St Stephen’s School Parent Questionnaire 2021/2022

	Agree	Disagree
My child is happy and does well at this school	533	2
This school makes sure its pupils are well behaved	547	3
The school has high expectations for my child	535	13
I receive valuable information about my child’s progress	524	23
The school supports my child’s physical development	506	7
There are a good range of subjects available to my child and they know about children’s rights and the Global Goals	522	6
The school meets the needs of my child and gives them support they need to succeed	533	5
My child can take part in clubs and activities	505	25
I feel that the school has remained safe and COVID compliant for myself and my child throughout the pandemic	522	8
When I have raised concerns they have been dealt with properly	520	10
Would you recommend this school to another parent?	494	15

Quotes from the parent Survey

The facilities and teaching is second to none.
The school is well managed and always make parents aware of what’s going on.
Children are driven academically and taught values and life skills.

I’m lucky my child comes here. Strongly recommend.

Thank you for all your hard work and care, happy with my child’s progress and development.
School is brilliant coupled with the strong leadership; it’s gone from strength to strength.

Proud my child attends this school, the staff are consistently fantastic in their approach, care, support and encouragement, making good progress and the updates are clear and informative.

Proud of the school.
My child is very well looked after by her excellent teachers and Nursery provides her a safe and progressive space to grow.
The school met the government guidelines with supported learning during the lockdown.
Child did not receive a place at this school at first. I was very sad and worried, as I did not think any other school reached the standards of this school. My views of the school do not change and the school continues to serve as an excellent institution for my child.
My child communicates much better since going to Nursery.
I find this Nursery has helped my son create a great foundation for his early years learning.
My daughter has blossomed into a more confident and resilient little girl since starting in daycare. I feel she id being challenged according to her development.
St Stephen’s has not only helped my child learn. The Children’s Centre has shown a lot of care for the whole family unit and supported us through a very hard time.
Thank you so much, excellent key worker support, the school, lockdown facilities were excellent, fun and creative. It helped improve student confidence and wellbeing.
Thank you for providing a hot school dinner on Fridays during the lockdown period, much appreciated.
Thank you for being a great school, great staff, great Head teacher, great Deputies, thank you for working so hard to make our children’s future bright.

How would you like to see the school develop in the future?

Lunch

Comment	What improvements we are making in response to the survey.
To increase portion of school lunch	The school lunch portions are in accordance with government guidance and age specific nutritional values.
Friday sandwiches need a change	We have reviewed our Friday sandwich option to include a range of vegetarian options.
Grant Packed lunches	We pride ourselves in ensuring that every child receives a free, hot, homemade, balanced meal every day.
My child is hungry when they come home because they do not like the dinners	As part of our St. Stephen’s healthy drive, we ensure a broad range of foods are offered. Adults are in the dinner hall to monitor how much the children are eating and any concerns are escalated. Early lunches have a fruit break in the afternoon.
School meals need to improve as the range is not varied	It is important that your child has a varied diet. Menus are reviewed and changed termly. Parents need to support the school with introducing new and varied foods to their child’s diet. The school dietician and the Children ‘s centre are available to discuss eating concerns with you.

Staff and Classrooms

I am grateful and really appreciate the school staff members. They have worked extremely hard during the pandemic.
Special thanks to all the teachers and speech & language teachers.
Keep doing what you are doing and keep up the good work
The teachers and staff at the school are very kind.
All staff are doing a good job and working hard. Thanks all staff with full respect.
The learning facility taken place in school was fun and creative. It helped student’s confidence and well-being.
Amazing teachers

Comment	What improvements we are making in response to the survey.
I hope they have times of the day when children are taken to wash their hands	Children are encouraged to wash their hands throughout the day and are given antibacterial gel both before and after playtimes.
Some religious subjects must be taught to children, as they are not taught most topics	The school uses the award winning, Local Authority approved SACRE curriculum, which teaches all the major religions as part of our curriculum.
To provide additional support for children during isolation periods	St. Stephen’s website has a remote learning tab to support children during the isolation periods. This is reviewed and updated regularly.

Communication

Your relationship with parents are strong, do not lose communication.
There was good communication between the school and parent.

Comment	What improvements we are making in response to the survey.
More interaction needed than just reports	We have revised and increased our parents evenings to parents days where parents have time 1:1 with the class teacher.
Newsletters would be good for each year group.	We add extra detail onto homework sheets including a notices section. There are updates on the website within the latest news section and the curriculum maps are also available. Please contact your class teachers for year group information.
The school website is difficult to navigate	We have improved our website vastly over the last few years. However, if you have any suggestions on how to improve it further please let us know. We are open to suggestions.
I do not receive text messages	Please check the school office has your most up to date number.

Clubs

Comment	What improvements we are making in response to the survey.
More clubs should be available	We have increased the number of clubs that we offer as we are now permitted to, post COVID.
Clubs should be free	External providers have a fee and unfortunately cuts in school budget cannot support this additional extra curricular facility.
Not sure what clubs are on offer	Letters are sent out termly and information is on the website.

Remote Learning

Online learning was good, thank you to all the staff members. They are doing a great job.
Remote learning was effective and learning equipment was beneficial.
Loved the zoom meetings. Teacher did a fantastic job of making children feel happy during very uncertain times.
Zoom calls for children was a brilliant idea.
Online learning was outstanding.

Comment	What improvements we are making in response to the survey.
Online learning was not enough for pupils to catch up with their learning	At St. Stephen’s we are confident that pupils will catch up on any gaps in their learning. It is imperative that your child now attends school every day.
Online learning: I would advise learning to have been live teaching on zoom (but not preferred)	Due to families having limited access to devices, the school decided that KS1 would have daily keeping in touch wellbeing meetings with their teacher and set work. KS2 would have access to video lessons that they could utilise when a device was available. Please see our St Stephen’s remote learning offer/policy on the school website.
No key worker support, good remote learning, no learning equipment provided and no home visits.	School was open for key worker families.Door step visits, phone calls and key worker support were all offered. Learning packs were provided for families that needed it. Devices were distributed to families who met the Government criteria and needed them.
Too much online learning was provided. I would have preferred work books or printable work sheets	Our online learning offer had to meet government requirements. To represent a day's learning at school.
Remote learning should have been every day during lockdown	Work was provided every day during lockdown for the pupils. Live teaching was provided where appropriate and accessible.

Child's Progress/ Parent's day

It gave us the opportunity to be able to discuss our child’s progress, whilst still complying with the social distancing restrictions.
Teacher explained well and supported my child.
It is a better way to meet one-to-one on our given time. Parents meeting face-to-face is an easy way to communicate with teachers.
It was better, as the children were at school and you do not have to take them with you in the evening.
It was easy for everyone to follow COVID rules and restrictions by keeping socially distanced.

Comment	What improvements we are making in response to the survey.
There was not enough time to discuss my child’s work.	Every parent was given 10 minutes but if you would like more time, please speak to the class teacher to arrange an alternative appointment
Could provide better interaction, should push children to do activities that are more physical. It could have been better detailed to give flexibility to parents.	We provided 4 weeks of physical homework and we also provide physical Friday to support their fitness for KS1 and Early years. Our curriculum includes 2 and a half hours of physical education for all children.
I would have preferred both parents to attend parents’ day	Due to COVID restrictions, we were unable to have two parents on site at a time as per our COVID risk assessment. Now that COVID restrictions have been lifted, both parents are able to attend.
Evenings are better for working parents	There was an option for appointments up until 6 o’clock. Please contact the school if this still does not suit you and we can arrange another time.
Virtual parents evening would have been preferred as I am vulnerable	Please contact the school as this is something that we would be able to provide for clinically vulnerable adults.

Other

School food bank is effective and beneficial.
Key worker support was excellent.
I appreciate all your help and devotion to children.
My child is happier compared to his other school.
St Stephens have dealt with things in the best way possible. Proud to have my children attend this school.
School was easy to contact when needed.
My child had the opportunity to attend school during lockdown, which was great for him.
Great improvements to the school website and access to school dietitians.
The website was really helpful during lockdown.
Excellent provision for key worked parents during lockdown.
My child has settled beautifully and has formed lovely relationships with staff members.
My child has absolutely flourished whilst at St Stephen’s. He will miss it greatly and his new school will have to be incredible to come anywhere close to providing him the education he has received here.

Comment	What improvements we are making in response to the survey.
More solutions for parents who have to pick up children from both nursery and primary at same time	Post COVID restrictions, all gates are now open at the end of day for quicker pick up. Please speak to a member of staff if you are finding this challenging.
My child feels ignored at school	Each year group has teachers, a senior support staff member, support staff as well as a leadership member who the pupils can talk to openly. Please contact the school if you have any concerns regarding your child.
Recommend to pay by direct debit card.	The school is looking at alternative ways for payments for clubs, visits etc.
I would prefer it if you mixed the classes so that they can make new friends	Every year we review the classes and mix up the pupils. However, during COVID, we decided that it was best for pupils to remain within their current classes as they had not been in school together very much.
Child to start taking their bikes to school	Pupils can now bring their bikes into school and store them in the bicycle rack.