The Education Endowment foundation defines Parent engagement as:

“the involvement of parents in supporting their children’s academic learning.”

We recognise that working with families is key. Parents are our partners in our pupils’ education and play a pivotal part in our academy intent with the ‘Child’ being at the heart of everything we do.

At Newark Hill Academy we both support and encourage this so that parents feel involved and informed about their child’s education and pupils can celebrate and share their achievements.

We provide a warm and welcoming environment for our families so that parents can  approach school with any issues, concerns or comments and feel both welcome and comfortable on site.

​Communication

Parents comment that communication between Newark Hill Academy and home is excellent and they feel well informed about what is happening in school. We communicate in the following ways:

• Group Call Email and Text messaging service
• Weekly Newsletters (Digital through Microsoft Sway-link will be sent every Friday at 3:30pm via email)
• School website
• Expressions app for dates, information and reporting absence in addition to messaging the academy
• Sharing updates on Facebook and/or Twitter
• Senior Leadership Team available on the gate each morning as they ‘Meet and Greet’

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Parents knowing the progress of their child

We share progress of learning 3 times per academic year:  In December and March, the academy provides progress reports and in July there is a full end of year report.

There are Family Consultation Evenings in the autumn and spring term with individual appointments. In the summer term, parents are invited to make an appointment to speak to their class teacher after they have received their end of year report.

We offer an “open door” policy whereby parents can telephone or email to ask to meet with their child’s teacher if there is a particular issue to be discussed. This can also happen at the end of the day if appropriate.

​Contributing to your Child’s Learning

The academy strongly priorities reading as the essential homework for all year groups.  We actively encourage family members to listen to their children read regularly and provide the academy with feedback to how it went.

In addition to this, Years 1 and 2 get Maths homework on paper.  Years 3 to 6 complete a reading task each week set on Microsoft Teams and other Maths and English homework is set via Microsoft Teams or other online tools like; Mathletics, LbQ, Reading Eggs, Times Table Rockstars to name a few.  This homework is optional, but recommended.

Our ‘Newsletter homework projects’ provides lots of opportunities for parental engagement. We set a few open-ended cross curricular tasks over the year which allow for individual creativity to shine through.

The website has Knowledge Organisers available to inform families explaining each term’s topic and the key learning points.

At times, individual teachers may contact parents to offer advice and support with areas of the curriculum your child may need further assistance on.

Here are some more examples of how parents can contribute to their children’s learning:

• Supporting your children with homework
• Science Passport – includes things parents have done with pupils
• Early Years Wow Moments
• Early Years viewing and contributing to tapestry with a weekly summary of learning.
• Early Years Home Academy communication books
• Termly family STEM challenges homework
• SEN and Early Help Meetings

Celebrations and Events for Parents

Over the year there are a range of opportunities for parents to come into school to share and enjoy their child’s “learning”. These include:

• Celebration of Learning events for every end of topic from Year 1 to Year 6.
• Science Fair – parent and child category is offered to all families
• McMillan Coffee Morning in September
• Stay and Play sessions for new pupils and parents/carers to Early Years
• New parent information meeting for EYFS
• EYFS Phonics and Early Reading Workshop in September
• Year 6 SATS Meeting in March/April
• Reading Cafes each half term
• Family Consultation Evening in November and March
• EYFS Nativity Performance in December
• Harvest Festivals in September and October
• Sports Day in July
• SRE Year 5 Parents Meeting in April or May
• Christingle Service at St Marys Church
• Year 6 Production and Prom in July
• Maths Parent Workshops Autumn term
• Visit the classroom to see Maths in Action Spring term
• OPAL workshops events
• EYFS Road Safety Workshops with Local Authority in September/October                 

Parental Feedback and Actions

We send out an annual questionnaire for parents every summer term and we actively encourage parents to respond and give us their honest views so that we can continue to improve and develop the academy offer. As an academy we always provide feedback on actions taken.

The weekly newsletter offers parents to contact the Principal on the academy gate or via email should there be any concerns.

How can parents get involved?

Parents can get involved by volunteering at our academy.  We often have opportunities for helpers on trips.  Being a ‘Reading Buddy’ where a parent listens to many children is a role we seek.  In addition to this, supporting our PTA events by volunteering for the Summer Fete or Christmas Bizarre is a good way for parents to become involved.

This statement will be updated at least annually.  It may change sooner due to parental voice feedback or changes of academy procedures.

Updated October 2024.