St Joseph's School - A Catholic Voluntary Academy

Senior Leader/Governor and Parent Coffee Mornings

Parent Ambassador Meetings

The Senior Leaders and Governors at St Joseph's are always looking for ways to improve our communication with parents and the wider community.

Our website contains a vast amount of information about the school. Class Dojo is a great way of communicating; updates are sent regularly to inform parents of news and events.

Starting from the autumn term of 2018, and based on feedback from parents, senior leaders and governors will host regular coffee mornings. The coffee morning aims to share important updates with parents and provide them with the opportunity to ask questions about what is happening in school.

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning 

22nd March 2024

 

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Mrs Robinson - Assistant Headteacher

Number of Parent Attendees: Four

Please click here to see the slides shared at our March Coffee Morning.

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning 

3rd November 2023

 

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Mrs Robinson - Assistant Headteacher

Number of Parent Attendees: Four

Please click here to see the slides shared at our October Coffee Morning

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning 

30th June 2023

 

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher

Number of Parent Attendees: Two

Please click here to see the slides shared at our June Coffee Morning

 

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning 

10th February 2023

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Mrs Robinson - Y2 Teacher and Assessment Lead 

 Governor Attendees:

  • Lindsey Shentnall
  • Catherine Sands
  • Foluke Emovon

Number of Parent Attendees: Four

 

Please click here to see the slides shared at our December Coffee Morning

Please click here for the minutes taken during the meeting

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning 

9th December 2022

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Mrs Courtney - Deputy Headteacher and Y3 Teacher
  • Mrs Robinson - Y2 Teacher and Assessment Lead 

 Governor Attendees:

  • Lindsey Shentnall
  • Catherine Sands

Number of Parent Attendees: Three

 

 

Please click here to see the slides shared at our December Coffee Morning

The minutes will be uploaded here when completed

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning 

14th October 2022

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Mrs Black - School Business Manager
  • Mrs Robinson - Y2 Teacher and Assessment Lead 

 Governor Attendees:

  • N/A

Number of Parent Attendees: Three

 

Please click here to see the slides shared at our October Coffee Morning

The minutes will be uploaded here when completed

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Mrs Black - School Business Manager

 Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governors

Number of Parent Attendees: Seven

 

Please click here to see the slides shared at our June Coffee Morning

Please click here to see the detailed minutes.

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning 

4th February 2022

 

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Mrs Black - School Business Manager

 Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governors

Number of Parent Attendees: Three

Please click here to see the slides shared at our February Coffee Morning

Please click here to see the detailed minutes.

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning 

3rd December 2021

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Mrs Black - School Business Manager

 Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governors

Number of Parent Attendees: Five

Please click here to see the slides shared at our December Coffee Morning

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning

15th October 2021

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Mrs Black - School Business Manager

 Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governors

Number of Parent Attendees: Six

Please click here to see the slides shared at our October Coffee Morning

The agenda items discussed (and described in detail in the minutes) were:

 

Covid-19 Update

Parents’ Questionnaire Feedback

Commando Joe Curriculum

 

Please click here to see the detailed minutes.

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Virtual Coffee Morning

Thursday 13th May 2021

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Miss Marsden - Assistant Headteacher 
  • Mrs Black - School Business Manager
  • Mrs Yates - Minutes

Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governor

Number of Parent Attendees:  Two

 

Please click here to see the slides shared at our May Virtual Coffee Morning

Please click here to see the Reading presentation and Information

Please click here to see the Wellbeing Curriculum + Mindfulness presentation and Information

 

The agenda items discussed (and described in detail in the minutes) were:

 

• MAT Update
• Reading
• Wellbeing Curriculum + 
Mindfulness

 

Please click here to see the detailed minutes.

 

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning

28th February 2020

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Miss Marsden - Assistant Headteacher 
  • Mrs Black - School Business Manager
  • Mrs Yates - Minutes

Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governor

Number of Parent Attendees:  Three

Please click here to see the slides shared at February Coffee Morning

Please click here to see the Stay and Pray Presentation and Information

The agenda items discussed (and described in detail in the minutes) were:

Staffing Changes from Spring 2

Lockdown Information

Stay and Pray Sessions

Please click here to see detailed minutes - including parent questions and SLT/Governor answers

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning

18th October 2019

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Miss Marsden - Assistant Headteacher 
  • Mrs Black - School Business Manager
  • Mrs Yates - Minutes

Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governor

Number of Parent Attendees:  Four

At the Parents Coffee Morning, we shared information about School Trip Contribution, Ofsted Inspection and Our New School Curriculum. 

Please click here to see the slides shared at October Coffee Morning

Please click here to see the Commando Joe Presentation and Information

The agenda items discussed (and described in detail in the minutes) were:

Feedback from our Summer OFSTED Inspection

Information about Voluntary Contributions for Trips

Commando Joe and Our New Curriculum

 

Please click here to see detailed minutes - including parent questions and SLT/Governor answers

As discussed in the minutes, please click here to see a list of the trips and activities the school has recently done, and a breakdown of the costs.

Notes From Summer Parent Ambassador Meeting

Thank you very much for your feedback and for attending the parent ambassador meeting. Your discussion has raised some very important points, and as a staff, we will use your feedback to improve our school. Please see the SLT and staffing responses to each area below in red.

Parent Questionnaire – This will be sent home in the end of year reports. We encourage parents to fill this in and send back to help us to develop our school further. This is an important way for parents to have their say. Ambassadors were given the chance to look through the questionnaires and we talked about the importance of parent voice and helping to shape the school and the children’s education. Parent ambassadors will push for these to be brought back into school once reports have been sent home.

Thank you for your responses. Most parents returned the questionnaires and the findings will be shared at the first parent’s coffee morning.

School library sessions – We have noticed a drop in attendance for the library sessions. Are there any ways we can try to encourage parents to attend this? 

It was suggested to change the time of the sessions to 15 minutes after-school as opposed to being before school. This might help parents who don’t have to rush off – or give alternate times so they are not always morning/ afternoon or the same day to help working parents be able to attend more. Another suggestion was that on the afternoon where each class has the after-school session; the class is in the library for their end of day reading session and parents collect the children from there – therefore encouraging parents to come in, read and loan books from the library. The end of day reading session could be opened up to be shared with parents as well.

This is something we will consider. The end of the day is a difficult time to staff the library as this is often when teachers will be meeting with parents.

Parent ambassador role – as we are coming to the end of the year, we would like to have a further recruitment drive for some more parent ambassadors. Ideally we would like 2 per class. Current ambassadors agree that it would be good to have some new people attending our meetings and helping out. Some parent ambassadors have some ideas about who might be good to help out and are going to have a chat with some parents. We also need to recruit ambassadors for the new F2 class; also, do we want to include F1 parents with this as well? Could a small slide about parent ambassadors be added to the parent transition sessions this Friday to try and get some more interest in the role? Mrs Bancroft will be taking over this in September, so could this be organised for before the first parent ambassador meeting in the autumn term?

The next parent’s ambassador meeting will be on Thursday 24th October. We will be recruiting new parent ambassadors prior to this. Please let us know if you are interested.

Children’s University– No parents attended the CU parent coffee morning, which was a real shame as this is going to have such a positive impact on the children. We have an assembly on Monday 15th July at 2.45pm and we are inviting parents to come along to this to find out more information. Ambassadors agree from the initial meeting that this is a great opportunity for the school; but share concerns about the time commitment of the role. They will encourage parents to come along to the assembly, and find out more information. Class teachers to send dojo messages out to remind parents to come along. Refreshments for parents to be available during the assembly.  

Antonia, from children’s university, is attending on Tuesday 15th October to have an assembly and discuss ways forward for CU. I feel it is confusing have ambassadors for the school and also ambassadors for CU. I will talk to Antonia about alternative ways of managing CU and will inform parents once this is decided.

Music Provision – This was brought up at the parent coffee morning – music instrument sessions will be taught to Y4/ Y5 in the coming year. One parent expressed concerns about children losing these skills if they don’t have the provision in Y6 and then not being able to carry on in secondary school. The parent understood the importance of it being a SATs year, but was concerned that skills might be lost in the space between the provision and secondary school. We did discuss the cost to the school for this provision being used, and the parent has requested some further information about private tuition sessions to understand more the impact of this on school budget.

After consultation with the governors and upper key stage 2 teachers, it was agreed that Y4 would be the best place for the music sessions to take place. We appreciate the comments made, and that this would not flow into secondary provision, but many schools are not offering this at secondary now. The idea is for children’s interest to be sparked early, and for them to continue learning their instrument privately from an early age if they would like to.

Dinners – Price increase from Sept; will this be reflected in improved choices and portions? Parents expressed concerns again around the choices given for dinners, and the portion control. Some children are reporting being hungry when coming home; the portions given for nursery and reception children were brought up especially – but this was then shared for the whole school. Parents wondered if there was a way to choose dinners with their children instead of them having the option there and then so parents can ensure the children have a variety. Can it also be made more explicit to children which is the veggie option as many are choosing this, but then not liking it. Parents also queried that children can switch between packed lunches and hot dinners on a daily basis – they wondered if parents should be giving notice that they are choosing packed lunches to help the dinners with their portion control and numbers.

This is constantly being reviewed by the school and we are working with Doncaster Council and their Lunch Service to achieve the highest possible standards for our children. The price is in line, or lower, than the other local schools we consulted with.

Next Parent Ambassador meeting to take place on Thursday 24th October at 2.30pm. There will be a recruitment for Parent Ambassadors before the next meeting. Thank you 

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning

21st June 2019

Senior Leader/School Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Miss Marsden - Assistant Headteacher
  • Mrs Robinson -  Acting Assistant Headteacher
  • Mrs Black - School Business Manager
  • Mrs Yates - Minutes

Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governor

Number of Parent Attendees:  Eight

At the Parents Coffee Morning, we shared information about E-Safety - led by the o2 Gurus. Please see our E-Safety Page to find out more.

Please click here to see the slides shared at June Coffee Morning

The agenda items discussed (and described in detail in the minutes) were:

Attendance

Staffing

Changes to music and lunches

Changes to our curriculum

Lockdown

External Visitors - O2 Gurus

Please click here to see detailed minutes - including parent questions and SLT/Governor answers

 

PARENT AMBASSADOR MEETING NOTES Summer Term 2019

Thank you very much for your feedback and for attending the parent ambassador meeting. Your discussion has raised some very important points, and as a staff, we will use your feedback to improve our school.

 

Children’s University talk This is a new initiative which is running for all children Y1+ in school; F2 will be joining in the summer term on a yearly basis. Talk from Antonia who is from the Children’s University. We need 4 parent ambassadors to support the running of Children’s University at St Josephs. Information is on the school app and website, as well as posters around the school for this. Parents will receive benefits and incentives for becoming an ambassador. Interested parents to express their interest to the staff in the school office by Wednesday 22nd May. Parents will then be invited to a coffee morning on Friday 7th June at 9am. The posters are around school, on the school website and app. This is a great opportunity for parents to get involved, not just with St Joseph’s, but in the local community as well. We look forward to hearing from you.

 

100% attendanceSome parents have raised concerns about the non-uniform day for the children who got 100% attendance in the spring 2 term. Parent ambassadors noted that there were some parents who were unhappy with this and felt that it singled children out. This was brought about from parents who had asked at the Parent, Governor and SLT coffee morning for further incentives for the children who got 100% throughout the year; rather than just waiting for the pizza hut trip after the summer term. Staff have been asked about this and all staff across school reported that no child was upset in class or felt left out. Staff felt that children handled this as any other day and reported no concerns at all. At the most recent house meeting, the children were asked to feedback on this and the vast majority said they felt it was a good reward and looked forward to aiming for it again. The impact of this on attendance has been a great improvement. We had more children achieving 100% attendance in this term, than in previous terms, and also our whole school attendance has risen to higher than it has been in recent years, and is now above national standards. We will look into a further incentive for children who receive 100% in the summer term. If any parents have any suggestions about how to promote this without the use of a non-uniform day, then please speak with your child’s class teacher, or pop a suggestion in our school suggestion box located in the school office.

 

PyjamaramaMiss Rodgers spoke about the pyjamarama day which St Joseph’s will be hosting on the 7th June – parents, staff and children to come to school in their pyjamas to raise money for literacy and reading help for refugees. A great project to be a part of, and we look forward to joining in.

 

Suggestion Box suggestions

  • Breakfast club to begin at 7.30am – This has been looked into by Mrs Black and Mrs Kelly. Although we would like to be able to offer additional hours to support our parents further, when parents have been questioned about how many would use this facility, it would not be financially viable to open breakfast club earlier. This would mean that we would have to pay the staff who run breakfast club additional hours, which would impact on the cost of breakfast club for our families. We would also have to increase the cost of breakfast club significantly to cover the costs of this. This is something we will keep in mind and look at again in the future. Thank you for your suggestion.
  • Recording of school events ie. Cheerleading performance for the website– This is a great suggestion, and something we are looking into. However, as you know safeguarding is a huge part of school-life, and there are some children in school who cannot be in pictures or videos on our website. This is a decision made by each parent and school cannot go against their wishes. Where possible, we will try to record events and add them to the website, but unfortunately, if a non-photo child is a part of the performance then we will be unable to do so. Thank you for your suggestion.

 

 

Transition – Parent ambassadors noted that some parents have been a little worried about the transition into the new year with there being some staffing changes in September. Parents do not need to worry; staff have been appointed to cover the teachers who are leaving in the summer term and transition activities will be taking place as normal. Information regarding staffing will be shared with parents at the next coffee morning, and then shared on the app and newsletter following this meeting. This time we are also adding on a ‘Meet the teacher’ for parents; parents will be invited into school to come and meet your child’s new class teacher. This will be taking place for all teachers - existing and new and will be an opportunity to find out information about expectations for the coming year. Staffing News for next year will be announced at the next parent coffee morning with Governors and SLT which is taking place on Friday 21st June at 9am. All parents are invited to come along to this to find out further information.

 

The next Parent Ambassador meeting will take place on Monday 8th July at 2.30pm. Please can parent ambassadors let either your class teacher, or the school office know if you are unable to attend. At this meeting, Miss Rodgers and Mrs Robinson will be joined by Mrs Bancroft who will be taking over as our Parent Ambassador Rep from September 2019. 

 

Parents' Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning

5th April 2019

Senior Leader Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Miss Marsden - Assistant Headteacher
  • Mrs Robinson -  Acting Assistant Headteacher
  • Mrs Black - School Business Manager

Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governor 
  • Angela Higginson - Foundation Governor

 

Number of Parent Attendees:  One

 

At the Parents Coffee Morning, we shared information about our current attendance and the introduction of the safer schools app - details about the safer schools app can be found by clicking here

Please click here to see the slides shared at April Coffee Morning

 

Please see details of the April meeting below...

 SCHOOL PHOTOS

 

Mrs Black spoke to the parent and the governors about a new photo company and the reasons why we are going to trial this company.

In the past our school photographs have been taken by Tempest Photography, who are an excellent photography company but are getting expensive. We have looked at other companies and we have decided to try The School Photography Company.  They offer a wide choice of photograph packs and an excellent value package for £10.50.  The School Photograph Company will be taking the individual and family photos in October.   If parents do not like the photographs we can easily go back to Tempest. 

ATTENDANCE

Mrs Kelly discussed the facts on the slides. 

SAFER SCHOOLS APP

Mrs Kelly showed the parents and governors what the app could be used for and how to log on. Please see the slides or the link on the school website for further information.

 

 

PARENT QUESTIONS

There were no parent questions

 

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE:

 

Date of the next coffee morning: – 21st June 2019 – 9am

 

At this meeting, we will be discussing staffing for the 2019/2020 academic year and updates for the new year.

 

 

 

PARENT AMBASSADOR MEETING NOTES Spring Term 2019

 

Thank you very much for your feedback and for attending the parent ambassador meeting. Your discussion has raised some very important points, and as a staff, we will use your feedback to improve our school. Please see the SLT and staffing responses to each area below in red.

 

Bug club KS2 – This has now been cancelled for KS2. However, for the moment this is being carried on with KS1 and FS2. Parents have noticed that the SPaG KS2 element is still available – is this being cancelled?  This has not been renewed for this year so may stop working soon.

 

School dinners – KS2 parents have said that they are choosing packed lunches more because of the social element – with dinner and sandwiches children being split up – this is set to change and it will become more fluid. KS1 children are coming home hungry and parents are concerned about the amount of food – and how much they are expected to eat. Some parents report that the choices of food means that their children won’t have school dinners – for example having 2 pasta options – not all children like pasta. Parents have asked for jugs of water to be made available for packed lunch children for anyone who has forgotten to pack a drink. Parents wondered why ‘rubbish’ from packed lunches was put back in bags and not in the bin – this was explained so that parents can see how much of their child’s dinner has been eaten. That is correct – it is to ensure parents see how much is eaten and so half eaten food isn’t disposed of without us or parents monitoring. We can monitor dinners as these are on trays. Mrs Black is focusing on lunchtimes, portion sizes, and how they are managed. 

 

Parent pay – parents find this a lot more convenient, though they do find it difficult to keep track of what they have paid – is there a way they can see a history of payments?  When a parent makes a payment on ParentPay they will receive an email.  On their ParentPay account there is an option to view all payments.

 

Parents Evening– Parents report that they find the feedback forms really useful in knowing what next steps to support their children, and also sharing with other family members. Some parents have mentioned that they have passed them onto external tutors. With parents evening, some parents struggled to hear the class teacher due to a lot of children running around and making noise, and also the acoustics of the hall. Could there be an entertainment station for the children to stop them from running around? As there would be no staff to monitor this, it may cause more issues to have this as a base. This mainly seems an issue between 3.30pm and 4.30pm, when children are leaving school and with parents. As SLT, we will monitor the busy times more closely, asking children to not run around. I will also prepare signs asking for parents to stay with, and monitor, their children.

 

Could the final comment be changed to a ‘general comment’ rather than ‘other curriculum area’ as a lot of parents are getting a list of topics taught and they would prefer to know how they are working in class more. Parents agree with the system of giving out times and are thankful to staff who see them outside of parents evening times if they cannot make it. They feel enough notice is given. This seems like a good addition and something we can implement.

 

Maths workshopParents feel this would go down really well and would really like this. They wondered if a consent form could be added to the newsletter for parents to sign up – and could there be an after-school one for working parents. They felt this would be really beneficial in KS2, KS1 parents also felt this would support them as well.  I will speak with our Maths lead, Mr Storey, to arrange this. I would also like to build in a maths open morning for parents in the summer term.

 

McAuleyThere has been a mixed response from parents on the playground about the start times from McAuley. McAuley have now confirmed the changes.

 

PEParents wondered whether Y4 could start to change for PE in separate places for girls and boys. This is currently done in Y5 and Y6, but parents have been asked to raise the question for Y4 children as well. This has been actioned by Mr Storey in Y4.

 

Next Parent Ambassador meeting to take place on Friday 10th May at 2.30pm. Please can parent ambassadors confirm their attendance either via dojo, or through the school office. Thank you.

Parents, Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning - 8th February 2019

Please click here to see the slides shared at February Coffee Morning

Senior Leader Attendees:

  • Mrs Kelly - Headteacher
  • Miss Marsden - Assistant Headteacher
  • Mrs Robinson -  Acting Assistant Headteacher
  • Mrs Black - School Business Manager
  • Mrs Yates - Admin - Minutes

Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governor 

 

Number of Parent Attendees:  Thirteen

 

 At the Parents Coffee Morning, we discussed changes and new

initiatives at St Joseph's in the Spring 2 Half Term

Please see details of the February meeting below...

 

Mr Cape (school governor) welcomed the group to our third parent coffee morning, he invited the parents to share their views and to ask questions. He noted that the group of parents attending had increased and hopefully more parents will be encouraged to attend the future meetings. 

ATTENDANCE

Currently in school we are having a big drive on promoting good attendance. As a collaborative group Tickhill, Finningley and Rossington areas decided to invest community monies to have the Education Welfare Officer (EWO) present in schools.   Our EWO, Julie Vaughan, is present in school for half a day each week to support us, we were one of the schools targeted as requiring the EWO. Yesterday, Julie Vaughan and Mrs Black met with a group of our Y6 children whose attendance is low either due to sickness or other reasons. They talked with the children about the importance of attending school, their thoughts on school and how they feel about transferring to secondary school. Julie was also present on Parents’ Evening and spoke to a number of parents on the day regarding their child’s attendance.

 

Termly Attendance Reward

At the previous coffee morning a parent suggestion was to have a termly attendance reward for good attendance. A child who is absent from school for a day will have already lost the chance to achieve the end of year reward to Pizza Hut, this then gives children no incentive to achieve good attendance throughout the rest of the year.

As a result of this, we have decided to introduce a termly end of term reward to those children who achieve 100% attendance and arrive every day on time during that term. As the school budgets are limited the reward would be an afternoon non-uniform party with treats such as popcorn, drinks and a film in the school hall.The overall attendance for our school is improving - it is the first time since 2012 that we have achieved attendance above 96%, achieving 96.2% during autumn term. Over the last academic year ,2017/2018, our overall attendance was at 95.4%. Mrs Kelly asked the group if they had any questions/feedback – none declared.

SCHOOL HOLIDAY PATTERNS 2019/2020

At the last coffee morning, due to Easter falling late in 2020, we discussed the 3 options of school holiday patterns for the academic year 2019/2020. We are unable to follow the same holiday pattern as Rossington All Saints school as they are not in school during Holy week and the bishop requests that we are in school during this time. The confirmed holiday dates will be published on the school website with a notice to parents via the school app.

We have decided to choose Option 3 which is one week at Easter, a 6-week summer holiday and an extra week added to the February or May half term, May half term being the agreed choice.

The McAuley School have decided to implement Option 1, a 7-week summer half term holiday.   As discussed with parents and governors, we do not feel that by following the same pattern of a 7-week holiday how it would be beneficial for our children.

A parent asked – are these holiday dates now set in stone

Mrs Kelly – Yes, these are the confirmed 2019/2020 dates.

If parents do have any questions or concerns after this meeting, please contact me to discuss further

SAFER INTERNET WEEK

This week in school is safer internet week. There are increased online incidents being brought to our attention such as children falling out when playing online games, accessing sites that are aimed and marketed for young children however the intentions of others accessing the sites are not pure. Online safety information for parents can be accessed via the school website under E-Safety and Anti-Bullying, there are useful links that can be accessed for more information on online games and apps. If you do have any questions and/or require information, please do ask school.

OPENING OF THE SCHOOL LIBRARY

Miss Marsden –

The Doncaster Library Service have kindly been working with our school to re-vamp our existing school library. We have reviewed the existing books and disposed of any inappropriate books, dated, old/tatty books, and invested in additional books and reading materials to push our children’s reading engagement. The grand opening of the library is this Tuesday 12th February.

We have organised the library into 3 colour sections:

  • Brown – early chapter readers Y2/Y3
  • Blue – more confident readers
  • Grey – very confident readers

It is a real skill to choose the correct book, by choosing the wrong book children can easily become disengaged with their reading. Children will be issued with a home reading age appropriate book just as before, these encourage decoding and confidence, however they can be repetitive. Children in addition to their home reading books may choose a book from the library to take home and read with their parents. Once the library is officially launched the library will be accessed by classes on a 2-week rota basis, this will be published on the school website. Parents can join us to sit and read with their children (siblings are welcome). We have cosy cushions, rugs and fairy lights to create an inviting space.

 

The ladies from the Doncaster Library Service will be with us for 2 days next week. Each class will visit them in the library from nursery class to Y6, where they will be read a story – as the ladies are new in school the children should find this exciting and will listen to their story. We also have damaged ripped/chewed/stained books to share with our children to promote the importance of looking after our books and the costs to buy them.

School Governor – How will the loan of the library books be tracked?

There will be a loan system where each class will have a signing in/out sheet to track the books, the class teachers will control this.The library will also be open at lunch times, I am recruiting children to be school librarians.

In addition to the revamped library our school also won a Tesco bid of £1000 – this has been used to create an outdoor reading space with mushroom stool seats, a large reading throne/chair, plants, outdoor book storage. Once we have warmer weather, I’m sure that the children will really enjoy this! As a school we are really trying to drive reading forward, also in response to the suggestions made in the Parent Questionnaire.

PARENT QUESTIONS

Are children who bring a packed lunch to school offered a drink with their lunch?

Mrs Kelly - It is not the usual practise for us to offer drinks as usually a drink is provided with the children’s packed lunch. There are plenty of water jugs available in the dining area, the children on packed lunches are very welcome to have a cup of water.  

How much time are the children given to eat their lunch?

Mrs Black - Lunch time begins at 11:30 with our nursery children, 11:45 reception class, and 12:00 until 13:00 for the other years. Generally, the time allocated works well – some children do need moving along if they are chatting and not eating, or particularly in the colder months some children eat slowly as they do not want to go outside. 

 

My children who are both on packed lunches often come home after school having not eaten all their lunch, when asked they say that it is because they haven’t been given enough time to eat.

Mrs Black – this was raised earlier in the week by a parent, therefore I have spent time in the dining hall monitoring lunches, and I have spoken to the lunch time staff to ensure that the children are given time to eat all their lunch.

My child has said that they are regularly queuing for packed lunches and then only given a short amount of time to eat.

Mrs Black will continue to monitor lunches. Some children do rush at lunch eager to play outside, I have also seen children close their lunch boxes and finish because their friend/s have finished. We have spoken with lunchtime staff and encouraged them to keep a look out for this, and encourage children to finish their meals before going outside.

Mrs Kelly – If you do notice that your child is bringing home left over packed lunch, or if you have any specific concerns, we can offer support in checking your child’s lunch box after eating etc. Please talk to school and we will help you in any way that we can. Hot lunches are more monitored, the younger children do put their hand up to ask if they can eat their pudding this enables us to check how much lunch they have eaten, we will encourage the children to eat more lunch if they have eaten very little. Packed lunches are more trusted.

Are the children’s weekly spellings explained to them – my child doesn’t understand their spellings?   

Miss Marsden – On day 1 when the spellings are given to the children the meaning of the words should be explained to them. Knowing the meaning of a spelling is key to a child retaining the word and applying it in their work.   In September we launched a new spelling scheme, where children apply the spellings into a written sentence rather than completing a single word spelling test only. Children are also awarded marks for their understanding, sounding of the words, and punctuation. It can be demoralising for a child to receive a score out of 10. One of my tasks next week is to monitor spellings therefore, I will review what is happening across the classes.

Mrs Kelly announced that Mrs Courtney had her baby this week, a healthy baby boy both mum and baby are doing well.

Mrs Kelly asked the group if anyone had any further questions – none declared.

Mrs Kelly closed the meeting.

   

PARENT AMBASSADOR MEETING NOTES 4th December 2018

Thank you very much for your feedback and for attending the parent ambassador meeting. Your discussion has raised some very important points, and as an SLT, we will use your feedback to improve our school. Please see the SLT responses to each area below in red.

Communication from school (app/ website)- parents find the weekly reminders useful, app and website are useful for checking calendars, some classes send reminder dojos from teachers which parents find really useful as well.  We are glad to hear that the parents find the app useful. We will encourage class teachers to send reminders about their class events via dojo and try and make this more consistent.

Parent communication Ambassadors feel the role will help support parents to communicate more with school, suggestion of an anonymous parent suggestion box if parents do not want to be named and talk about their concerns/ issues, parents who discuss anything with parent ambassadors will not be named during meetings if they do not wish to be.

A box sounds like a good idea and this can be stored in the office. Parents can send any concerns in an envelope, marked ‘Parent Ambassador Meeting.’

Homework parents find the amount of homework unmanageable sometimes, some parents not aware that the topic homework is voluntary, suggestion of reducing amount of homework for classes. KS2 parents can struggle with terminology/ methods used to support their children with homework. Could a parent workshop be put on to explain this to parents so they can help more at home. Bug club grammar a really useful tool for Y1+ - videos and explanations help parents with their subject knowledge. Some parents not sure whether homework tasks set are appropriate for their children.

All of the homework set is based on class work, and this is age appropriate. Homework tasks are checked regularly by SLT. We have offered several workshops before, which have been very poorly attended – often no parents have attended. We can consider running these again if parents feel they are useful and will attend.

Workshops/ coffee mornings – low parent turn-out for amount of work that staff put into theseCould these be after-school or at 3pm to try and encourage more parents to come along? Parent ambassadors to take on a role of encouraging more parents to attend events in school.

Different times can be trialled for these, although when we have tried after school events before, staff have stayed, but no parents have attended. There was a better turn out at the last one and we will continue to monitor the attendance at these events.

Bug Club – Not a lot of usage, especially in KS2some parents not aware of how this is used properly. Could a parent workshop be put on for this to explain the benefits? Could classes do a bug club morning session for parents on a rota – F2 one week, then Y1, then Y2 and so on – parents can come into class and work on bug club reading/ grammar with their children and staff can model how it is used? Parents to explain ‘use it or lose it’ for bug club, as this costs the school a significant amount of money, but is not used to its full potential.

We have a new lead teacher for Bug Club – Mrs Wallhead. She is going to be planning activities to support children and parents when using Bug Club. Please look out for events in the newsletter.

ReadingHave a reading morning session for each class on a rota (as bug club above). Parent invited into class to read with their children, F2 to have more ‘reading’ books during their reading session so children can read to their parents, as well as parents reading to their children. Parent ambassadors to ask for parent volunteers for reading with children in school.

Miss Marsden has been working closely with the Doncaster Library team to revamp and reopen our school library. As part of a ‘family reading project’ we are part of, it is planned that parents will be invited into school to read with their children in the library. Details of this will be shared in the newsletter and via the app.

 

Next Parent Ambassador meeting to take place on Friday 1st February at 2.45pm. Please can parent ambassadors confirm their attendance either via dojo, or through the school office. Thank you.

Parents, Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning - 14th December 2018

Please click here to see the slides shared at December's Coffee Morning

Senior Leader Attendees:

  • Natalie Kelly - Headteacher
  • Marianne Courtney -  Deputy Head
  • Phillippa Robinson -  Reception Teacher & Pupil Premium Co-ordinator
  • Tina Black - School Business Manager

Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governor
  • Donna Clark - Parent Governor
  • Kimberly Taylor - Parent Governor
  • Angela Higginson - Foundation Governor

Other Attendees:

  • Julie Vaughn - Education Welfare Officer DMBC

 

Number of Parent Attendees:  Nine

 

 At the Parents Coffee Morning, we discussed changes and new

initiatives at St Joseph's in the Spring Term

Please see details of the December meeting below...

 

 

 

John Cape welcomed the group to our second parent coffee morning, stating how pleased he was to see more parents in attendance at this session – the school very much welcomes parent involvement, to share ideas and thoughts on school matters.

 

Mrs Kelly - School Emergency Planning, Invacuation and Lockdown Procedures Presentation

One of the first main focuses in Spring Term 1 will be to finalise the procedures, and to put them into practice with our staff and children. A lockdown is a situation where staff and pupils are not able to enter or vacate the school premises due to an internal/external emergency threat. An invacuation is to contain both staff and pupils within the school in the event of an emergency or a dangerous situation.

Alongside the ‘Prevent’ agenda, our school is required to have policies and procedures in place, to prepare our children for a crisis without frightening them.   This involves assessing our school building and considering the risks – glass windows, locks, areas of safety where we can move the children etc, and in line with the local authority’s advice.

 

Why do we have to plan this?

A moral responsibility to staff, pupils and parents

We have a statutory duty under the Health and Safety legislation

It saves time when in crisis and may speed recovery

We have a duty of care to our staff and pupils

 

Considerations

Mrs Black has very recently attended an emergency planning training course. We will be holding assemblies with children at their age level - there are also children’s books available that puts this in good context.

 

We will be keeping parents up to date. Mrs Black shared that she was confident that we have everything covered in the procedures, and once finalised, they will be available to view on the school website. We will then be rolling them out to our staff and children. One parent asked about covering windows and if this was a consideration. Mrs Black responded to say - Yes, covering glass windows is one of the considerations as well as many other simple things such as rubber door stops preventing doors from opening, playing games with the children to keep them quiet, always with the aim being not to frighten the children.

Mrs Kelly explained - We will be practising scenarios with the children such as an accident on the railway, or a chemical spillage. We are putting in place air horns around the school to use as an alert to children and staff, making it clear that this is the alert for an invacuate situation, differing to a fire alarm/evacuation.   We will continue to practice on an annual basis. 

The Police are promoting to children the message ‘Run – Hide - Tell’ as part of the county terrorism policing. This will be shared and explained to our children.

Mrs Kelly asked the group for any questions/comments – none declared.

Mrs Kelly added that if parents have any future questions or concerns to please approach her to discuss.

 

Attendance

Mrs Kelly shared a presentation on  current attendance figures and 2017/2018 data for St Joseph’s School. The data highlights that 52% of our children have already taken a whole week off school during the Autumn term. Children with attendance below 90% are classed as persistent absentees; anything below 85% is extremely concerning. Families around this level are already being supported. these The focus moving forward will be on the children with sporadic absences in addition to fixed term absences such as unauthorised holidays.   Mrs Kelly explained that we are to continue focusing on the positive approaches already in place: the attendance awards, and the annual trip to Pizza Hut, however, these have not had a great impact on our children’s attendance overall. Doncaster as an area has a very low attendance rate compared to the national rates, therefore, it is not only an issue for our school but also our neighbouring schools.

Introduction Julie Vaughan Education Welfare Officer Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council.

Julie Vaughn (EWO) is working closely with schools across Doncaster on both whole school approaches and with individuals, in a bid to increase school attendance in Doncaster. Julie is allocated to our school for 2 hours each week. She will be supporting us with our attendance processes and procedures. During the Spring Term, letters will be sent home to parents to highlight children’s attendance if below 95%. Poor attendance is not only missed learning, it can also create social issues causing children to feel unhappy and lost when they have missed sessions, as they cannot follow the work.

Educational Penalty Notice Presentation

Julie clarified that the children with a genuine illness will not be penalised, and that support will be given to parents and families before it ever reaches the EPN stage.

Parent – Some parents may need parenting support.

There are Agencies who we can refer to that can offer parenting support, e.g. working with parents who have problems getting their child up and out of bed in a morning etc. support will be offered before any action is taken.

 

 

Parent – Is the Educational Penalty Notice a National initiative?

Mrs Kelly - We are unsure if this is National, however, it is for the whole of Doncaster as implemented by the local authority.

 

Parent – If a child goes home unwell in an afternoon, is this an authorised absence?

 Mrs Kelly - Yes this is authorised as are all illnesses, however, it does affect the child’s overall attendance.

 

Parent – my child had only one morning off all year due to a medical appointment and missed out on the 100% attendance reward trip to Pizza Hut.

Mrs Kelly - The 100% attendance award can only be granted to those children with a full years 100% attendance; medical appointments and illness can not be included. We do have weekly 100% attendance rewards.

Parent – It would be a good idea to introduce a termly goal/reward. If a child has already missed a day due to illness this doesn’t give them any incentive for the rest of the year, as they can no longer win the Pizza Hut Trip reward.

Mrs Courtney  added that the House Team Captains held a meeting last week, and attendance rewards were raised by the older children.

Mrs Kelly stated that we wouldn’t be able to increase the number of Pizza Hut trips, however we could look at introducing termly rewards such as extra play time.

School Holiday Dates

Mrs Kelly shared with the group three possible holiday patterns for 2020

Option 1 - one week at Easter and a 7-week summer holiday breaking up on the 10th July 2020,

Option 2 - two weeks at Easter and a 6-week summer holiday breaking up on the 17th July 2020,

Option 3 - one week at Easter, a 6-week summer holiday and an extra week added to the February or May half term.

Mrs Kelly stated how schools in our area are following different holiday patterns – in 2019 there are 3 different Easter holiday patterns for schools in our area, with holiday patterns differing again in 2020.   As a Catholic school, we will always endeavour to follow the Bishop’s recommendations at Easter which is that we are in school during Holy Week, closing for Good Friday.  

 

A few of the parents stated that they thought 7 weeks was too long.

Parent - breaking up on the 10th July would have it’s benefits as holiday prices would be cheaper. 

Mrs Kelly explained Scotland and Ireland do already break up earlier than schools in England therefore holidays are still at peak prices, however, they may be a little cheaper. Mrs Dodd asked - Is attendance low during winter? Maybe the option for an extra week at February would be a good idea to improve the attendance, also closing the school for an extra week during the winter would reduce school energy/heating costs.

Parent - Could the 7-week summer holiday begin later with school closed for the first week in September, as I personally like to take holidays in September.

Mrs Kelly - All holidays patterns must be taken before the 31st August.

Mr Cape - stated that a 7-week holiday is not within the best interest of the child, as it is far too long.

Mrs Kelly - We also must consider the financial impact on families of a 7-week holiday, and parents who require child care.   We will also consider The McAuley School and Rossington All Saints holiday patterns as we have families with children in both schools.

 

Parent – Are other religious holidays and festivals approved by school?

Mrs Kelly -  Yes other religious festivals/holidays and weddings can be approved, they are considered on an individual basis and submitted to the board of Governors for approval – the policy is available to view online via our school website.

 

 

 

 

Parents, Senior Leaders and Governor Coffee Morning - 12th October 2018

Please click here to see the slides shared at the October Coffee Morning

Please click here to see the Maths Mastery Presentation Slides

Senior Leader Attendees:

  • Natalie Kelly - Headteacher
  • Marianne Courtney -  Deputy Head
  • Matthew Storey - Y4 Teacher & Maths Co-ordinator,
  • Phillippa Robinson -  Reception Teacher & Pupil Premium Co-ordinator

Governor Attendees:

  •  John Cape - Chair of Governors
  • Eileen Dodd - Vice Chair of Governor
  • Donna Clark - Parent Governor
  • Kimberly Taylor - Parent Governor

 

Number of Parent Attendees:  One

 

 At the Parents Coffee Morning, we discussed changes and new

initiatives at St Joseph's in the Autumn Term

Please see details of the autumn meeting below...

Handwriting and Spelling

Throughout school we are using a new cursive style handwriting; it is a national curriculum requirement that handwriting must be written in cursive to achieve expected.  As a school we are really trying to promote this. The new Mastery scheme will help more children meet the national curriculum’s requirements. The spelling and handwriting scheme was developed by Miss Marsden, our Y6 Teacher and Literacy Co-ordinator - every child from Y1 through to Y6 will be following this.

Each child is taught their age/year group appropriate level spellings based on the National Curriculum Requirements.  For children who struggle with the work, an additional booster sessions will be held.

 

Maths

Mr Storey spoke about Maths Mastery - from the perspective of Maths Mastery Leader

During the summer term we began trialling the new Maths Mastery approach.  In the British culture, it is usual and common for parents and children to say ‘I can’t do maths’ ‘I’m rubbish at maths’.  In school we believe that every child can be successful in maths; this is the Mastery belief.

It was shared that - "Parents are sometimes baffled by the homework as they have not done some of the methods before."

Mr Storey explained - The Maths Mastery approach takes maths back to its roots, promoting the use of objects for children to relate to and see to give them a sense of numbers, place value and to problem solve this helps to ensure that they are not thrown from the start.   The approach is for children to think about what the numbers represent through teaching and practical work using concrete materials such as counters and cubes to explore.   Maths meetings are carried out to discuss what has been learnt and the understanding of this – the sessions are short and pacey, and overall, are enjoyed by the children.

It was asked - "How long have you been using the new approach?"

Mr Storey explained - This was trialled in areas during the summer term and is now used throughout school from autumn term, only elements are used in Reception Class.

It was asked - "Is the Big Maths Beat That part of this?"

My Storey explained -  This does run separate from the Mastery scheme, but will be used throughout Mastery in applying and using the new skills. The skills are used in many areas.

In Y4 next year, a new statutory times table test will be taking place. Times tables have a massive impact on learning - area, perimeter, and fractions are all related to times tables.   

The new Maths Mastery is also a massive change for teachers, it has taken many hours of planning and pulling elements to pieces as the teaching is so different to what we have known before and to how we were taught and trained.  The mastery elements and methods may appear to be a long way round for teaching, but it does give a fuller understanding.

 

 

Literacy

Mrs Courtney spoke about the new Mastery English - from the perspective of a class teacher.

We began the Literacy Mastery in September, the approach uses one book/text per term which forms the whole basis of our literacy lessons. The aim is to use a high quality book with the right language as the main focus. For example, in Y6, their literacy work is all based around the text, War Horse. In Y2 their text is about a whale and Green Peace. This approach gives children a purpose for writing and helps them to use their imagination for example in writing newspapers, letters, and poems. 

The children use the ideas and language from the book, for example in Y2, writing has included language such as ‘shrimp like creatures’ and ‘migratory.’ Their language and spellings have really improved! They have been producing letters to the book character using 6/7 sentences which at Y2 stage is great! The books/texts are carefully chosen by school however, the choices are books/texts selected by the mastery scheme - the future aim is that schools will have more ownership over the book/text choices.   This approach has been extremely positive throughout school in engaging children, and their enjoyment of writing.  

A literacy role model is chosen from each class where an example of their work is chosen, framed and displayed outside the classroom – each child is trying really hard to achieve this, we are 6 weeks into the scheme and it is going really well.

 

 

Parent Questionnaire Feedback/Changes to Daily Timetable

The removal of the afternoon playtime was a big feature in the questionnaires that were done before the summer. The results of these can be seen on our website. Unfortunately, the number of questionnaires returned was very low. The removal of the afternoon playtime has had no negative impact throughout school at all and went well from the offset.  A number of activities have been included during the afternoon school sessions, and there is more flexibility for longer afternoon sessions including PE. A reading slot has been added to the end of the day which is a fun/relaxing time, and feedback from the children has shown that they really enjoy this time.  We have been awarded £1000 from Tesco which is to be used for setting up a reading area also for lunchtime use.   

Other activities include ‘Brain Gym’ which the children love! Children have participated in reflection, meditation and mindfulness sessions, they have been writing prayer journals. The ‘Daily Mile’ has been introduced where each class uses the newly installed outdoor track to complete their daily mile at least twice a week, the children are also given the additional opportunity to use the trim trail outdoor equipment.   School will be purchasing a class half set of scooters to incorporate into the daily mile. Photos of the activities can be seen on the news extras below.

 

Parents’ Questions

Is there a SIP (School Improvement Partner)?

Mrs Kelly answered this Question – We have three people acting as SIPs.

  1. Our school is part of the Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) called the Hallam School’s Partnership Academy Trust. The MAT has a CEO (chief executive officer). The CEO visits our schools and carries out some aspects of school improvement works. The CEO visited our school yesterday and gave objectives to work towards.
  2. We also have visits from Jamie Kilner who is an Ofsted inspector. Mr Kilner carries out school reviews for us, based on OFSTED statements and outcomes. His reports are shared with governors and staff.
  3. Brian Beale is our Doncaster Local Authority STEP partner (Standard and Effectiveness Partnership). He will visit this term to look at our data and assessments. In the spring term the focus is on teaching and learning. In the summer term the focus will be leadership.

 

How is the funding for Pupil Premium used?

The funding is used in a wide variety of ways. The pupil premium plans can be viewed on the St Joseph’s school website.   Our school receives a large amount of funding for our pupil premium children, and we must evidence how the funding is used effectively for those children’s needs.   A large proportion of the funding is used for TA (teaching assistant) support - they carry out extra booster sessions and these are evidenced through the pupil’s ‘Intervention Book.’ 

Other children  also access these booster sessions and there are still a range of interventions and boosters throughout school to ensure all children are accessing and progressing learning at the best pace they can.

As a school, we are driving an initiative to improve pupil premium children’s attendance as it is significantly below average, which in turn has a huge impact on their learning. As a school, we have interventions in place to bridge the gaps however, they can only be accessed if the children attend school. Mrs Robinson is our Pupil Premium lead teacher, who is leading and monitoring this, with a £10 incentive per term per pupil premium pupil whose attendance meets 97% and above.  Other children in school are not penalised to allow for the extra pupil premium resources as they are allocated a specific pot of money to allow for this.

Does the school still largely use Bug Club?

The use of Bug Club varies from class to class, however, the parents and children who would benefit from using Bug Club more do not generally access it.  We have subscribed to Bug Club for this year, however, we will review this with parents/children, and carry out a questionnaire to decide whether to renew again the following year. We may use the funding to invest elsewhere such as for better books in school etc.

 

 

Questions from Governors to Parents

Why is it that despite organising sessions like today’s coffee morning, which has been really informative and very interesting, why are parents not attending? It appears that the school is making great efforts to engage with parents through regular parent information sessions, also having a superb App for communication and yet there seems to be little interest or involvement from parents – with only one parent other than the parent governors attending today.  Why do we think this is?

It was unclear why parents do not attend events like this

Mrs Robinson suggested appointing parent ambassadors for each class. It was agreed that this sounded like a great idea, and the senior leaders are going to action this.

How can we improve parent engagement ?

Are parents reading the Newsletters/App information/notifications?

We need to generate a greater interest with our parents as these sessions are a fantastic opportunity to help parents understand, what’s happening in school and why we do things.

Do you have any ideas how we can improve communication between parents and school? Please email us: admin@st-josephs.doncaster.sch.uk