Communicating with the Academy

5 December 2022

 

Dear Parents/Carers

 

I would like to thank you for feedback that we received from our most recent short surveys. 

 

We are very keen to work with you and by taking this feedback it helps us to understand any issues that you may experience as a parent/carer. One area that came out from the survey was that some parents/carers thought that we could improve on our methods of communication. We recognise that this can be frustrating for parents/carers and we are working hard to improve it. I have outlined below the various ways in which you can communicate with us and us with you, along with information about our new parent portal which we will be launching shortly.

 

As many of our staff are student facing throughout the day with the majority of our teachers in front of a class for 22 periods a week, the most convenient way to communicate is via email. If you know the name of the staff member you are trying to contact you can email them directly by using their first initial and surname in the following email format a.teacher@shafton.outwood.com. 

 

Alternatively, you can email enquiries@shafton.outwood.com and mark it for the attention of the relevant staff member. We aim to respond to all communication received in this format within 48 hours, but please bear in mind that this may vary if a staff member is absent for any reason. The enquiries email account is manned from 08:00 – 3:45 Monday - Friday during term time. 

 

Our advice for improving this flow of communication is as follows:

 

In addition, each year group has a Learning Manager, these are key colleagues who can be contacted should you require further information. Learning Manager email addresses can be found on the homepage of our website and are pinned to the top of our Twitter and Facebook pages.

 

Our SENDCo is Mrs Burgin and if you have a child with an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) you will already have been allocated Miss Askwith (SEND Officer) as your key contact. If you have a child with other additional educational needs your contact is Miss McCue (Inclusion Officer).

 

The school has a Twitter account, this is where current information is shared about what has happened in school on a daily basis and also showcases the exceptional work and achievements of our students. It is also used to communicate messages to parents/carers. The account name is @OutwoodShafton. Many of our departments also have Twitter accounts and can be located by a simple search on Twitter.

 

We use texts as a quick way to share information with you. This can be reminders about key events happening in school, attendance matters and links to letters. Please note that all texts will go to first named contacts on our system. Copies of key letters can also be found on the website at the bottom of the home page and is titled ‘Updates from the Academy’.

 

When you call the school the voice recording takes you to the most frequent extension numbers e.g. attendance. If you know the appropriate extension number dialling this at this point will take you directly to the area of need. Phone calls will be answered from 8:30am (after our Reception team has managed the busiest time of the day as students and visitors arrive on-site) a voicemail can be left before this time and will be responded to.

 

We work hard to ensure that the Student Planner involves lots of information that is useful to not only students but also to their parents/carers. If you have not already done so then please have a look at the Planner. 

 

We will be launching our parent portal soon. This will enable you to see key information (including historical information) for your child including all praise logged by teaching and support staff and all attendance information.  It will also have links to useful websites that you can use to support your child. We will continue to develop the portal in consultation with parents/carers. Initial access and set up for the portal will be via your email address and we will communicate this closer to the launch date.

 

There is a vast amount of information on our website https://www.shafton.outwood.com/. You can find out more about what we teach in each year group in each subject on the subject overview pages https://www.shafton.outwood.com/subject-overviews.

 

Praising Stars reports provide you with information on how your child is getting on in all of their subjects. The reports give you effort and attainment grade information along with any homework or attendance concerns and requests to see parents/carers at Parents’ Evenings.

 

Our website has links to Progress Schools who provide independent advice and guidance for all our students. The direct link is here https://www.shafton.outwood.com/careers-advice

I hope you have found this information useful and that it goes some way to improving your view of how we communicate with you.

Yours faithfully,

Principal

File

Letter re. communicating with the academy.pdf 391 KB