Reporting to Parents/Caregivers
At Golden Sands School the partnership between home and school is of great importance. We believe the best way to foster this is through open communication between teachers and parents/caregivers. One important aspect of this communication is reporting. The purpose of reporting to parents at Golden Sands School is to clearly show your child’s progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics including National Standards. Further to this, we also feel it is important to inform you about your child’s learning behaviours (PROUD way of being) and achievement in other areas such as technology, science, social science, health, physical education and the arts.
We are proud to offer the following opportunities for you to partner in your child’s learning…
Learning Community Parent Meetings
These meetings provide parents/caregivers with important information about the specific way your child’s learning community operates. This includes but is not limited to:
- how learning programmes function in that specific learning community
- home learning expectations
- assessment and tracking of your child’s progress and achievement
- pastoral care information
- how to make contact with your child’s teachers
- how our teachers and children make effective use of our collaborative learning spaces
Parent Learning Meeting
Early on each year Senior Leadership at Golden Sands School offer an opportunity for parents and caregivers to hear about the school’s learning philosophy. This meeting includes discussion about why GSS is built with collaborative learning spaces and how these work to benefit GSS learners. We also outline our PROUD values and how these are enculturated into school life for all members of the GSS learning community. Further to this, the meeting allows an opportunity for parent/caregivers to ask questions and grow their understanding of learning at Golden Sands School.
Learning Snapshots
Learning Snapshot Meetings are a chance to find out how your child has settled into the first five or six weeks of school life at GSS. Parents/caregivers will spend fifteen minutes with your child’s teacher discussing how your child is going with PROUD ‘our way of being’ at Golden Sands School and a snapshot of current ‘working’ levels for reading, writing and mathematics.
- To communicate with parents/caregivers about how your child has settled in over the first five/six weeks of the year
- Share your child’s most current ‘working level’ data and explain what this means to parents with regards to national standards expectations.
- To listen to the things our parents/caregivers want us to know about our GSS children.
- Discuss how their child is going with being PROUD.
Three Way Conferences
The three way conferences are held towards the end of Term 2 and are 15 minutes in duration. The conferences are student-led and have a strong emphasis on discussion about current achievement level/progress and next learning steps. The three way conference is an opportunity for you as a parent/caregiver to hear your child explain their next learning steps with the support of your child’s Guardian Teacher. Your child and their Guardian teacher will also discuss and how you can help at home with you.
Mid Year Report
The Mid Year Report is a written report that details your child’s progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. Further to this, the report includes a PROUD comment about how your child is developing with regards to the GSS PROUD way of being. This report is designed to complement the Three Way Conference. During the conference you will be able to discuss your child and your child will share their achievement, progress and next learning steps with the support of their Guardian Teacher.
Student Led Conferences
The purpose of student led conferences is to empower our GSS children to share their learning with their families. Student led conferences showcase a key part of the GSS learning philosophy- that is, children leading their own learning. This conference is an opportunity for children to lead their parents/caregivers through a number of experiences in different curriculum areas. An example of this would be a parent sitting with their child solving a maths challenge together.
End of Year Reports
In Term 4 we produce a written end of year report for all children. These reports contain information about how your child is progressing and achieving in reading, writing and mathematics. These reports are a more comprehensive version of our Mid Year Report. That is, the End of Year Report will also include a PROUD comment and an ‘other curriculum areas’ comment. The ‘other curriculum areas’ comment will detail how your child is achieving in the ‘non-core’ curriculum areas such as technology, science, social science, health, physical education and the arts.
Make an appointment with your child’s teacher anytime
We encourage the active partnership between home and school and we love to connect with parents about how our GSS children are going. If at any time during the year you would like to know more, please feel free to make an appointment with your child’s Guardian Teacher. They will be happy to share in your child’s celebrations with you and/or address any concerns that you may have. The contact details for all of our teachers are listed on the “Our People” page on the Golden Sands School website.
How you can help at home
As part of our reporting schedule we provide parents with information about how to help at home. Information. How to help your child at home is something we discuss at the different learning meetings throughout the year e.g. Maths Learning Evening, how to help your child with learning Maths Knowledge. We also send written information about how you can help at home during our Learning Snapshot Meetings and with our End of Year Reports.
