The first thing to note was the very high response rate of 85%, which in itself is very pleasing. We genuinely value the feedback that you give us and the more responses we get, the better the reliability of the results. The questions were broken down into key areas, including pupil engagement, emotional wellbeing, the balance between live lessons and Seesaw as well as the overall workload.
Many of you wrote additional comments which were most helpful. Whilst we won't be able to make individual responses to all of these, please do be assured that they have been read and the messages taken on board.
Independence and engagement
The first question we asked was regarding engagement with learning. Responses indicated that 97% of children are engaging somewhere in the realm of ‘quite well’ to ‘very well’, which is really encouraging. We will use the results and individual comments to communicate directly with those children who did express difficulties in this area.
The responses to the question regarding independence were understandably mixed. We are dealing with primary school age children and the ability to focus independently, as well as access the technology, is of course going to vary for individuals and to some extent also according to their age. The information that we have gathered from your responses will be really helpful for teachers with their planning, knowing that little bit more about the experience of the children at home.
Wellbeing
Again, it was really pleasing to hear that 97% of children are coping either generally well or very well with the emotional demands that lockdown imposes. This is tremendously reassuring. Using the information provided, form teachers and the pastoral team will be able to provide additional support where it is needed.
Teams and Seesaw
This question of the balance of Teams lessons and Seesaw lessons provided some interesting responses. By far the largest proportion of parents (64%) feel that the current balance is the right one for their child. However, we recognise that a significant minority (24%), would like to see more lessons with a Teams element to them. To illustrate the point about the divergence of opinion, 9% of respondents feel there are too many live lessons.
Having taken on the lessons from the first lockdown, my own feeling is that we must strike an age-appropriate balance. Children of primary school age do not benefit from five straight hours of sitting in front of a computer in Teams lessons. It is not healthy for them, it does not reflect a primary age classroom and it is not effective in achieving progression either. Another aspect of live lessons is that they can create problems for families to organise at home and a number of families made this very valid point. This does mean that the quality of the online lessons needs to be of the highest possible standard, as I believe our Seesaw lessons are.
However, I do feel there is a very important role for live lessons to play and we intend to steadily increase the number of live lessons, particularly for children in Key Stage 2 and particularly in the area of pastoral care. This will not enormously upset the current balance but will add additional opportunities for social interaction and enable teachers to keep an eye on all children and ensure that the engagement in the learning is maximised.
Workload
The overwhelming response (85%) to this question was that the current workload for children is about right. Of the parents who felt it wasn't, there was a more or less even split between those who would prefer more (8%) and those who would prefer less (5%).
Overall experience
No respondents felt they were not happy with the provision that we were putting in place, which was very pleasing. 93% described their overall experience as being very good or excellent. This was backed up by very many delightful and very welcome comments from parents, who praised the hard work of the staff and the quality of the lessons that have been provided. One thing I was especially pleased to note was the many positive comments on the quality of the Seesaw lessons. We learned a great deal about what works and what doesn't work during the first lockdown and it is pleasing to note that this has been recognised by parents.
The overriding message was that parents were very happy with what the school is providing. That is tremendously reassuring but we will not take it as a signal to relax or take things for granted. We will continue to review the results over the next week in more detail and I will work with the staff here to ensure that the appropriate action is taken, as we continue to refine and hone home learning for the benefit of all.
Many thanks to everyone who took part.
Joe Thackway
Headmaster
