Context

There were 86 responses to the questionnaire which represents 58.1% of the 148 pupils who are currently on roll. The response rate represents an increase of 3% on the 2019 Families questionnaire, and 11% on the 2018 questionnaire. The response rate is well above the average percentage seen in schools in the UK for this type of survey.

The questionnaire was completed through Survey Monkey, as well as hard copies which were sent home to families with pupils and made available to families at the main entrance of the school.

Headlines

– The overall is very positive. Families feel that Dysart has high expectations for their child’s learning and wellbeing, are very happy with the curriculum, the work that the school does to support pupils’ transitions to new classes, and with the school’s safeguarding responsibilities. 98% of families agree/strongly agree that they have a good overall partnership with the school.

– 84% of families agree/strongly agree that they felt supported by Dysart during the COVD-19 pandemic, and 90% of families agree/strongly agree that the school did all it could to look after pupils’ physical and mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

– Whilst the responses for the questions around communication are very positive, there is more variance in these responses than there is for other questions. For example, 79% of families agree/strongly agree that they know what their child is learning and feel involved in the target setting process.

– Families were asked to identify three things the school does well and three areas for improvement. The positives have been displayed as a Word Cloud as that information lends itself to presentation in that format. The development points have been listed in a table format and we have included each unique area identified. Some of these are areas tht the schools does not have direct control over (eg therapies, transport). Families were also asked to name three words that best describe Dysart. The results from this exercise will be pooled with the results from the staff questionnaire to help us update our vision / mission / values statements.

Next Steps

– As part of our monitoring of teachers’ performance, information-sharing between home and school will continue to be scrutinised and support given where needed.

– The school is currently in the process of updating our vision / mission / values statements and the feedback from staff will feed into this overall process.