Partnership with Parents

At St Cuthbert’s, we are committed to working in close partnership with parents to ensure they are happy with their child's education and progress. We believe it is important that parents are involved in their child's education and we actively encourage parental involvement in our school, wherever possible. We communicate with parents through a regular text alert system and Parent mail, informing parents of upcoming events and assemblies at the school. We also send home regular newsletters and have established a Parent Forum which meets regularly to discuss and share ideas, views and suggestions for improvements. Our regular Twitter feeds are also a valuable source of information for parents and carers.

We work in partnership with parents to ensure  that our pupils have every opportunity to enjoy,  achieve and learn together.  We promote positive partnerships with parent, founded on effective, honest and open communication,  on mutual respect and the shared aspirations that each child reaches their potential whilst at the school.

We acknowledge that parents are as individual as their children and that their needs, hopes and priorities will vary over time and from one set of parents to another.

We hope that parents will want to be actively involved in their child’s school life, spiritually, educationally and socially and that they will feel able to contact the school to discuss any worries, concerns or uncertainties that they might have. We encourage parents to actively participate in their child’s education by following up and extending the work carried out in school. We hope that school and home will work together to achieve consistent results across all areas of development by sharing each other’s skills and knowledge. We also hope that parents will want to let us know about significant events that happen outside of school which relate to their child.

Parental involvement with the school includes the following:

Parent/carer Conferences 

These take place each Autumn and Spring and give parents the chance to discuss with the class teacher their child’s progress, attainment and review their next targets.

Parents/carer Workshops

Workshops and seminars for parents are arranged on a regular basis and may cover a wide range of issues such as reading, writing, number, behaviour, communication, etc.

Social Events and class activities

Parents/carers and families are regularly invited to visit classes throughout the year and for whole school events such as Christmas and Easter celebrations, Sports Day, class assembly, leavers’ assembly, celebration of learning afternoon, class Mass etc where their support and participation are much appreciated.

Website

This contains a variety of factual information about the school, prospectus, term dates etc as well as news from classes, special events and useful links. It is continuously being added to and updated, each half term.  Each class has a class page on the website which contains curriculum information for that half term and suggestions for parents to support learning at home.

Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA)

As part of the LPPA scheme, we aim to continue to develop and improve communication with parents and the community, by supporting parents and children to extend their learning through parents’ courses etc and to encourage a greater input and more involvement of parents in school life.

We are pleased to announce that in December 2022 we were awarded the Leading Parent Partnership Award. Please see below the report from our external visit. 

We welcome your views, ideas and opinions.  If you have any suggestions you would like to be discussed during our Parent Ambassador meetings, then feel free to pop your ideas into our suggestions box in the main reception area or discuss with our Parent Ambassadors.  

 Parent's Ambassador Forum 

At St Cuthbert’s we understand the value of an equal partnership between teachers and parents/carers on the emotional and academic wellbeing of our pupils. We want our parents/carers to have a voice on the issues that matter so we can come together to best support your children.

This is why we have recruited our first Parent Ambassadors to represent the parents/carers of St Cuthbert’s Primary School to join our parent ambassador forum.

A Parent Ambassador is a parent/carer who is:

• Passionate about their child’s school and education

• Will attend termly meetings (three a year) with a set agenda and share parent views from other parents in their child’s class

• Share a desire to advance the school and support staff and pupils in improving the provision

• Support with organising parent events e.g. lantern parade, coffee mornings with guest speakers, workshops

Parent Ambassadors are instrumental in expanding the reach of the school in our community and beyond. We would like to thank them in advance for their time in supporting school and our community. We are very much looking forward to working together as a team to continue to drive high standards and expectations across our school and work with our community during organised events.

Our five parent ambassadors are:

• Christine Joyce (Children in Nursery, Y2, Y3, Y5)

• Kirsty Fitzgerald (Child in Y2)

• Kohinoor Begum (Children in Nursery and Y4)

• Makala Stimpson (Children in Y3 and Y5)

• Janet Hunter (Grandchildren in Nursery, Reception, Y1)

If you wish to raise any points with the PAG (Parent Ambassador Group) in terms of what the school does well and/or what improvements you would like to see then please email admin@st-cuthberts.manchester.sch.uk or add anything you would like raised in the parent/carer box in the office. You can also speak to one of our parent ambassadors who can bring forward any suggestions in our termly meeting.  

In our parent ambassador forum, we will not discuss any personal issues or complaints as this is not the appropriate place to discuss any specific concerns.

Our Parent Ambassador forum is… 

• An opportunity for parents to come together to share ideas, and put their views forward. 

• It gives parents a voice and increases their active involvement in decision making, fostering a culture of ownership and participation in your child’s learning.  

• It develops a partnership between the school and parents/carers in order to support and promote children’s learning.  

• A place for the school to learn more about its parents and for the parents to learn more about the school.  

Our Parent Ambassador forum is not… 

• The channel for individual complaints/issues or concerns. (Concerns or complaints for individual children, families or staff will not be discussed. These should follow normal school procedures. The names of individual staff members or children will not be used in the meeting).  

• A decision making body.  It is involved in discussions and consultations, and how we, together, move the school forward. It is the Head teacher and the Governing Body that make the decisions and decide the strategic way forward for our school.   

• A replacement for the Governing Body.  

• A group that will become involved with staffing or financial issues.

The members of staff who will also work alongside our parent ambassadors are:

• Kerstie Rowlands – Lunchtime organiser and past parent

• Christine Lydon – Learning support staff in EYFS

• Emma Dawson – Learning support staff in EYFS

• Leanne McEntee – Pastoral support worker

• Hannah Dunn – Assistant Head teacher

Please also email our school admin if you are interested in joining this new group of parents in helping to improve our engagement with the wider community as well as improving the school.

Please see the 'Code of Conduct; and the latest Parent Forum minutes below: