During the last academic year we visited our schools asking parents for their views and thoughts on how involved they felt in school life and whether they wanted to participate more.  We asked if they were aware of the Trust that their school belongs to, key roles of people in that Trust and initiatives that the Trust offer to all schools such as PE & ODL team, Winterton field study centre,   Horizons Home Time, Escape Holiday School and more logistical support such as our estates management team that keep our schools maintained.  We asked whether you wanted to take part in a parent group and if there were any barriers to you participating more in school life.

Although the results were incomplete as we were unable to visit all schools due to the pandemic, I wanted to take this opportunity to feedback to you all and share some key findings from the parents who did complete the survey.  If you weren’t one of those parents but would still like your say then please complete the questionnaire using the following link https://forms.gle/kKhApAfSGR5tjfpx6

Although we were unable to attend all schools in person our results reflect opinions from 163 parents across all 11 schools.

• Just over 80% of parents felt involved in school life.
• 94% attend parent’s evenings and 70% attend assemblies or social events.
• 88% would like to participate more in school life - but 63% have barriers that stop them such time constraints, not knowing how to get involved or feel there is a lack of encouragement to do so.
• In terms of our initiatives 58% aware of Parent Parliament; 54% aware of Escape Holiday School; 20% were aware of Horizons Home Time, our Residential Field Study Centre and that we have a dedicated Estates Management Team and 4% weren’t aware of any of the initiatives listed in the survey.
• 79% of parents felt confident in communicating with the Trust/School.  21% do have barriers which stop then engaging with either the Trust or the school and cover a range of issues such as time constraints, family & work commitments and confidence.

Our next step will be to set up parent focus groups - 76% of parents who took the survey said they would like to participate in a parent focus group. Once the full results have been shared with Academy Heads and the central staff team the aims of the focus groups will be identified and form the agenda for these sessions.

If you would like to be part of a focus group then please email Laura Rogers at  l.rogers@consortiumacademy.org to register your interest.