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Home School Communication Guidelines
It is well recognised that children learn and develop well when there is a strong partnership between staff and parents and/or carers.
We believe that you are the experts and know your child better than anyone else. We value working with you to ensure your child has the best educational outcomes we can provide.
At The Chiltern School we are committed to working closely and collaboratively with parents and carers in order to:
- Promote children’s personal development, independence and wellbeing
- Maximise achievement and enjoyment of learning for pupils
- Support families in creating a supportive and nurturing environment at home that enables children to thrive
- Help students and families to manage change and transitions
- Ensure that consistent approaches are used to support children in all settings.
This will be achieved by:
- Welcoming, respecting and valuing Parents and Carers as partners by the school community in their children’s learning and development
- On-going communication and dialogue to support engagement and a positive learning environment at home and school.
There are opportunities on a daily basis to communicate directly with school these include Class Dojo, phone, text and email. This helps to provide parents and/or carers with a well-rounded picture of their child in school, with regards to their wellbeing, what they have been learning and their progress.
Throughout the year parents are offered regular opportunities to come and join their children in sessions and activities. The school also offers a range of informative workshops to help parents understand and support their children’s needs.
There are termly individual parent consultations and a Celebration of Learning document produced at the end of the academic year to highlight each child’s progress.
Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) Reviews
Every year your child’s EHCP will be reviewed as a legal requirement. Children under 5yrs will have a review every 6 months until they turn 5. You will be notified of the date in advance and all the paperwork will be sent via email for you to look at ahead of the meeting.
The meeting usually falls in the term of your child’s birthday. There will also be a parent/carer views document included. It would be really helpful if you can fill in this document before the EHCP and return it so it can be discussed and included as part of the review. We really value your views and feedback.
Meetings can be held virtually or you are very welcome to come into school. If there are other professionals you would like to be invited, please let us know on this email address: inclusionehcp@chiltern.beds.sch.uk
Social Media
The newsletter communicates school life, events and celebrating achievements. An electronic version is available termly and the school has regular updates on our Facebook Page. Parents can request a hard copy of letters and newsletters via the school office.
We use the following Apps to support Home/School communication. When your child starts with us you will be given instructions and a login for all of these apps.
Class Dojo
Class Dojo is the app that is used to communicate with your child’s teacher and class team. Other whole school information may be shared here too. You will receive an invite to join once your child’s class has been allocated. You should receive three updates a week about your child’s teaching and learning activities via the app.
Unless it’s an emergency, we do not respond before 8am or after 6pm during term time. Generally messages about your child’s day will be sent by teachers after 3.30pm when we have finished teaching. Messages sent by parents/carers at weekends or during the school holidays will be responded to on a Monday morning in term time or when staff return to school after the holidays.
The School Gateway
The School Gateway app is how lunches are ordered and how lunches and trips are paid for. In Early Transitions school meals are free but parents do need to order them on a weekly basis through the app.
Studybugs
The Studybugs app is the way you report your child’s absence to the school. You will also be asked to specify why your child is absent.
Evidence for Learning
Partnership between home and school is enriched further through the school’s active use of the ‘Evidence for Learning’ system. Evidence for Learning Family App provides a secure portal for class teams to share observations of learning, including videos and images, with each family through the EfL learning journal. It allows families to provide observations of learning at home to the class team, so that our planning and assessment connect school and home.
Every family has a personal login, access to training, and support. Please see the Assessment Page for more information of how to access this.