Dear Parents and Carers,
 
Re: Student/Parent Surveys
 
You may remember that recently we conducted both a Student and Parent survey. The opinion of the children who attend our school, and their parents/carers matter greatly to us and gives us an important measure of how well our College operates, what everyone values the most that we need to continue to do, and what suggestions there may be for further development.
 
The Principal and the senior team have taken time to read through the hundreds responses that we have had and thought carefully about what we can do to make the College even better. I am writing to you to give a summary of our findings.
 
Student Survey
 
Things that are going well: (summary of 376 responses)

• Students understand the expectation to work hard and do so on a daily basis
• Students feel that the College teaches them respect and the difference between right and wrong
• Students are clear where they can go for support if they feel anxious, stressed or worried
• The best bits of our school include:
  • The facilities
  • After school clubs
  • Playing in sports fixtures
  • Having lots of great teachers
  • Practical lessons
  • Music lessons
  • Food lessons
  • PE lessons
  • Maths lessons
  • Science lessons
  • Computing lessons
  • English lessons
  • Writing creative stories in English
  • Seeing friends at break and lunchtimes
  • Clubs and trips
  • Enrichment week
  • The Pastoral team
  • The staff and teachers
  • The Library
  • Being provided with a free breakfast
  • Pride club
  • Sixth form
  • Having an independent space for Sixth Form
  • The food (especially Fish and chips on Fridays!)

 
Things that we will develop:
 
Enrichment:
Parents and students were generally very satisfied with our Enrichment provision, however there were several areas of commonality that we will look to address. Namely students wanted greater access to the MUGA and more football and rugby clubs. We have consequently applied and been successful in a Sport England grant which has enabled us to open up more of our facilities after school. The grant will see a greater range of sports clubs run by professional coaches, including even more Argyle coaching sessions on the Astro and two hours of rugby coaching from Plymouth Albion. We will also reintroduce the Champions League during the summer term for all year groups at lunch time on the Astro.
 
Pastoral:
Students asked for more Pastoral space/accessibility so as a result, we are reviewing our Pastoral processes to include additional discussion time with tutors in the morning, and reviewing how students can access our support staff.
 
 
Mental Health:
More support for Mental Health was raised as something the students would value so as a result in addition to our current provision, we have updated the mental health section of our College website which provides a range of useful links and resources to support students and families who have concerns about their mental health (http://www.sjhcsc.co.uk/character/mental-health-and-wellbeing).  Additionally, we have ensured that Mental Health in a more comprehensive topic in our Personal Development programme next academic year and set up a weekly drop-in mental health support session for our students. 
 
We are aware of the growing need nationally for mental health support for young people and also aware of the difficulties that many local families have in accessing support from health services.  At a strategic level we continue to use an evidence based approach to broker additional mental health support for our students and then, where necessary, direct our students and their families to these services. 
 
Within College we often host professionals from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team (CAMHS) and other organisations such as the Mental Health Support Team MHST, who wish to see our students within the college day.  In addition, we commission a number of counsellors who offer short term interventions for students with a lower level of need for support. The clubs and activities that we offer within (and outside of) College help to support students with specific concerns and also help build their resilience to cope when challenges present themselves.  We also recommend www.kooth.com (for children) and www.qwell.io (for adults) offering a confidential online support service to anyone suffering mental health difficulties.
 
If your child is struggling with their mental health, then please do look at our website or seek support from their GP.  Our Pastoral Team are also available to talk to and will be able to advise the best routes to access appropriate support for you child.
 
Parent Survey
 
Things that are going well: (summary of 106 responses)

• The staff
• The SEND Team
• The feedback from teachers and staff
• Year 11 staff
• Sixth Form staff
• How much staff care
• The tutors
• Praise that students receive
• Supporting students
• Good communication
• Dealing with things quickly
• Various individual staff mentioned specifically

 
Things that we will develop:
 
Contact/access to speak to teachers:
We appreciate that not all parents and carers will be able to attend our Parents’ Review Mornings, particularly those who work during the day.  However, attendance at traditional Parents’ Evenings was historically low and so it was important to try a new structure. For parents who are unable to attend the review mornings, by request we will arrange for teachers to telephone parents, to discuss progress, at a mutually convenient time. Likewise, parents are always welcome to email staff directly and/or to contact College, to arrange for a telephone conversation with members of staff (http://www.sjhcsc.co.uk/our-college/contact-the-staff).  Communication with parents and carers is a College priority.  Our expectation is that staff will proactively contact parents, whether that is to praise students for excelling in our College values or to discuss a concern with parents.
 
Teaching Behaviours:
In the survey we asked specifically about what behaviours you felt we should teach our students. You felt that manners, kindness, respect for others, contributing to the community and road safety were all vital in shaping the good character of our students. As a result, we will create a behaviour curriculum to specifically teach students how and why we should behave in certain ways in different situations. This curriculum will be delivered through assemblies, tutor time and in personal development lessons. 
 
The Art Curriculum:
Some parents wanted to know more about the breadth of the art curriculum so we thought a summary would be helpful. Whilst under constant review, our Art curriculum follows the National Curriculum and which requires that students:

• Use a range of techniques to record their observations in sketchbooks, journals and other media.
• Use a range of techniques and media, including painting.  At GCSE, students have the option to incorporate photography and sculpture into their studies.
• Increase their skills in the handling of different materials.
• Analyse and evaluate their own work and that of others.
• Learn about the history of art, craft, design and architecture, including periods, styles and major movements

 
In addition, we offer GCSE Art and Key Stage 4 and A level Photography at Key Stage 5.
 
Spanish on the curriculum:
One or two parents had a query about our choice to have Spanish on the curriculum. The decision to teach Spanish, rather than French, at Sir John Hunt was made based upon several factors:

• Even though some primary schools teach French and, therefore, students have a grounding in the language, students actually find Spanish more straightforward and enjoyable to learn.
• This, in turn, means that students’ outcomes in Spanish are significantly higher than they were historically in French.
• Spanish is one of the fastest growing languages in the world and, according to some research data, it is the second most spoken language worldwide.  We feel that Spanish is a more useful language for our students to learn, for their future prospects in a global economy.

 
I hope that you find this to be a useful summary of all the things that are going really well in the College but also a clear indication of the things that we will work on based on the opinions and experiences of our students and parents. We really appreciate the time you all take to share you views and we believe it is important to act upon this information.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
 
Mr G Perrens
Vice Principal