The links between home/school operate on both a formal and informal basis. These links are carried out in a variety of ways:
Annual Reviews: These take place annually and include those people who are involved with the child, psychologist, parents, school medical officer, school nurse, school staff, social worker and child him/herself. These joint meetings are to discuss fully the progress and needs of each child and also appropriate placements. Minutes of these meetings as well as full school and speech therapy reports are issued to parents.
Parents’ Afternoon/Evenings: Formal parent/teacher meetings are organised bi-annually with the initial meeting used to give parents the opportunity to participate in the devising of Additional Support Programmes. These meetings take the form of discussion between parents, teaching staff and our school based Speech and Language Therapist. Further meetings serve to update information and progress. A Welcome Meeting takes place in the autumn term and this gives parents the opportunity to meet with the staff team who will be working with their child to informally discuss plans for the following session.
Annual Family Night: Our Family Nights serve to inform parents about the work of the School. Parents, siblings and relatives are invited to attend the school and participate in using our IT software, musical equipment, Sensory Room etc. Visitors also have the opportunity of viewing the work, which we carry out throughout the year. In addition to these organised nights the school operates an open door policy and parents are encouraged to phone or organise visits to discuss any concerns or problems they may be having.
Parent Workshops: These are arranged regularly and cover a variety of topics such as, parenting skills, sleeping problems, sharing Makaton signs, homework and communicating with your child.
Home/School Diary: This is an informal system used by staff and parents. Nursery parents receive the diary on a daily basis, the primary unit, usually once or twice weekly. The diary provides an excellent ‘messenger’ system between home and school and is used for a variety of purposes: maintenance of behaviour management, exchange of daily information which child is unable to pass on and informing/updating parents of events in school. The diary is a 2 way system of communicating and parents are encouraged to use the diary to inform us of any relevant information regarding their child.
Monthly Newsletter: Our newsletter is issued monthly and gives parents important information on events, which are taking place within the school.
Social/Fundraising Events: Our highly successful bingo evenings are organised twice a year and as well as raising funds for school serves as a social event both for parents and for the local community. Individual parents also organise a range of events within their own community to raise funds for the school.
School Assemblies/Concerts: The children participate in our annual Christmas Concert to which parents and friends are invited. We also hold joint assemblies with St Bernadette’s once a term.
Bus Escorts: Informal links with parents are also maintained through bus and taxi escorts.
