Parent survey – June 2019 – Results
Introduction
This survey was undertaken over a two-week period in June 2019. All parents and carers were invited to give their views via messages from Parent Mail and Stanmore Post.
The survey consisted of a number of questions or statements where the respondents were asked to state the extent to which they agreed or disagreed.
In addition to the questions, a comments section was provided where parents were invited to give more context to their answers or their ideas for further improvements or feedback.
Engagement
In total we received 89 responses, representing 44% of pupils in the school. This represents an increase of engagement compared to 86 responses representing 36% of pupils last year.
On a year by year basis the lowest representation came from Year 3 at 36% and the highest from Year 2 at 58%.
What three words would you use to describe the school to others?
The word cloud shows the words used in all the responses. The larger the word, the more times it was used by the respondents.
Questions
Overall the percentage of positive responses (green bars) remained in line with last year, however the percentage of negative responses (orange and red) has reduced. The grey bars indicate a neutral response to the statement except in the questions about SEN and inclusivity for children with additional needs where parents were asked to give a neutral response if they had no direct experience.
Year 1 - resilience and persistence paying off
The Year 1 children have shown resilience and persistence in their learning this week. We have had an exciting time, despite Sports Day being cancelled, and have had some fantastic experiences!
In writing, we posted off our books of spells to the witch, who paid us a visit to say ‘thank you’! She was very impressed with the children’s instruction writing, and even made one of the spells in a beautiful round bottle! We have started to recap on our grammar ready to write some stories for the Year 6 children. We have been practising the prefix ‘un’, contractions and the use of exclamation marks.
Multiplication and division has been on the maths menu this week. Many of the children are becoming fluent in these calculation strategies, and are able to prove their answers using equipment and in different presentations, such as the bar model or the part-part- whole model. We are looking forward to revisiting fractions next week!
In science, we conducted an experiment to find the most suitable material to make a new bag for the Jolly Postman. This included prediction skills, planning and carrying out the experiment and writing a conclusion. It was pleasing to see so many of the children using scientific language during their experiments.
In phonics, we are looking at the alternative pronunciations of different letters (ea/ie/ow and er), as well as learning to read and write tricky words. We are now resetting spellings on a Thursday, to be tested the following Wednesday.
Have a lovely weekend!
Year 1 - the weather won’t stop our learning
Phew – what a wet week it has been, but hopefully the weather looks brighter for the weekend! Happily, Year 1 have bought the sunshine into their classrooms with their enthusiasm for learning.
In maths, we have been learning about the inverse in addition and subtraction which we can use to check our calculations. The children have shown their working out using the bar model, part-part whole models and a number line.
In writing, we have recapped on some of the grammar we leant earlier in the year (plural suffixes ‘s’ and ‘es’ and using a noun phrase). We have been exploring amazing alliteration and using it to bring our writing alive. The children have demonstrated their understanding of these grammar skills by planning and writing some super new spells for the witch in The Jolly Postman book; I hope that she enjoys reading and using them!
We are starting a new geography unit on our local area. To start us off, we have been looking at different types of maps, including aerial photographs. We explored an aerial photo of Stanmore and had fun identifying some of the features we could see, including our school!
In ICT, we have continued our work on pictograms; the children have used data to create their own pictograms of farm animals and have started to learn how to interpret the data shown.
We have enjoyed our ukulele lesson – the children are able to strum and pluck as well as sing along to their tunes. We are very much looking forward to performing to you at our ‘Listen To Me’ concert on the penultimate week of term.
The children have been busy practising for Sports Day on Wednesday 19th June. They will either be sprinting, skipping, in the ‘egg and spoon’ race or in the sprint relay and competing for their house (Kingfisher, Lark, Heron or Buzzard). We are very much looking forward to a fun-packed morning of racing on Wednesday – fingers crossed for good weather!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Year 3 - The Romans are coming!
Year 3 have worked very hard to learn about the life of a Roman. They have made some spectacular shields and come dressed as Romans ready for their outcome.
Friends of Stanmore - discos, ice-cream and Rachel takes over from Rachel
The FoS had a fantastic evening on Wednesdayas it was our annual Hawaiian disco! Thank you to all those who gave their time to help set up and run the event. It was lovely to see so many children, parents, carers, helpers and teachers enjoying themselves. As always, Andy the DJ did an amazing job at keeping over 130 children entertained for 2 hours! That man deserves a medal! His details are on the FoS page of the school website if you would like to book him. He gets a five star rating from the FoS and children!
I also want to congratulate the children on their exceptionally good behaviour. It was a pleasure to watch and chat to them all. The FoS are always very proud to see Stanmore school children being their usual brilliant selves!
Next week, bags2school are collecting any donations on Wednesday, 12th June. If you didn't receive a bags2school bag please don’t panic! You can place your unwanted items in a normal bin liner. Please bring your donation to school before school drop off on Wednesday morning.
On Thursday, 13th June we are running an ice cream and ice pop stall from 3pm...whatever the weather! We will also be selling secondhand uniform and hoping to have representatives from Kings' school attending, to give advice and answer any questions you have regarding your child's transition.
Finally, we have very exciting news! As Chair of the FoS I have decided to step down and pass on the reins to Rachel Wells. She is a young mum who has been very supportive of the FoS since her son started school last September. The handing over period will be gradual giving Rachel time to settle in and adjust to this very rewarding role. Please wish her the best of luck and support her as much as you have done with me.
Thanks again for all your support, Rachel D, Rachel W, Jen, Hayley, Ali and Jo.
It is summer - it is time for cricket!
On Monday 20th May, a team of talented, young criketers attended a cricket tornament at Hursely Park Road Cricket club. The weather was on our side, and the children hit some fantatic 4s and even some 6s. The bowling and level of play was fantastic; the children got some wickets, caught out a few players from other teams and made some great runs. Because of the highly skilled play, the mixed team of Year 4/5/6 made it to the semi final. Every child finished with a smile on their face and a new T-shirt.
This was the first of our cricket competitions. This week, on Monday 3rd June, another group of talented cricketers attended a cricket tornament at Hursely Park Road Cricket club. None of the girls in the team play cricket outside of school for a club, and some hadn't played since Year 4, but, nonetheless, there was some fantatsic bolwing, some great runs, some excellent hitting - again scoring some 4s. The team had a fantatsic day in the sun and assured me they enjoyed every game they played.
Both teams showed respect towards each other and other teams; cooperation by communicating, working together and supporting each other; resilience and persistence during the matches and every child had the confidence to represent Stanmore Primary School .
Our new house logo competition winners
The children have been busy entering logos for our new houses. The standard of entries was very high and the judges found it difficult to choose! Thank you for all of your entries, they will all be displayed within school for everyone to enjoy.
Here are the winning entries:
by Charlotte Dickel - Year 4
by Logan Stewart - Year 5
by Charlie Child - Year 5
by Grace Gunn - Year 5
Year 1 - Florence Nightingale
Phew! Another fun-packed and learning rich half term has finished and we are all ready for a lovely week off to rest and re-charge, ready for the last half term of this academic year. We have been incredibly impressed by the children’s hard work recently, despite the appearance of an unwelcome sickness bug.
In maths, we have been consolidating our learning in multiplication and division, using known facts to explain our reasoning. This week, we have applied this to measure, and have described, compared and recorded lengths and heights. We have even been using our bodies to measure the length of the playground!
The discovery of a mystery trunk in our classrooms hooked the children into learning all about Florence Nightingale. We have been revisiting our grammar learning (‘ed’ to mark the regular past tense, ‘s’ and ‘es’ to mark plural nouns), and used this to plan and write a diary entry written as if we were Florence in Scutari Hospital. We are extremely proud of the writing produced which shows their understanding of what has been taught as well as improved handwriting and presentation.
We continue to work hard on learning our phonics, which we practice using a variety of table top and interactive games. The children continue to use these skills when reading to segment and blend words.
We are speeding up with logging in during ICT lessons and are getting more familiar with ‘Purple Mash. We have been sorting shapes into categories and learning to create pictograms.
We are looking forward to finishing our time capsules as part of our ‘When I grow up’ topic, and will be sending these home in the latter part of the summer term. A huge ‘thank you’ to the children and their families for the wonderful home learning ‘feeley’ bags that we have received. We are very much enjoying hearing the children talk confidently about the research that they have carried out.
We wish you a relaxing (and sunny) half term!
Parent Governor Vacancy
We have a vacancy for a parent governor which we need to fill as soon as possible. Stanmore Primary School has always aimed for a partnership with parents which undoubtedly brings great benefits to the children. One of the most significant ways you can help in promoting this aim is to volunteer to be a parent governor.
Dear Parents / Carers,
We have a vacancy for a parent governor.
Stanmore Primary School has always aimed for a partnership with parents which undoubtedly brings great benefits to the children. One of the most significant ways you can help in promoting this aim is to volunteer to be a parent governor.
The governing body's main tasks are:
to ensure that the school has a clear vision, ethos and strategic direction;
to hold the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils;
to oversee the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
Parent governors are welcomed as valued members of the team and play a vital role in ensuring the governing body is aware of the views of parents and the local community. We feel sure that there are parents prepared to take on this important role and give their time and commitment to helping us to continue to improve the school's performance.
In looking to fill this vacancy the governors of the school have identified the following skills, experience and attributes that they feel would help strengthen the governing body:
experience in education and/or curriculum development
experience in HR
experience in customer service / hospitality / communications
Training and support will be available to help you develop into the role. This will include in-house mentoring and support as well as access to external governor training.
If you feel you can help in this capacity please download an application form or contact the school office for a copy of the form,which will need to be completed and returned to the school, care of the Headteacher, by 12.00 noon on Friday 24th May 2019.
The guidelines giving full details about how vacancies are filled can be found on the information for prospective governors on the Hampshire County Council website. You will find video, e-learning and written information on the site and all of these will provide you with further details about the role.
Please note that for the protection of children all governor appointments are subject to an identity check.
If there are more applications than vacancies, we will hold an election and you will be sent a voting paper in due course. You may return the ballot paper either via your child or by post.
Yours sincerely
Chris Lindsay
Chair of Governors
Friends of Stanmore - Cake sale makes £185
Despite the rain, Thursday's Cake and Uniform Sale was a great success. We raised £185 so thank you to those who volunteered their time to set up and run the stall, to those who donated tasty bakes and to those who bought them!
We also want to thank Maggi and Kim, two ladies representing Kings School, who joined us at the sale and were able to answer questions regarding Kings School uniform. They will be attending our next sale which will be on Thursday June 13th so please use this opportunity to come and speak to them about any concerns you have regarding your child's transition.
Our next event is the FoS Hawaiian Disco on Wednesday 5th June. Details and consent forms will be arriving in book bags soon! Thanks, Rachel, Jen, Hayley, Jo and Ali.