School Communication Policy

Introduction At Emerald Primary School we believe that healthy relationships across and within our school community are critical in supporting student learning. This communication plan has been written to ensure that we are honouring our school values in the way we communicate with each other and with all school stakeholders. This policy represents a change from our normal practice and will be implemented incrementally over an 18 month period. Why is effective communication so important? Effective communication enables pupils to receive continuity of education, care, support and management within home and school settings. For the majority of primary schools this communication takes place mainly through the frequent verbal interactions between parents and staff, as children are brought to and from school. Our school has needed to include additional forms of communication to ensure we reach our students, families and other stakeholders across a broad range of communication systems available to families. With this in mind, the use of email, social media, Short Messaging Service (SMS) and other / emergent forms of digital communication will be the schools primary means of communicating with our community. Personal Contact details: Home Address, Telephone Numbers, Email The school holds emergency contact details for all pupils, and parents are contacted on an annual basis to ensure that these are updated. Families are encouraged to inform the school in a timely manner in the event that contact information needs to be revised. Depending on the nature of the communication, the school will use the most practicable means to contact a parent/carer. Forms of communication used at Emerald Primary School to provide effective communication 1. Home/School Reading Folder. This folder provides a focused link between home/school for Preps, Grade 1 and Grade 2 classes. At this age daily communication between parents and class staff is essential. Parents need and are provided with information to assist them in talking to their child about the events of the day. Daily communication provides essential information about curriculum, progress, health, behaviour, self-help needs. This method offers advice to assist in developing continuity of approach (objects may also be passed between home and school to provide additional opportunities for staff/parents to communicate). Middle / Upper School Grades Three, Four, Five and Six The majority of our pupils are able to answer simple questions about the days events. Communication is provided for parents as/when necessary. Communication centres mostly around curriculum progress, homework, camp, behaviour and provides a digitally written dialogue between home and school. 2. Projection Sheets Each term parents are emailed a curriculum overview from their childs class teacher. The overview clearly identifies the focus of the work, taking place with the class during the term/half term, and identifies how parents can support their childs work at home. Staff are available to discuss this further with parents if needed. These are also posted on the Communications Page of our web site.

3. Parents Evenings All parents are invited to bi-yearly Parent Teacher Interviews. The meetings give parents and class staff the opportunity to talk through each childs progress, and time to look at work completed by the child during the term. Parents are allocated a 10 minute time slot in February and 15 minute time slot in June; if more time is necessary, staff will be happy to arrange another meeting. 4. Term Reviews For children included in our Program for Students with Disabilities (PSD): During each childs term review meeting (PSG), staff and parents have an extended period of time (30 minutes) to focus on a pupils progress and to plan together for their future needs. Parents will be emailed a report after the meeting, which highlights progress in all curriculum areas as well as social and personal development. 5. Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) Children identified as requiring support or extension with their learning have an ILP developed to map this support. Parents receive an electronic copy of this in time to discuss at Parent Teacher Interviews. Each ILP offers practical advice to parents on how they can work with school staff to support their child in achieving targets to assist the childs progress. 6. Open Door Policy Parents are welcome to visit the school to discuss their childs progress, ask questions, gain support or to have the opportunity to talk about their child/home issues with either the childs class teacher. It is difficult to facilitate uninterrupted time with a spontaneous visit immediately before our after school. Therefore, parents are encouraged to email their class teacher directly or contact office staff to arrange a face to face meeting. 7. Parents Group Our parents group meets regularly during term time (see our Facebook page, Twitter or newsletter for details). At each meeting there is an opportunity to speak to and discuss issues with each other. 8. Printed or Written Communication Homework / Notices / Head lice Checks / Interview Forms / Projections Sheets / Behaviour Books / Communication Books. The use of printed communication does not reflect our values of respect (for our environment) success (at two way communication) and friendliness (social media affords a stronger relationships within the school community) as a school. Where possible, all general purpose printed communication will be delivered electronically. Not only is it more environmentally friendly as it decreases paper usage, but reduces photocopying and other costs in the school. Parents and members of our school community are urged to provide us with their email address as part of the enrolment process. General correspondence passed on to families through email will also be hosted on the Communication page on our web site. 9. Telephone Calls Telephone calls will be made where immediate contact with a family member is required i.e. for pupil injury or pupil incident. A member of staff will call the first named emergency contact as listed. Where no contact is made, a call will then be made to the second named contact. In the event that no live contact can be made, the member of staff will either leave an answer phone message (ascending order as before) or ensure that repeat calls continue to be made to the contact numbers, where possible. 10. Exclusions Not all families have access to email or the Internet during the week. Where formally requested, printed communication will continue to be made available to those families. Forms which need a signature from a parent or guardian can be printed at home and returned to school or collected from the basket hanging near the front office and handed in. As the school develops systems that ameliorate the need for written permission and alternative means of holding or gaining parent permission the need for this exclusion will be diminished.