Introductory Statement

This Communication Policy was formulated by the Board of Management and the Parents Association in the school year 2012-2013. Its purpose is to provide information and guidelines to parents and staff on parent/staff meetings and parent/staff communication in St Mary’s NS, Ballyconnell National School.

The family and home are central to the social and intellectual development of the child and the nurturing of good, moral values. The school and the family strive to be mutually supportive and respectful of each other so that the child’s education can be effective. All the stakeholders aim to work for the benefit of the child and their learning.

Parents are encouraged to:

• Develop close links with the school
• Participate in meetings in a positive and a respectful manner, affirming the professional role of the staff and all staff members in the school
• Collaborate with the school in developing the full potential of their children
• Share the responsibility of seeing that the school remains true to its ethos, values and, distinctive character
• Become actively involved in the school/parent association
• Participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting them

Structures in Place to Facilitate Open Communication and Consultation with Parents

• Meeting for parents of new Junior Infants in mid-June
• Parent/teacher meetings one-to-one in November
• Parents receive school report of each pupil at the end of each school year
• Meetings with parents whose children have special needs
• Consultation throughout the year
• Written communication
• Through the Parents Association, parents are invited to discuss and contribute to the drafting and review of all school policies, as they are updated or introduced. Decisions taken to change current policies and procedures or to introduce new ones will be made known to all parents in written format via a letter and by informing the Parents Association
• Regular newsletters keep parents up to date with school events, holidays, and school concerns
• Homework diary 1st-6th class, used to relay messages which are signed between parents and teachers
• Parents are invited to events throughout the year e.g. school masses, school concerts, the Barretstown Picnic, and prize-giving day
• Involvement of parents in sacramental preparation
• If a parent wishes to consult with a teacher, he/she can contact the school secretary to arrange a suitable time

It is vital that the school is immediately informed if family events/situations occur that cause anxiety to your child and therefore may adversely affect his/her education. In all matters pertaining to the wellbeing and education pupils, only the parents/legal guardians named on the enrolment form will be consulted by staff.

Parent/Teacher Meetings

Formal parent/teacher meetings will be held once a year for all classes (Circular 14/04)

Where possible, they will be held in the first term, towards the end November for all classes. They will be initiated by the school staff and details regarding time, etc. will be worked out by the class teacher, in consultation with parents. The teachers collaborate in advance about the progress of individual children. A short, written record of the meeting is maintained by each teacher.

The purpose of the parent/teacher meeting is:

• To establish and maintain good communication between the school and parents
• To let parents know how their children are progressing in school
• To help teachers/parents get to know the children better as individuals
• To help children realise that home and school are working together
• To meet demands for accountability
• To share with the parent the problems and difficulties the child may have in school
• To review with the parents the child’s experience of schooling
• To learn more about the child from the parent’s perspective To learn more about parental opinions on what the school is doing
• To identify areas of tension and disagreement
• To identify ways in which parents can help their children
• To negotiate jointly decisions about the child’s education
• To inform the parents of standardised test results according to school policy  

Circular 56/2011 Initial Steps in the Implementation of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy has been adopted by the Board of Management. References to parent/school communication are:

Reporting to Parents

Parents have the primary responsibility for their children’s learning and development. Schools can strengthen the capacity of parents to support their children in this way by sharing meaningful information with parents about the progress that children are achieving in the education system. This information needs to draw on the different sources of evidence that staff use, such as conversations with the learner, data-collection and documented progress on objectives and milestones reached in their short and long-term planning, examination of student’s own self-assessment data, documented observations of the learner’s engagement with tasks, outcomes of other assessment tasks and tests, and examples of student’s work. In turn, parents will often be able to enrich staff member’s knowledge of their students’ progress through providing further information about the students’ learning at home.

  Report Card Templates

Schools should help parents to understand fully the evidence of learning that the school reports to them, especially information from any standardised tests. The NCCA has provided a range of standard report templates to assist schools in reporting information about the progress of primary pupils to parents, including information from standardised tests. The NCCA report card templates were developed through a process of consultation with schools and parents, and take account of research commissioned by the NCCA.

The report cards provided for reporting in four key areas:

• The child’s learning and achievement across the curriculum
• The child’s learning dispositions
• The child’s social and personal development
• Ways in which parents can support their child’s learning

All primary schools must use one of the report card templates (available at www.ncca.ie) for reporting to parents on students’ progress and achievement at school with effect from the date of this circular. 

Formal Meetings

Formal timetabled parent/teacher meetings take place in November. However, if a parent wishes to arrange a meeting at any stage during the year to discuss their child, the may do so by prior appointment. All communication sent from the school will be sent to the child’s home address as given on the enrolment form, unless otherwise requested by the parents. In the case of separated parents, requests can be made by both parents to meet their child’s teacher(s) individually for parent/teacher meetings.

Informal Parent/Staff Meetings

The school encourages communication between parents and staff

Meetings with the class teacher at the class door to discuss a child’s concern/progress are discouraged on a number of grounds:

• Staff cannot adequately supervise a class while at the same time speaking to a parent.
• It is difficult to be discreet when so many children are standing close by.
• It can be embarrassing for a child when his/her parent is talking to staff at a classroom door.

Occasions occur where a parent needs to speak to a staff member urgently. Sometimes these meetings need to take place without prior notice. The principal will aim to facilitate such meetings if it is possible to provide cover for the class teacher. If parents wish to drop in lunch boxes, sports gear, etc., this can be done through the secretary’s office as it is important to keep class interruptions to a minimum.

Complaints Procedure

Complaints are infrequent but the school would wish that these would be dealt with informally, fairly, and quickly. The following is the agreed complaints procedure to be followed in primary schools.

Stage 1 - Informal Stage

1. A parent/guardian who wishes to make a complaint should firstly approach the class teacher with a view to resolving the complaint.

2. Where the parent/guardian is unable to resolve the complaint with the class teacher, he/she should approach the principal with a view to resolving it.

3. If the complaint is still unresolved, the parent/guardian should raise the matter with the chairperson of the Board of Management with a view to resolving it.

Stage 2 - Formal Stage

1. If the complaint is still unresolved and the parent/guardian wishes to pursue the matter further, he/she should lodge the complaint in writing with the chairperson of the Board of Management.

2. The chairperson will bring the precise nature of the written complaint to the notice of the staff and seek to resolve the matter between the parties within five days of receipt of the written complaint.

Stage 3

 If the complaint is not resolved informally, the chairperson should, subject to the authorisation of the Board:

1. Supply the teacher with a copy of the written complaint

2. Arrange a meeting with the teacher, and, where applicable, the principal, with a view to resolving the complaint. Such a meeting should take place within ten days of receipt of the written complaint.

Stage 4

1. If the complaint is still not resolved, the chairperson should make a formal report to the Board within 10 days of the meeting.

2. If the Board considers that the complaint is not substantiated, the staff and the complainant should be so informed within 3 days of the Board's meeting.

3. If the Board considers that the complaint is substantiated or that it warrants further investigation, the following steps should be followed:

3.1 The staff member should be supplied with copies of any written evidence in support of the complaint.

3.2 He/she should be requested to supply a written response to the complaint to the Board and should be afforded an opportunity to make a presentation to the Board and to be accompanied by another person to that meeting.

3.3 The Board may arrange a meeting with the complainant, who may be accompanied by another person to this meeting.

* please note that the Parents Association should not be used as a complaints mechanism (as per Parent Association Rules and Guidelines).

Stage 5 Positive and respectful communication is of high importance to our school. This not only extends to the children but to all of the stakeholders e.g. the staff, the parents, and the wider community. Anyone entering our building should feel safe to do so. While the behaviour of children in our school is of vital importance, adults in the school community also have a responsibility to ensure their own behaviour models the types of behaviour expected of the children.

It is important that all stakeholders are responsible for their own behaviours in the school and at school-related events.

•   All stakeholders are expected to speak to each other with respect.
• Shouting or other aggressive tones are not acceptable.
• If a stakeholder displays anger or aggression to another member of the school community, they may be asked to remove themselves from the building. In certain cases, the Gardaí must be called.
• All stakeholders will treat our children with the utmost respect while on the premises.
• Staff should not be asked to speak about another parent’s child. The staff of the school will respect your child’s right to privacy, so it is asked that parents respect other children’s right to privacy.
• When stakeholders meet, it is important to respect that the time of the meetings should be kept to a reasonable amount of time. The time of meeting should be agreed beforehand, and these should be respected.
• Staff are generally available to listen to a quick issue in the morning and after school. However, should a parent need to have a discussion or a meeting, an appointment should be made at a convenient time for both parties. This ensures that issues can be resolved. Classes begin at 9:20 and finish at 15:00 and this time should not be interrupted.

Safety, Health and Welfare at Work

This Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act became operative on November 1st, 1989. It is an important piece of legislation for Boards of Management and for those who work in schools as schools and colleges were brought under the scope of safety legislation for the first time. It is recognised that school staff may be at risk from violence in the form of verbal abuse, threats, assaults, or other forms of intimidation. This behaviour may come from pupils, parents, guardians, other staff members, or intruders. In this respect, all staff should be aware of DES Circular 40/97 which deals with the procedures to follow if they feel they have been subjected to any of the above behaviours.

Ratified by the Board of Management