Thank you for your feedback, have a look at what we found…

During the Autumn term in 2019, we sent out a survey to staff, students, and parents about a range of issues in the school, mainly to do with the structure of the school day and timings, and subject allocations. We had a pleasingly large number of responses:

• Staff – 95
• Students – 276
• Parents – 398

We have spent some time analysing the data and discussing potential ways forward. It is probably worth stressing straight away that for the majority of the issues we asked about the responses suggested that either stakeholders were broadly content with the status quo or that there was no clear view on the issue. This was often also the case with the individualised comments, which were often inconsistent at best and often simply contradictory. Therefore, on many issues we have decided not to make any changes.

Feedback on specific areas and our next steps

Timings of the day

• Length of lessons is okay
• 2,2,1 split of lessons for periods 1-5 is okay
• Break is okay (though a significant minority of staff say it is too long)
• There are a range of views on lunch – there is general agreement on the length being okay (although 40% of students say it is too short) but whilst staff have mixed views on a split lunch both students and parents favour it
• There is no clear consensus on moving registrations to the beginning or end of the day (although interestingly 50%+ of parents are in favour)
• Split lunch – 70% of parents in favour; 50% of students (and 25% unsure); 39% of staff against

Action – Mr Mansfield and Ms Burniston have visited several local schools with split lunch arrangements to see them in action. They are in the process of reporting back to SLT on this and then will present their findings to staff on our INSET day on 24th February for further discussion.

• Length of lunch – parents say this is about right; staff say this is about about right; 44% of students say it is too short

Action – include in the discussion re split lunch.

• Moving registration to the start of the day – 52% of parents agree (and 22% unsure); 36% of students agree (and 15% unsure);58% of staff disagree

Action- Mr Hewitt and Ms Pinnick to work with the pastoral teams on a list of pros/cons for further discussion at our INSET day on 24th February

2. Subject allocations

• There is general agreement on the range of KS3 and 4 subjects and time allocations
• There are a range of ideas about which subjects should have more/ less time but no clear consensus
• Students, staff and parents generally seem happy with the offer at KS5
• Making the EBacc compulsory is a minority view amongst all groups
• All groups support the status quo in terms of our position on languages at KS4

Action: maintain the current curriculum model at KS4 for 2020 but undertake a longer term review into the balance of subjects at both KS3 and 4

• Anything to change about KS5 offer – staff would like to see more vocational courses; parents seem to want languages – and more of them; there seems to be some issues around communication, particularly regarding whether we offer subjects and whether they run or not; there are mixed views on the EPQ

Action: Ms Pinnick to discuss potentially adding vocational courses with Heads of department

Focus groups

We had a pleasing number of parents and carers who expressed an interest in joining one of the focus groups. Those who did put their name forward have been contacted and we will be implementing a schedule of meetings during the second part of the spring term.

Thank you for your feedback, we strongly value your opinions

We genuinely value the feedback we receive from parents, carers and students and always use it to inform our plans for moving forward. We circulate surveys fairly regularly so that all our stakeholders can contribute their thoughts and ideas to different aspects of school life.  Below are the outcomes of our most recent surveys.  You may also wish to contribute your ideas by visiting our Parent View survey here (which is monitored by the school) or by emailing feedback@hws.haringey.sch.uk.