At West Jesmond we are committed to working closely with all our parents to bring out the best in every child. We involve parents in every aspect of their child’s journey through school and work hard to develop communication between parents, staff and governors.
We have held the prestigious Leading Parent Partnership Award for the work we do in communicating and working with all of our parents.
Tom Jones, our Deputy Head, and Liz Thompson, our Early Years Lead, are our Parent Partnership Group coordinators. They will always welcome any queries or comments you might have in relation to our work with parents at our regular Parent Partnership Group meetings. You can find information about these group meetings via Weduc or the school office.
Our previous Leading Parent Partnership Award feedback included:
The School Building
- Displays celebrate many aspects of the school including the contributions made by the parents.
- The school has a very calm, friendly and welcoming feel which is exemplified by the excellent behaviour of the pupils.
- There are many examples of work which evidence a broad and exciting curriculum.
Staff
- It is clear that the staff are committed to partnership with parents.
- Parents are welcome into the classroom to observe lessons and to work with the pupils. There is a very clear open door policy.
- The staff value that the school is very much part of the community.
Pupils
- The pupils are very proud of their school and were very keen to talk about all aspects of school life.
- They were very clear how the school liaised with parents to help them progress whilst at school.
- The children clearly enjoyed learning and were confident to talk about their favourite subjects and how the lesson were fun which many hands on activities.
- One pupils stated, “… parents, teachers and pupils work perfectly together.”
Parents
- Parents agreed that the school is very welcoming and that it is an important part of the community.
- They valued the open door policy and found the lessons they observed to be very helpful, not only in content, but to see how the children engaged with the teacher.
- They feel informed about the curriculum and this is an aspect of communication which has improved over recent years.
- All parents said that their children enjoyed school and that the staff were very approachable and eager to help.
Governors
- The governors are fully committed to developing parental partnership.
- They play a very active role in the strategic development of the school, where being a part of the community is a high priority.
- The governing body is highly effective in communicating with the parents.
Strengths
- The leadership team has been very effective in developing parent partnership and it is one of the core principles of the school. The governing body is clearly supportive and was keen for the school to go forward for re-assessment.
- The quality of information sent home is excellent and all communication is free from unnecessary jargon.
- There has been a lot of effective strategies implemented to ensure all families feel part of the “school family”.
- The school has very effective links with other agencies and has well formed community links.
- Feedback to the parental body is good, indicating how the school has acted upon the views of the parents.
- Celebration of other cultures is evident in the school, for example the “International Evening” held in school.
- There is a good range of relevant courses provided for the parents.