Our links with home are crucial

Home and school together combine to provide the very best for every child. Each year parents can expect:

• A curriculum booklet, containing information about what your child will be studying over the course of the year. This includes details of authors and genres that will be studied in literacy, the focus and progression in Maths and the topics that will be covered in Science, Computing, History, Geography, Art, PE, Design and Technology, PSHE, Religious Education, Music and Spanish.
• Three Parents’ Evenings (individual meetings with your child’s teacher) in the Autumn, Spring and Summer terms.
• An annual written report on your child’s progress
• A fortnightly copy of the Patten Pages – a newsletter to parents and children containing reports on some of the fantastic activities that children have enjoyed (such as workshops, trips, competitions, special celebrations etc.), an update on future events, birthday greetings and the Headteacher’s letter.
• Reminders, updates and notices about specific events will be emailed to parents.
• Should the parents of a child live separately we will send copies of all documentation to a second address, if you let us know the appropriate details.
• Parents of Nursery and Reception children will receive a weekly newsletter. This outlines areas that children have explored during the week, as well as providing an outline of topics that children will focus on during the following week.
• Regular RWI meetings for parents of Nursery, Reception and Year 1 parents. During these meetings parents will learn the focus and content of RWI lessons for each year group and find out how best to help support their child to learn to read using this synthetic phonics scheme.
• Curriculum meetings – for example how maths is taught and how lessons are structured. Parents will have the opportunity to take part in a typical maths lesson, seeing how we use concrete, pictorial and abstract methods to teach maths.

Meeting staff

The school operates an open door policy and talking with and listening to our families is very important. The Headteacher, Deputy Headteachers and Assistant Headteacher are always at the gates on Lancell Street and Dynevor Road in the morning to say hello, have a chat or answer a query. For longer discussions, parents can email admin@williampatten.hackney.sch.uk  to make an appointment to see Karen, Craig, Sian or Maria. Parents will usually be contacted on the day to arrange a time to meet. If we can see parents on the same day, we do!

Staff are happy to make appointments to meet parents/carers. If there is anything you want to discuss with teachers we encourage you to do so, so that problems or concerns can be quickly resolved. Teachers are generally not free to have lengthy discussions at dropping off or picking up time, but please make an appointment through the office. The office staff will give you a form to pass your request to the relevant teacher, or you can email a request to the school office. We will get back to you as soon as possible to arrange a suitable time to meet the teacher.

Parents’ Evenings

In the Autumn, Spring and Summer terms parents/carers will be invited to have a consultation meeting with their child’s teacher to discuss progress and any areas of concern.

Throughout the year we hold curricular meetings on a range of subjects where parents can share in the work of the school.

Reports

Written reports are sent to parents/carers at the end of each school year. The reports comment on progress and achievement in all areas of the curriculum, attitudes and behaviour. Targets for your children will be shared with you so that you can support your child.

In addition to this annual report, parents of children in Reception, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6 also receive statutory reports for pupils at the end of these year groups; these include the outcomes of national curriculum assessments. At the end of Reception, the Early Years and Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) is completed which indicates a child’s level of development in all areas of the EYFS curriculum. At the end of Year 1, parents are informed of their child’s score in the national Phonics Screening Check. At the end of Year 2 and Year 6, parents receive information about their child’s performance in the Standard Assessment Tests (SATs).

Helping your child at home

Home and school are the two most powerful influences on children and only by working together can we ensure children get the best education.

Do please help us by:

• Talking to your child about school work. Show your children that you are interested and want them to do well.
• Seeing that your child comes to school alert, in good time and having had sufficient sleep and breakfast.
• Ensuring that your child regularly attends school and that all holidays are taken during the school holidays and not during term time.
• Making sure your child comes to school sensibly dressed and wearing suitable footwear.
• Encourage your child to read aloud every day and promote a love of reading.
• Trying to provide your child with a quiet atmosphere to complete any homework.
• Teaching your child to respect the school and its rules and support the school’s Behaviour Policy
• Ensuring your child does not bring any toys, sweets, money or chewing gum into school.

Please come into school if you have any kind of problem and we will always try to help.

Helping your child with reading

Children learn faster when parents regularly (ideally daily) support their children’s reading by:

• Listening to your child read their RWI book or library book, on a daily basis, helping them to accurately apply their phonic knowledge to decode and read regular words.
• Listening to your child read so that you can help them accurately sound out unfamiliar words, clarify the meaning of words and develop their comprehension skills.
• Reading aloud to your child (this applies to children of all ages, not just those who cannot yet read themselves) so that they learn how to read with an expressive voice and that reading is enjoyable and a lifelong activity.

Homework

Our homework policy is designed to:

• Develop good, independent working habits appropriate to the age of the child
• Provide a link between home and school, encourage parental involvement and understanding of their children’s work
• Consolidate work done at school
• Prepare for homework at secondary school

You can help your children by talking to them about their work, providing a quiet place and time to do homework, and by encouraging them to complete work and bring it into school on time.

We share our homework policy with parents at all times and welcome their comments.

Do you have a concern?

If you are unhappy about an aspect of school life, in the first instance this should be discussed with the class teacher, who may be able to resolve the problem. If the problem is still unresolved, then an appointment should be made with the Headteacher.

In the vast majority of cases, an acceptable resolution is usually achieved. If, however, a problem is still not resolved, the school follows the official complaints procedure adopted by the Governing Body. A copy of this is available from the school office.