Home School Communication Policy

Kildwick CE Primary School

Learning to Live, Living to Love, Loving to Learn

Home – School Communication Policy

Date Approved: Autumn 26

Next Review: Autumn 27

1. Introduction and aims

We believe that clear, open communication between the school and parents/carers has a positive impact on pupils’ learning because it:

• Gives parents/carers the information they need to support their child’s education
• Helps the school improve, through feedback and consultation with parents/carers
• Builds trust between home and school, which helps the school better support each child’s educational and pastoral needs

The aim of this policy is to promote clear and open communication by:

• Explaining how the school communicates with parents/carers
• Setting clear standards and expectations for responding to communication from parents/carers
• Helping parents/carers reach the member of school staff who is best placed to address their specific query or concern so they can get a response as quickly as possible
• In the following sections, we will use ‘parents’ to refer to both parents and carers

2. Roles and responsibilities

2.1 Headteacher

The headteacher is responsible for:

• Ensuring that communications with parents are effective, timely and appropriate
• Monitoring the implementation of this policy
• Regularly reviewing this policy

2.2 Staff

All staff are responsible for:

• Responding to communication from parents in line with this policy and the school’s ICT and internet acceptable use policy
• Working with other members of staff to make sure parents get timely information (if they cannot address a query or send the information themselves)
• Staff will aim to respond to communication during core school hours (9.00am-3.30pm) or their working hours (if they work part-time). In line with promoting staff wellbeing and helping our staff find a suitable work-life balance, staff may work around other responsibilities and commitments and respond outside of these hours, but they are not expected to do so.

A copy of our school’s ICT and internet acceptable use policy can be found on the school’s website.

2.3 Parents

Parents are responsible for:

• Ensuring that communication with the school is respectful at all times
• Making every reasonable effort to address communications to the appropriate member of staff in the first instance
• Respond to communications from the school (such as requests for meetings) in a timely manner
• Checking all communications from the school

Any communication that is considered disrespectful, abusive or threatening will be treated in line with our parent code of conduct.

Parents should not expect staff to respond to their communication outside of core school hours or during school holidays.

The parent code of conduct can be found on the school website.

3. How we communicate with parents and carers

The sections below explain how we keep parents up-to-date with their child’s education and what is happening in school. Parents should monitor all of the following regularly to make sure they do not miss important communications or announcements that may affect their child. We encourage our parents to download the school website app to keep up to date with the latest communications.

3.1 Email

We use email to keep parents informed about the following things:

• School surveys or consultations
• Class activities or teacher requests
• Urgent matters or short-notice changes to the school day
• Reminders of upcoming events or deadlines

3.3 School calendar

Our website https://www.kildwickceschool.org.uk/  includes a full school calendar for the academic year and is published at the beginning of each new school year. Where possible, we try to give parents at least 2 weeks’ reminder of any events or special occasions (including non-uniform days, special assemblies or visitors, or requests for pupils to bring in special items or materials) however during especially busy times this may not always be possible. Any such event will be included in the school calendar.

3.4 Phone calls

We will contact you by phone if we think your child is unwell.

Teachers may contact you if they have a concern about your child’s learning.

3.5 Letters

We send the following letters home regularly:

Letters about trips and visits

Consent forms

We aim to publish a newsletter weekly.

Newsletters are published on the school website and a link is emailed for all parents to access at the time of publishing.

3.6 Reading Records

We use reading records in school in which we record children’s reading books.  It is really helpful if parents add any comments about their child’s reading in these for the staff to see.

3.7 Reports

Parents receive reports from the school about their child’s learning, including:

• An end-of-year report covering their achievement in each part of the curriculum, how well they are progressing, and their attendance
• If appropriate a report on Phonics screening, Times Table check and KS2 SATs tests

We also arrange regular meetings where parents can speak to their child’s teacher(s) about their achievement and progress (see the section below).

3.8 Meetings

We hold parents’ evening(s) in Term 1 and Term 2. During these meetings, parents can talk with teachers about their child’s achievement and progress, the curriculum or schemes of work, their child’s wellbeing, or any other area of concern. The school may also contact parents to arrange meetings between parents’ evenings if there are concerns about a child’s achievement, progress, or wellbeing. Parents of pupils with special educational needs (SEND), or who have other additional needs, will also be asked to attend further meetings to discuss these additional needs.

3.9 School website

Key information about the school is posted on our website, including:

• School times and term dates
• Important events and announcements
• Curriculum information
• Important policies and procedures
• Important contact information
• Information about before and after-school provision
• Statutory Information required by the Government

Parents should check the website before contacting the school.

4. How parents and carers can communicate with the school

Parents should use the list in appendix 1 to identify the most appropriate person to contact about a query or issue, including the school office number and email address.

4.1 Email

Parents should always email the school about non-urgent issues in the first instance.

We aim to acknowledge all emails within three working days, and to respond in full (or arrange a meeting or phone call if appropriate) within five working days.

If a query or concern is urgent, and parents need a response sooner than this, they should call the school.

4.2 Phone calls

If parents need to speak to a specific member of staff about a non-urgent matter, they should email the school office or the relevant member of staff. The relevant member of staff will contact them within three working days. If this is not possible (due to teaching or other commitments), the relevant staff will respond via email and may schedule a phone call at a convenient time. We aim to make sure parents have spoken to the appropriate member of staff within five days of your request.

If the issue is urgent, parents should call the school office.

Urgent issues might include things like:

• Family emergencies
• Safeguarding or welfare issues

For more general enquiries, please call the school office.

4.3 Meetings

If parents would like to schedule a meeting with a member of staff, they should email the relevant staff member (see appendix 1), or call the school to book an appointment.

We try to schedule all meetings within five working days of the request.

While teachers are available at the beginning or end of the school day if parents need to speak to them urgently, we recommend they book appointments to discuss:

• Any concerns they have about their child’s learning
• Updates related to pastoral support, their child’s home environment, or their wellbeing

5. Inclusion

It is important to us that everyone in our community can communicate easily with the school. We currently make whole-school announcements and communications (such as email alerts and newsletters) available in English. Parents who need help communicating with the school can request the following support:

• School announcements and communications translated into additional languages
• Interpreters for meetings or phone calls

We can make additional arrangements if necessary. Please contact the school office to discuss these.

6. Monitoring and review

The headteacher monitors the implementation of this policy and will review the policy every three years. The policy will be approved by the governing board.

7. Links with other policies

The policy should be read alongside our policies on:

• ICT and internet acceptable use
• Parent code of conduct
• Staff code of conduct
• Complaints
• Home-school agreement
• Staff wellbeing

All policies can be found on the school website

Appendix 1: School Contact List

Who Should I contact?

If you have questions about any of the topics in the table below, or would like to speak to a member of staff:

• Email or call the school office on [email protected]
• Put the subject and the name of the relevant member of staff (from the list below) in the subject line (for emails)
• We will forward your request on to the relevant member of staff

Remember: check our website first, much of the information you need is posted there.

We try to respond to all emails within three days.

I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT…	WHO YOU NEED TO TALK TO
My child’s learning/class activities/lessons/homework	Your child’s class teacher
My child’s wellbeing/pastoral support	Your child’s class teacher Pastoral & Welfare Leader (Miss Wardley)
Safeguarding or Child Protection	Headteacher Assistant Headteacher / SENDCO
Payments	Mrs Turner /Mrs Lawley
School trips	School office -Mrs Turner / Mrs Lawley
Uniform/lost and found	School office -Mrs Turner / Mrs Lawley
Attendance and absence requests	If you need to report your child’s absence, call: School Office If you want to request approval for term-time absence, use the form on the website in the first instance.
Bullying and behaviour	Your child’s class teacher
School events/the school calendar	Headteacher / School Office
Special educational needs (SEND)	SENDCO (Miss  Akrigg)
Before and after-school Care	School office (Mrs Pink)
Hiring the school premises	Headteacher (Mr Whitehead)
Parent Teacher Association	School office (Mrs Marrow)
Governing board	Headteacher (Mr Whitehead)
Catering/meals	School office (Mrs Turner / Mrs Lawley)

Complaints

If you would like to file a formal complaint, please follow the procedure set out in our complaints policy. You can find the School complaints policy on the school website.