We care about what you say. Parents often comment on our welcoming atmosphere, happy environment, our good (and improving) range of after school activities, inclusion of children with special educational needs, safety of the children, children make friends well, teachers are approachable and supportive, school is accommodating when issues have arisen, displays are of a high standard, teachers have good rapport with children, transition between year groups and being able to share their children’s experiences by attending weekly and class assemblies.

A lovely message was recieved from a parent (March 23):

I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank all the staff for their hard work and dedication to the school and the pupils it really shows and ‘M’ has been so happy and is thriving at Sherdley, he loves coming to school. 

You are an amazing team !!

Thank you.

‘L’ 

Thank you so much for your kind words – they are very much appreciated.

PARENT VIEW Jan 23:

During our recent Ofsted Inspection (January 2023), our parents were asked to share their opinions with the inspection team on Ofsted’s Parent View site. This is wahat our parents and carers said about us:

1. My child is happy at school – 98% agree or strongly agree
2. My child feels safe at school – 98% agree or strongly agree
3. The school makes sure its pupils are well behaved – 92% agree or strongly agree
4. My child has been bullied and the school dealt with the bullying quickly and effectively – 69% agree or strongly agree, 10% don’t know, 13% said their child has not bee bullied
5. The school makes me aware of what my child will learn during the year – 88% agree or strongly agree, 9% unsure
6. When I ahve raised concerns with the school they have been dealt with properly – 64% agree or strongly agree, 26% have not raised a concern 7%, don’t know
7. My child has SEND, and the school gives them the support they need to succeed – 90% agree or strongly agree, 10% don’t know
8. The school has high expectations for my child – 88% agree or strobgly agree, 3% are unsure
9. My child does well at school – 98% agree or strongly agree
10. The school lets me know how my child is doing – 91% agree or strongly agree, 5% are unsure
11. There is a good range of subjects available to my child at this school – 97% agree or strongly agree
12. My child can take part in clubs and activities at this school – 94% agree or strongly agree
13. The school supports my child’s wider personal development = 83% agree or strongly agree, 8% are unsure
14. I would recommend this school to another parent – 95% said Yes.

We asked our Reception parents in October 2022 how they found settling in to life at Sherdley, and these were the responses:

96% of parents/carers agreed that their children had settled in well at school. 4% had a neutral opinion.

96% of parents/carers said that their child felt safe in school. 4% had a neutral opinion.

96% felt that their child feels happy in school. 4% had a neutral opinion.

92% felt happy with the communication from school. 6% had a neutral opinion.

92% would recommend Sherdley to other parents/carers. 8% had a neutral opinion.

The same questions were asked of our Pre-school parents:

100% of parents/carers agreed that their children had settled in well at school.

100% of parents/carers said that their child felt safe in school.

96% felt that their child feels happy in school. 4% had a neutral opinion.

100% felt happy with the communication from school. 

100% would recommend Sherdley to other parents/carers. 

Thank you for the kind words that you also shared with us – we love having your children in our school.

Parents also commented on areas that you felt we may need to develop:

Nothing – thank you

Behaviour and some disruption – the introduction of instant motivational rewards such as ClassDojo has had a great impact in significantly reducing low-level disruption

Better communication – The introduction of the school app makes it a one-stop-shop for messages, calendar, forms, surveys, the website, letter etc

Additional challenge for higher ability children – I believe that with the new curriculum and the way that we deliver it at Sherdley that there is a great emphasis on challenge, this can also be seen in our assessment of children – Greater Depth standard for those who can be stretched and challenged.

If your child is struggling academically, you should be informed sooner than parents’ evenings – parents can come and speak to teachers at any point to enquire about how they are doing. We increased the number of parents evening from 2 to 4 per year. We also send home a termly Progress Report to help inform parents as to progress at the end of each term, against Age Related Expectations.

Disabled parking is a real issue – the staff car park does have allocated disabled spaces and I agree that it’s not ideal to have to open a gate to gain access. However, we need the gates to ensure the safety of our children. 

Better communication about the types of things/ways of learning – we have previously put on numerous workshops at different times of the day, and on most occassions they are very well attended. Further workshops will be put on during the next academic year and we are already planning for year group maths workshops and phonics sessions.

Family Learning Weeks that accomodate working parents – family learning events are a way that parents can engage with their children in school lessons. Unfortunately we need the children in school to be able to hold these and it is not feasible to hold these in an evening. We do however plan these well in advance and publish them onto the school calendar with the hope that parents can plan ahead.