Our School Development Plan has five key areas this year. These cover student attendance; the progress of high attaining students; support for our most challenged students; student personal development, and leadership at all levels.

Last academic year, we acted on opening up aspects of our work in school to involve students’ families more often. Consultations on elements of school priorities, such as improving homework and views on students’ personal development provided an invaluable tool, whilst initiatives such as the Bradfield Blog were welcomed by you to more regularly publicise some of the work done in school.

Already this year, we have been pleased to invite you in to share strategies with you on reading at KS3 , careers and revision in Year 11. But we would like to strengthen this liaison further, to understand parental perspectives linked to some of our School Development plan foci.

As such, we have planned a series of three Parent /Carer Forums over the course of the academic year. The dates of these are :

• 16^th November 2023
• 20^th March 2024
• 19^th June 2024

We would love to have parents / carers’ contributions to one of the areas below through these forums, which will be held in school from 6 – 7pm.

1. Reading : As so much evidence points to the fact that reading enjoyment is more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status, how do we continue to work together to promote and encourage reading for pleasure in our young people?
2. Attendance and Punctuality: In England, attendance at school has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels. How do we improve the attendance and punctuality of all our students, and what role should we expect parents and carers to play?
3. Personal Development and Safeguarding: In an ever-changing world, with young people expected to navigate so much out of school, that at times affects them in school, how do we best work together to safeguard our children and develop their character?
4. Homework, Assessment and Revision: What would parents and carers welcome and need from school to best support their child’s academic progress at home?
5. Anti Bullying: How should school and home work together to reduce bullying in and out of school?

We see these forums as multi-faceted. They can act as an opportunity to seek parent / carer views to help us  understand the complexities of some of the problems students face. We would also like to use them to give feedback on the impact of school initiatives. Above all, they are about keeping dialogue open.

It would be wonderful to have parent /carer commitment from those who feel able to choose one area to attend over the three sessions, so contributing an important element to our school development. We do, of course, appreciate how busy everyone’s lives are, so we would also welcome parents / carers able to commit to just one session over the year. Please check your emails to sign up to one of our forums.

We look forward to working with you. 

Deborah Banks

Deputy Headteacher