How We Communicate
Our aim at The Greetland Academy is to offer appropriate channels of communication between home and school in order to tailor our communication to meet the wide range of family circumstances. All of our parents and families should have access to respectful, regular and considered communications. This includes lines of regular communication about all of your child’s achievements, progress, social and emotional development and general well-being whilst on their school journey with us.
Seesaw
Seesaw is our main means of communication with parents. It is designed to share and celebrate learning. It helps teachers to capture the learning process and provides parents with a window into the classroom so they can support learning at home. Every child has an individual account and we would like all parents to link to these to receive regular updates about progress and achievement plus class, year group and school news. There will be at least one ‘Principal’s Message’ per half-term. All letters to parents, excepting those requiring signed consent, will be posted on Seesaw. If a parent cannot access Seesaw they should inform the main school office.
Parents are asked not to use the comment facility on Seesaw to raise concerns. Teachers cannot be expected to read and respond to messages on Seesaw in the evenings or at weekends. To raise, discuss and resolve any concerns please email the school office.
Our Facebook page offer news and information, and celebrate achievements and events within school life.
Parents are asked not to use the comment facility on Facebook to raise concerns. This is not the purpose of our page. You can find our Facebook page here
Learning Launchpads
Created by all year group class teachers and published on Seesaw at the start of every half-term to inform parents and carers of the learning intentions of all the subjects being taught in that half-term plus key dates and useful reminders. These can also be accessed here
Our Parent Portal (Arbor)
This provides instant messages to parents and carers; to remind parents of upcoming events or inform them of any last minute changes to plans (including bad weather/emergency closure information). All parents can sign up to for free to our text messaging service.
Open Door Policy
All of our Academy class teachers are happy to meet with parents to discuss any issue or concern about children at a mutually convenient time (respecting teacher working expectations and well-being). Everyone benefits from a speedy resolution and suggestions for ways forward. If such a meeting does not result in a satisfactory solution, parents can arrange to meet with a member of the senior management team.
From parental feedback received, the best time to informally see your child’s class teacher is after the children have left for the day, from 3:15pm at Key Stage 1 and from 3:30pm at Key Stage 2.
Email contact with staff should only be via the Academy’s office email addresses: ks1@greetlandacademy.org.uk and ks2@greetlandacademy.org.uk . Both site’s reception offices can be contacted via 01422 372893.
Year Group Curriculum Showcase
Over the course of the year, each year group will hold a curriculum showcase, where they open up their classroom to parents and carers to share and celebrate their learning. The dates for these are set at the beginning of the academic year and shared with our families.
Written Reports
You will receive two written reports about your child. The end of autumn term report includes teacher comments about your child, information about their progress in English and Maths and their behaviour for learning. The final, end of year, report will give information about your child’s attainment in all curricular subjects and include teacher comments and information about their preparation for transition and future targets.
These reports provide an opportunity for your parent comments and pupil voice comments. These are collected in school, tracked and monitored by senior staff and any concerns expressed by you are fed into our monitoring processes.
Parents’ Evening
We hold two parents’ evenings across the year. The first is at the end of the first half term with the purpose being to discuss how well your child has settled into their new class. Before the Easter holidays, you will be invited in again to receive updates on attainment and progress to date and discuss next steps as your child moves into the final term.
Transition Events
These are used to communicate important information to aid a smooth transition for parents and children into and across our academy. These include Reception open-day events, ‘New Intake’ evenings, Key Stage 1 to 2 transition evenings, Yr4 & Yr6 residential evening meetings and SATS parent’s evenings. Invitations will be sent to you as parents. Feedback from parents is welcomed.
Parent Questionnaire
Parents are asked questions taken from Ofsted guidance on their evaluation of The Greetland Academy. Summary results are made available on our website with details of how we plan to develop areas highlighted by parents.