Communications with Parents and Carers

At Newnham Infant and Nursery School we believe that open communication with parents and carers has a positive impact on children’s learning because it:

• Gives parents and carers the information they need to support their child’s education
• Helps the school improve, through feedback and consultation with parents and carers
• Builds trust between home and school, which helps the school better support each child’s educational and pastoral needs

To facilitate this, we have a number of forms of communication:

• Class Dojo - We strongly advise all our parents to sign up to this service.

  This is our main way of communicating all events, activities, updates and photographs/videos with parents. You will be able to keep up to date with class and whole school related dates, information and current learning. You can also send and receive private messages to and from the school. If you use the mobile phone app you can receive notifications of new messages/updates. If you want to use the Class Dojo website you can receive an email whenever there is a new message/update for you/your child.

  If you are not yet signed up please ask your child’s teacher to send you an invitation. Please note, we use the free version of the app. Parents are not expected to pay for this service. Please see our Class Dojo Policy below for full details.

• Parent Consultations – We organise termly parent meetings to talk to your child’s class teacher about their progress and wellbeing at school. You will find out their next steps and how you can support them at home. 

• Written reports – You will have a written report at the end of the academic year which will tell you how your child is working against age related expectations and inform you of their next steps.

• Parent workshops – You will be invited to come in to school to find out about the learning in your child’s class, as well as a welcome meeting at the beginning of the year to introduce you to the curriculum for the year. 

• Parent Feedback – We will send out Google Forms throughout the year to gather your views on what we are doing well and how we can improve. This feedback helps us write our School Development Plan. 

• Newsletters – The Head teacher writes a newsletter once a fortnight to let you know what is going on in the wider school and community. 

• Emails – In line with many other schools and as part of our 'eco-schools project', we have introduced a paper free method of sending letters and information home to parents.  The school uses a system which allows us to send emails to one or both parents and the emails will have attachments where appropriate. 

• Informal Communications – we really value simple face to face communication, so you will always be welcome to have a chat with the class teacher at a convenient time. We welcome your questions and feedback so please do feel free to just come and have a chat! No question or comment is too small! The Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and Assistant Headteacher are available in the playground before and after school each day.

• Our website is a key tool in effective home-school communication. We hope that it is clear and easy to navigate so you can find key information quickly. It includes guidance for many common queries e.g. school dates, policies, clubs, weekly communications etc.