As we reach the final week of providing feedback from the parent survey results, we want to extend our thanks for your valuable input. 

What one key thing would you improve at Almond Hill to help with children's learning and progress?

One parent raised a question about whether it was fair to ask for three positive areas alongside one suggestion for improvement. Change is often challenging to implement so we wanted to focus on the most impactful priority and on what was the most important thing for parents. 

Many suggestions for improvement related to increasing staff, provisions and opportunities. As many of you will understand, these factors are largely influenced by budget constraints. 

Key Themes from Feedback: 

Public Speaking & Oracy – We completely agree! Over the next three years, we will be developing our oracy programme to provide more opportunities for public speaking. Look out for the new debating club for the upper school next term. 

Homework – A topic with varying opinions! Some parents have said there is too much homework whereas others have said there is not enough and some requested a more focused monthly project . Homework is always a tricky balance as we recognise that some families can provide substantial support while others may not be able to. Our current approach includes: 

• Weekly homework designed to be accessible, age-appropriate with 2 difficultly levels—without requiring adult support.  

• Some children ask for the ‘challenge’ piece which is an optional extra and if chosen, should be completed on top of the usual, age-related homework. For those children who may need some additional support, they may be given homework that focusses on areas where they need more practise (i.e. spellings). 

• Occasional projects that may require more time, effort, and resources, such as the diversity homework or the recent writing/art project where we saw some incredible Starbirds! 
   

Additional Support & Opportunities – We would love to expand pastoral care, interventions, clubs and extra learning opportunities and we will continue to explore ways to make this possible. 

Thank you again for your continued engagement and support. Your feedback is invaluable as we strive to create the best possible learning environment for all our children. 

On 1st April, we are inviting parents in to take part in a fun, interactive maths lesson with their children. The plan is to meet with Miss Simmons in the hall at drop off (8:45am) for a very short chat about maths at Almond Hill followed by a maths lesson (short, fun activities which use a range of maths skills) from 9.00 -10.00am in your child's classroom. It will be an opportunity for children to experience learning with you and maybe even for you to brush off those maths skills and support your children in the classroom. These types of events have always been very successful and children love having you in the classroom sharing their learning experiences. We look forward to seeing you then! As ever, you will be able to move between classes if you have children across the school.

Our Parents’ Evenings (PTI’s) for the Spring Term will be held on Tuesday 11th and Thursday 13th March. If your child is in 3W, Miss Ward will be available to see parents on Monday 10th and Thursday 13th March. 

Given how the time spent with the class teacher at parents’ evening is finite, families will receive their PTI forms today via email to allow you to digest the information and plan for any questions you may have.  Please bear with us as the system can sometimes take a while and you may not receive them all at the same time. 

Face to Face Appointments 

If your child is in the upper school, please go straight to Acorn House. You will be able to look at your child’s books in the classroom and meetings will be in offices (Year 5 downstairs and Year 6 upstairs). If your child is in the lower school, please go straight to Oak House. You will be able to look at your child’s books in the classroom and meetings will be in offices within Oak House.  There will be a free crèche available in the computing room for all in person PTI meetings on 11th and 13th March, but we are unable to offer this facility for Miss Ward’s appointments on 10th March. We will also be selling preloved uniform alongside the creche. Please come along and replenish your stocks.  The computing room can be accessed from the quadrant. Premier will be running their wraparound care as usual and our external football club for year 5/6 will run as planned. All other clubs held on a Tuesday or Thursday (including reading booster) will not be running. 

Online Appointments 

If you choose an online meeting, please see the below link for a guide on using the system. Please read this carefully as it tells you how to check that your technology will work correctly for the meeting. You will be sent a link for the meeting and you will need to ensure you are prompt to start. The meetings follow back to back so your time cannot be adjusted. The meetings will be timed to 9 minutes and will cut out after this time. There will be a clock on screen as an indicator for both you and the teacher that the meeting is coming to an end. https://support.parentseveningsystem.co.uk/article/801-video-parents-how-to-attend-appointments-over-video-call  

We received a call from a local resident last week who reported that they had noticed an increase in children walking independently to school and is worried that they are not taking enough care when crossing.  He said the children seem not to have an awareness of cars and is worried there will be an accident. Please speak to your child about road safety and the importance of crossing roads safely.  

Thank you to the parents who have been in touch to discuss our new initiative ‘Girls on board’ which like all our pastoral provisions is designed to help children develop personal skills and in this case, a focus on solution finding. As with all our provisions, we will monitor the impact and evaluate success over time. The book ‘When Girls Fall Out’ has been mentioned to me as a good read by a parent and I would agree (as I have read it myself) as it provides more background reading on this topic if you are interested.

https://www.girlsonboard.co.uk/parents/