Nova Hreod Parent Council

The Council exists to:

Raise pupil attainment
Improve Communication between parents and the school

The Parent Council has met six times per year since October 2001 and is open to all/any parents who wish to attend.

Meeting dates for the following year are agreed in June and entered on the school calendar. Meeting topics are suggested by the group and planned in advance. There have been presentations to the Council from all aspects of the school (subject and cross curricular areas). The process of designing and building the new school proved of great interest with twice-yearly visits to the build as it progressed. There has also been a ‘drugs awareness’ presentation hosted by the Parent Council for other parents of pupils at the school and a workshop in the use of ICT.

Two years ago the group decided that they would like the topic of homework to become a standing item on the agenda. This topic can be quite challenging at times as school protocols are sometimes seen to be working less well in practice than the school might hope!

The school has come to trust the views of the Parent Council and over the past three years have taken many decisions after having consulted and gained their opinions. Examples include the location of tutor groups on our (old) split site, the timing and arrangement of tutor-parent contacts, the drafting of the annual school improvement plan and the applications of new technologies e.g. the school web-site and VLE, text alert and truancy alert systems.

The Parent Council as a group have felt that the meetings (even if they only able to attend two or three in a year) are of value to them and that they are able to hear and be heard. Sometimes it has been extremely useful for a parent to raise an issue that impacts on their own child, generalise from this and then hear the views of others. It is surprising to all parties how the views of parents on the council can often be in direct opposition and subsequent discussions can be quite ‘lively’. In general the group feels that more parents would benefit from such contact with the school and find it a little frustrating that greater numbers do not attend.

If you wish to join the Parent Council then please watch the website for details of the next meeting (Thursday May 1 st) and just turn up! It really is that simple.

Tom Wilkes

Deputy Head - Community

Agenda November 2008

Minutes from the meeting September 2008

Agenda September 2008

Minutes from the meeting June 2008

Agenda May 2008

Minutes from the meeting March 2008

Agenda January 2008

Minutes from the meeting January 2008