September 30th 2023
Collaboration and communication between the school and parents is central to your children’s happiness and success, and promoting regular, open and constructive dialogue between us and you is so important. There are many different forums in which this can take place, some formal and others less so, with both avenues giving valuable opportunities for conversation, feedback and building trust.
Teacher/parent meetings are perhaps the most obvious mode of feedback, and these have changed in style significantly since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020. We listened carefully to parents’ comments from the whole school survey conducted in April 2023, in which you gave mixed views about your preferred format for parents’ meetings. As a result, we have recently carried out additional surveys of certain year groups. Thank you very much to parents in Years 3 to 5 who kindly responded to questions last week about preferences regarding virtual or in-person parent meetings. Unsurprisingly, there was no consensus amongst parents with some favouring face-to-face meetings, and many others grateful for the convenience of on-line meetings. There were slightly more in favour of the former over the latter but it was marginal, and so we have tried to accommodate both preferences by giving parents a choice for the upcoming meetings. We will trial this format for Years 3 to 5 and then review. We will remain holding online teacher/parent meetings for Years 6 to 8 for the time being, owing to the wider number of teachers involved which makes online meetings much more time efficient for both parents and staff.
We are always keen to welcome parents into the school, and the school calendar provides many opportunities for this. For those parents who are able to attend, school matches for boys in Years 3 – 8 are an obvious example, with match teas giving parents valuable time to meet others. Parent year group coffee mornings, which we hold at the beginning of the year, are put on by the school to encourage a good welcome for new parents, to meet each other and form reps, and we aim for form tutors to be present where this can be arranged within the timetable. Year 7 parents, please note that next Wednesday morning, 4th Oct, new form tutors Scot McNaughton and Rory Johnston will be attending and look forward to meeting a number of parents.
Parents are welcome and encouraged to come into the school office in person if you have queries, and there is no longer the need to use the window (as during the pandemic), although you are still able to do so if you prefer for convenience.
We are so looking forward to Arts Week which takes place in the week beginning 9th October. All parents are invited to attend the art display which runs throughout the week in the marquee (timings in the Week Ahead), and Year 5 parents will be looking forward to the play production on Monday and Tuesday, which is followed by the Musical Soiree on Wednesday and Thursday evenings for performers in Years 5 -8.
And of course there are the wonderful Moulsford Parents Association and other charitable events which run throughout the year. This term we have already had the very successful Moulsfest, which included the Moulsford Mudder and the Colour Run, in aid of Inspire Children and Youth. The MPA events begin with the Headmaster’s Quiz which takes place on 6th October, followed by Bonfire Night and the Christmas Fair in the second half of term. Our thanks to the team of volunteers who make these wonderful community events possible, and are crucial in creating very strong links between the school and parents.
