Dear Parent,
I hope this letter finds you and your family well. Half term already feels like a distant memory, as students have returned to school with great enthusiasm and continued to keep us busy with their efforts both in and out of the classroom!
I would like to thank all those who responded to our recent Parent View survey and to share the results with you:
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My child is happy at this school: 100% strongly agree or agree
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My child can take part in clubs and activities at this school: 95% strongly agree or agree
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The school has high expectations for my child: 98% strongly agree or agree
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I would recommend this school to another parent: 100% responded “Yes”
I am delighted with such positive feedback; however, I want to assure you that we recognise there is always room for improvement. We are already working on many of the areas highlighted in your comments. Please find below a summary of the main concerns and our responses.
Attendance Monitoring
Attendance continues to be a national issue, with figures still below pre-pandemic levels. Missed time in school results in missed learning, which can ultimately lead to students falling behind. While we fully appreciate that illness is sometimes unavoidable, it is essential that students attend school as regularly as possible.
At the start of the academic year, establishing good routines—and addressing unhelpful habits—is particularly important. We are especially concerned about students who are taking regular “days off,” whether for legitimate reasons or not. Absences have a proportionally greater impact on attendance figures early in the year, although this effect decreases as time progresses.
Communication and New Apps
As previously acknowledged, the transition to MCAS has not been as smooth as we had hoped. I apologise to those who found the process challenging. Our long-term aim is to streamline communication by reducing the number of apps used between school and home. Ultimately, all communication will be managed through MCAS, and we are working to transition the school dinner system to this platform during this half term.
We are also planning a series of in-school information events, as well as short support videos, to assist parents who may be finding homework platforms such as SPARX and Tassomai difficult to navigate.
Timetable Concerns
In conjunction with the move to MCAS, we have also adopted a new system for producing student timetables. It was never our intention for students to have multiple lessons of the same subject on the same day, and we are reviewing whether adjustments can be made within the current academic year.
All comments are included in the attached document, except those that were too specific and could identify individual students.
We look forward to seeing what our students will achieve throughout this term, and I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all parents and carers for their continued support. It is greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards
James Rogers
Headteacher
Treviglas Academy