Velmead Junior School

How the School Supports Parents to Support their Child (Updated February 2019)

The ways that the school supports parents to support their child are many and varied. The majority of this ‘jigsaw’ of guidance and provision of information is available to all. However, more bespoke support and guidance is provided where we identify a greater need. Most of what we do is proactive – through the provision of information. However, where necessary we can be rapidly reactive if pupils’ well-being or progress causes concern.

This summary of the sources of support here at Velmead is to be considered in conjunction with the SEND Information Report, intervention updates and Hard to Reach Families protocol.

As befits our TEAM Velmead approach, the foundation stone of all of our support for parents is an effective working relationship between home and school. This is established, developed and maintained through a variety of contact between home and school: the greater the need the more contact there is.

Here is a summary of our support:

1. At the meetings for Year 2 parents, in the Autumn before the children start with us, we begin to set the tone for the home/school partnership. When talking to the parents, I make it very clear what the school’s position is by stating that ‘with your love, care and support and our expertise, experience and resources, the sky really is the limit for what we can achieve.’

2. For some Year 2 children we get to know them and their families better through individualised transition arrangements in the Summer Term, prior to the children starting with us in September.

3. In the Summer Term before the children start with us in September, we invite all of the Year 3 parents to a meeting. During this meeting we detail some of the ‘supporting your child’ expectations that we have e.g. arriving on time ready to learn, reading at home etc.

At this we also provide all new families with a ‘Partners in Learning Handbook for Parents’. This document sets out some of the key things that we want parents to know about what is important to us and how the school operates. In addition to information about how we manage pupils’ behaviour for learning - which in itself can support parents to support their child, there is a ‘Supporting Learning’ section. We also detail some of the ‘Curriculum Information’ and set out the ‘terms’ of our home / school partnership.

4. During the child’s first week with us, they will be given their Pupil Planner. We remind the children and their parents (through the newsletter) that this is a treasure trove of information for parents. The Planner contains lots of information about how the school manages many things and sets out further detail about the core areas of learning.

5. In mid-September there is a further meeting for our Year 3 parents. At this meeting, now children have started with us, we give much more detail about hearing children read, practising mental maths etc. We also remind parents about the curriculum area on our website. The National Association of Headteacher’s ‘Ready to Learn’ leaflets are published on our website.

6. Having established all of the above, we then continue to ‘top up’ information through a termly newsletter, from the Learning Co-ordinator in that Year TEAM, plus occasional information evenings. Examples include a Maths Calculation meeting and an annual meeting for parents of Year 6 children about how they can best support their child to thrive in Year 6.

7. Our ‘open door’ approach, our teachers being outside at least one evening per week at pick up time, Jo and I being outside at the beginning and end of every day, our system for staff responding to parents queries and our culture of ‘we’re all in this together’ results in there being a lot of support readily available to parents, to support their child.

In summary: the school supports parents to support their child through face-to-face contact, targeted meetings, our handbook, our planner and our website.

Mr Howard