying to get more parents to signup to MyEd which is the free messaging App. |
| Suggested a project on English/Maths or Science to be completed during school holidays
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will introduce projects and competitions to each curriculum page on our website
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| some homework deadlines are only one day – others have a longer deadline – why?
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reminded staff that homework needs to be issued with reasonable deadlines |
| Wanted reports be viewed on SIMs in order to see frequent snapshots over time
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added Data reports to Sims |
| Want to know what your children are eating at lunchtime | introduced the online payment system which will allow you to view how your child spends their money |