Communications with Parents Policy

1. Introduction and aims

We believe that clear, open communication between the school and parents/carers has a positive impact on pupils’ learning because it:

Gives parents/carers the information they need to support their child’s education
Helps the school improve, through feedback and consultation with parents/carers
Builds trust between home and school, which helps the school better support each child’s educational and pastoral needs

The aim of this policy is to promote clear and open communication by:

Explaining how the school communicates with parents/carers
Setting clear standards and expectations for responding to communication from parents/carers
Helping parents/carers reach the member of school staff who is best placed to address their specific query or concern so they can get a response as quickly as possible

In the following sections, we will use ‘parents’ to refer to both parents and carers.

2. Roles and responsibilities

2.1 Headteacher/Deputy Headteacher

The Headteacher/Deputy Headteacher is responsible for:

Ensuring that communications with parents are effective, timely and appropriate
Monitoring the implementation of this policy
Regularly reviewing this policy

2.2 StaffAll staff are responsible for:

Responding to communication from parents in line with this policy and the school’s ICT and internet acceptable use policy
Working with other members of staff to make sure parents get timely information (if they cannot address a query or send the information themselves)

Staff will aim to respond to communication during core school hours (8am – 4pm), or their working hours (if they work part-time). In line with promoting staff wellbeing and helping to find a suitable work-life balance, staff may work around other responsibilities and commitments and respond outside of these hours, but they are not expected to do so. If staff choose to work outside their working hours, they are expected to set time delays on emails to ensure that parents and other colleagues do not receive emails outside of a ‘normal’ working day/week (Mon – Fri/8am – 5.30pm).

2.3 ParentsParents are responsible for:

Ensuring that communication with the school is respectful at all times
Making every reasonable effort to address communications to the appropriate member of staff in the first instance
Respond to communications from the school (such as requests for meetings) in a timely manner
Checking all communications from the school

Parents should not expect staff to respond to their communication outside of core school hours (8am – 4pm) or during school holidays and should be mindful that teachers are in class teaching and may take extra-curricular clubs or attend meetings. Class Teachers may not respond during the same school teaching day therefore, important communications that are time sensitive e.g., a family emergency, informing school about attendance or a change in pick up arrangements, should be directed to the school office by phone call.

3. How we communicate with parents and carers

The sections below explain how we keep parents up to date with their child’s education and what is happening in school.

Parents should monitor all of the following regularly to make sure they do not miss important communications or announcements that may affect their child.

3.1 Email

We use email to keep parents informed about the following things:

Upcoming school events
Scheduled school closures (for example, for staff training days)
School surveys or consultations
Class activities or teacher requests
Short notice changes to the school day
Emergency school closures (for instance, due to bad weather)
Letters about trips and visits
Consent forms
Clubs

We aim to reduce the amount of email communications with parents by adding most of the above information to our Weekly Newsletter.

3.2 Weekly Newsletter

Our Weekly Newsletter includes a ‘Dates for your Diary’ section for the term ahead. Additional events will be added as and when they arise. Where possible, we try to give parents at least 2 weeks’ notice of any events or special occasions (including non-uniform days, special assemblies, or visitors) Any such event will be included in the school calendar.

3.3 Phone calls

On occasions, school will contact parents by phone for the following:

Attendance updates and welfare checks
Reporting accidents including head bumps
Discussions about behaviour
Child illness
To arrange meetings

It is important that parents provide an up-to-date daytime contact number (mobile/work) for each parent in order to make contact in case of emergencies.

3.4 Reports

Parents receive three termly reports from the school about their child’s learning:

Autumn Term – A settling in report covering their progress towards Age Related Expectations, and effort.
Spring Term – A progress report covering their progress towards Age related expectations, effort and attendance.
Summer Term – An end-of-year report covering their achievement, and a summative assessment of their attainment at the end of the academic year, and their attendance report for the year.

3.5 Parent Consultations and Meetings

We hold two parents’ consultation evenings over the school year. One in the Autumn term and one in the Spring term. During these meetings, parents can talk with teachers about their child’s achievement and progress, the curriculum or schemes of work, their child’s wellbeing, or any other area of concern.

The school may also contact parents to arrange meetings between parents’ evenings if there are concerns about a child’s achievement, progress, or wellbeing.

Parents of pupils with special educational needs (SEN), or who have other additional needs, may also be asked to attend further meetings to address these additional needs.

If parents would like to schedule a meeting with a member of staff, they should email the appropriate email address (on our website), or call the school to book an appointment.

While teachers are available at the beginning or end of the school day if parents need to speak to them urgently, we recommend they book appointments to discuss:

Any concerns they have about their child’s learning.
Updates related to pastoral support, their child’s home environment, or their wellbeing.

3.6 School website

Key information about the school is posted on our website, including:

School times and term dates· Important events and announcements
Curriculum information
Important policies and procedures
Important contact information
Information about before and after-school provision

Parents should check the website before contacting the school.

3.7 Home-school Home Learning apps (e.g., Seesaw)

Seesaw is not used as a form of dialogue with parents and is only used as a learning tool and homework platform for the children to use. From time to time, teachers may remind children about learning or resources needed for the following day, however this will not be used as a tool to pass on school information or reminders to parents.

3.8 Social media

JCP use a variety of different ways of communicating with parents. These include daily opportunities for face-to-face contact, email updates, school website, parent consultations, informal parent/teacher meetings, phone calls, Seesaw and also through the PTA and school “Parent Reps”. In addition to this, we use social media to share updates and information with parents and the wider community. You can like us on www.facebook.com/jerseycollegeprep/ or follow the links from our website. You can also follow us on Twitter @JCollegePrep and Instagram @jcprep

The purpose of using social media as a way of communicating with parents is to provide quick and relevant information about school life. It is not intended as a forum for parents to seek clarification about school events and messages will not be responded to through social media.

Please note that staff are advised not to become ‘friends’ with parents on sites like Facebook, as this can blur the professional boundaries.

4. How parents and carers can communicate with the school

4.1 Email

Parents should always email the school, or the appropriate member of staff, about non-urgent issues in the first instance.

There is no expectation for teachers to have regular day to day communications with parents by email. This is not appropriate, and parents are asked to book an appointment to discuss any issues in advance. If parents email late in the evening, teachers may not see this communication until the end of the following day. If a query or concern is urgent *, and parents need a response sooner than this, they should call the school office or copy the office into the email (admin@jcp.sch.je 516111 8am – 4pm).

4.2 Phone calls

If parents wish to speak to a specific member of staff about a non-urgent matter, they should email the member of staff they wish to speak with to arrange a convenient time for a phone call.

If the issue is urgent*, parents should call the school office who will be able to relay your message to the appropriate member of staff. We aim to make sure parents have spoken to the appropriate member of staff as soon as possible.

*Urgent issues might include things like:

Family emergencies
Safeguarding or welfare issues
A change in pick up arrangements (not reminders)

For more general enquiries, please check the school website and/or previous school communications i.e., trip letters and our Weekly Newsletter.

4.4 Home-school

Home Learning apps (e.g., Seesaw)Seesaw is not used as a form of communication with parents and is only used as a learning tool and homework platform. Teachers will not respond to messages from parents or use the learning platform as a tool for communicating with parents.

5. Inclusion

It is important to us that everyone in our community can communicate easily with the school. Our website has the ability to translate policies and school information into the following languages: English, Polish, French, Portuguese, Mandarin, German, Spanish and Gujarati.Parents who need help communicating with the school can request support and we can make additional arrangements if necessary. Please contact the school office to discuss these.

6. Links with other policies

The policy should be read alongside our policies on:

ICT and internet acceptable use

Complaints

Home-school agreement

Staff wellbeing

7. Complaints

If you would like to file a formal complaint, please follow the procedure set out in our complaints policy which can be found on our website.

Date reviewed: February 2024

Nadia Guglieri