Monmouth Comprehensive School Parent Portal - Parent Newsletter 09 09 22

As noted in the welcome letter at the start of term, some themes emerged from the latest parent and carer survey. Many thanks to everyone for taking the time to participate and for your constructive suggestions. As you can see below, your feedback has informed further action and future school planning.

Wellbeing curriculum. We asked about the topics you’d like to see covered, and this prompted the largest set of responses. We have taken all of your suggestions and requests into account when planning the new Wellbeing curriculum that launches this term, with increased time on the timetable to meet student needs. In addition, central to this curriculum will be regular and frequent opportunities for student voice and feedback. We will also return to this theme in future surveys with you. Furthermore, we will continue to offer a range of in-person and online information sessions for parents and carers, as there continues to be a strong interest in learning more about this very important aspect of our curriculum. Details will be in a future newsletter.
Communication. You had a number of very helpful suggestions, and the predominant theme was being able to know who to go to with a query. This is entirely understandable in a large organisation with around 180 staff. As a result, we are making changes on our website to provide all parents and carers with the contact details of all form tutors, as they are the daily first point of contact. This will be under the Our School/School Staff menu. We will also ensure that the details of the whole Wellbeing Team are more readily available on the same page, and will re-issue the details of the Wellbeing Team more frequently. Additionally, other changes to our website such as making the calendar and term dates more accessible and an imagery refresh are underway.
Newsletter. The weekly newsletter has been well-received since we introduced it in 2021; thank you for your kind comments. A number of comments asked for a fuller breadth of school life to be captured, and we are working hard to expand the range of activities and experiences that are included.
Uniform. We have formalised our approach to summer uniform following your feedback and our experiences during the exceptionally hot weather at the end of last term. From now on, summer uniform will be able to be worn from the start of the summer exam period in May to the end of the academic year. Summer uniform entails the blazer being optional (i.e. it can be left at home), and the usual options (e.g. shorts if preferred). In addition, we will continue to circulate details of second-hand uniform as well as uniform grant opportunities from Welsh Government as they come up. We have also increased the flexibility of generic items, so that they can be bought from anywhere as long as they are an exact style and colour match to the uniform available from our named retailers. Full details are on our website here.

Equipment. There were some questions about equipment expectations. Our new Ready To Learn approach at MCS supports students in being fully and properly equipped for school every day, so that learning time is not lost. Tutors will carry out a daily check at the start of the day, and we will provide loan equipment if necessary. We will also let you know if there is an emerging pattern of your child being insufficiently equipped for their lessons. The equipment list is found here. (I apologise for the mistake (which was entirely my own) in including a book cover on the list that was intended to be generic but is, in fact, an out of print book. The image will be replaced!). Following student requests we have also provided all students with a paper planner, into which they can stick their timetable. It can be kept in their blazer pocket for easy reference. This planner is not currently a compulsory piece of equipment, so if they prefer to just keep their paper timetable separately, as was the case last year, then that is fine.
School Cloud. Although the majority of respondents said that School Cloud and online meetings meant it was more likely that they attended the parent evenings, a minority said that they did not prefer the platform. We will keep our approach to this under review during the academic year, and will return to it in a future survey.
Google Classroom and Guardian function. Following feedback in the survey we will provide further opportunities for parents and carers to become familiar with the Guardian function on Google Classroom, which enables you to have the overview of the work set for, and completed by, your child on Google Classroom. Details will be in a future newsletter.