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Thank you for taking the time to complete the questionnaire and for including your comments. It is very supportive to read all of your positive comments; these are shared with all Early Years staff. We also value your suggestions on what we could do better and would like to take the opportunity to respond to some of your feedback:
Communication and feedback
This year, due to COVID-19, we had to review, re-organise and adapt our whole approach to the run up to your child starting Nursery and Reception. Most notably, the absence of our summer term welcome meetings, then the subsequent Reception curriculum evening in September, meant that information was shared via more detailed slideshows on the website. We value these evenings immensely, both as an opportunity to share information on our Early Years curriculum and ‘school day’, and also as an opportunity to meet with you. The extended slideshows for both Nursery and Reception included all of the information we would normally share at these meetings, although we appreciate it is not as pertinent as hearing the information first hand. Similarly, because we could not facilitate visits for the children, we were unable to meet with them before they started with us. We hope that the short videos that staff created helped you to familiarise your child with us during the summer. We will continue to operate our texting service to signpost you to information on the school website. We sincerely hope that we are in a position to deliver these meetings and visits again in the summer term.
Inevitably, the need for social distancing has also had an impact on our ability to communicate with you at the beginning and end of each day. This is a time when we would normally pass on little snippets of information or ‘wow moments!’ which have happened each day. Staff are trying to include these via Learning Journeys, as well as trying to have a word with parents and carers as much as possible. In terms of phonics, Reception children are receiving books and activities which are closely matched to their phonic knowledge. We will continue to provide feedback on your child’s progress in their pink ‘Reading Record’ book and would ask you to do the same; it is a very valuable form of communication. Please keep your child’s ‘Reading Record’ and school reading book in their folder every day.
We are currently considering the format of our February parent consultations.
What is your child learning?
Learning Journeys in Nursery and Reception provide an overview of what your child has been learning each week. They also provide guidance on how you can support your child’s learning at home. This may be through encouraging your child to talk about a particular activity, retell a story or review what they have been doing. Useful links to websites are included in the reading guide in the curriculum section of the website. We will include these on our Spring 1 parent information sheet to direct you to helpful videos to help you to support your child with phonics at home.
Early Years curriculum information (as well as the Nursery and Reception slideshows) is also included on the school website. This includes adult led activities as well as child-initiated opportunities. You can follow the curriculum links to find out more.
We do not do spelling tests in Reception.
School lunches
Every child in Reception is entitled to a free school lunch. Again, due to the COVID-19 response, the organisation of lunches has been reviewed. Currently, there is not a choice of meals, and the salad bar cannot operate for hygiene reasons. We are currently in discussions with North Tyneside Catering Services regarding the provision of school meals at Marine Park. Current lunch menus can be viewed on the school website in the parentzone section under ‘school meal menus’.
Some children (a very small number) do bring their own packed lunch.
Please speak to Early Years staff if we can be of any further assistance.
Why did you choose our school?
- Was my first school
- It has a fabulous reputation and is close to our home
- Good facilities, proximity to home and the beach, option of wrap around, good reputation
- Reputation and location
- Distance from home
- Because it is an excellent school
- Proximity, multi-cultural environment, very good recommendations
- Catchment area school, good facilities, good reputation, encouraging environment at open day
- Because is good and nearly my house
- Local, inclusive, ambitious and community focussed
- Ofsted report and live within the catchment area.
- Proximity to home. Sibling already attending.
- Reputation, location, sister attends
- My son attended Marine Park after our relocation and had a great experience and therefore I really wanted my younger child at Marine Park as well.
- It’s very close to our house and it has a good reputation.
- Sibling already at same school
- Proximity to home
- Recommended by friend, location, outdoor facilities
- It is our catchment school and Teds older brother attends
- Recommended to me
- Location nice and my little boy like it too since he start Nursey.
- Following a tour of the school, we were really impressed with the facilities and the way it was organised.
- Location, recommended, good reports
- Walking distance and good reputation.
- Recommendation and catchment school
- Good reputation, great location and outdoor space plus only a short walk from home.
- Good reputation and catchment
- Reputation and locality.
- Brilliant care of children
- Reputation
- Proximity to home good reputation
- Location, curriculum, facilities, friendly atmosphere
- We were very impressed with it when we came for a look around.
- Excellent Reputation and location
- Recommendations from other parents, Ofsted report
- Good reputation, encouraged by the tour around the school before applying and great location.
- On recommendation
- Proximity
- Friendly
- Locality and highly recommended
- Reputation and Ofsted reports.
- Nearby. Good feedback and recommendations from friends.
- Good reputation. Catchment area.
- Ease of access, fitted with childcare, happy with school ethos /general approach/atmosphere, not met any unhappy parents.
- Proximity and parent recommendation
- Excellent reports, good feel on visit, liked headteacher, lots of extra curricular options, opportunity for children to mix with others
- Other parents we know gave very positive reviews
- Sibling
- Locality and size
- Excellent local reputation and OFSTED reports.
- Close to home, also a sibling attends here.
- Seems like a lovely community school
- Close to home, reputation
- Outdoor space, Community links
- Close to home
- It was our catchment school. We were hoping he could stay at Rockcliffe where he was at nursery but we were unsuccessful. However we are very happy with the school now he is settled.
- Catchment and positive experience of older child
- Because we live very close and it seemed to be a nice school set in a lovely outside space
- Sibling in higher year very happy and we can see the overall positive results.
- Recommendation
- Recommend
- Local school in my area
- Location and reputation
- Good reputation, OFSTED rating, word of mouth, location
- Location
- 2 other children have attended, fantastic caring staff, responsive to children's needs, good leadership, happy children!
- It’s our local school but we are so pleased our children attend Marine Park
- Locality and good reputation
- Because it’s our closest!
- Recommend by a friend
- Proximity, facilities, excellent formal rating and reputation
- Outdoor space, good reputation, lovely staff
- Good outdoor space and close proximity to our home.
- Ofsted rating
- Reputation from talking to other parents
- Excellent, happy staff, sister loves this school.
- Catchment
What have you been particularly pleased with?
- xxxx speech has improved
- The degree to which the school encourages xxxx’s creativity and his love of reading.
- xxxx has been very welcoming and friendly despite not being able to properly meet. She’s always made the effort to come to find me at pick up to reassure me that xxxx is very happy and settled as he can be upset at drop off.
- xxxx ‘s development over the last 6 weeks
- Covid response, communication with parents and the overall organisation
- My child is very happy at the school
- Encouragement and provision of reading material and progress with literacy in a short space of time has been amazing. Learning journey is great.
- The communication is excellent from the school especially during the uncertain period of the Covid 19 restrictions
- The communication - especially during the COVID pandemic has been outstanding.
- Controls in place for COVID.
- The care and quality of service
- "Support at home for Read Write Inc with the letters to cut out and the books - xxxx has really enjoyed this. Even though my son did Read Write Inc in Scotland in his first year at school he wasn't offered any of these resources from his school there.
- The Learning Journey has also been great to learn a bit more about what she's doing at school - completely appreciate the amount of effort that gets put into them and she's always excited to put something in to talk about at school. "
- I think the school’s actions during COVID have been very well communicated to parents. My girls have settled quickly and happily into their nursery class.
- My child settling in so quickly
- How happy my children are
- The way has settled in and his progress with ABC’s and numbers since he started
- How nurturing the nursery staff are. xxxx loves xxxx.
- School location . Teacher and staff are good qualifications and friendly.
- The teachers and head teacher are very professional, also friendly and approachable, and obviously care very much about the children at the school.
- Xxxx’s development, reading, writing, maths, problem solving
- Our son is really happy and at school. He is more focused and socially engaged.
- How well the children have settled in and that schools is doing their best to make everything as normal as possible.
- How well xxxx settled in during an extremely difficult year for everyone with so much disruption. The teachers have done a fabulous job returning some normality and routine to the children, and also to their families and it is so much appreciated.
- Xxxx has settled so well and seems to be making progress. Most importantly, he really loves coming to school.
- "I have been really pleased with how much xxxx is welcomed and supported within his lovely nursery class by the lovely nursery team. Xxxx loves going to school and he regularly shares lots of positive experiences with us, which are so lovely to hear. Xxxx is really happy at nursery and that is all we ask. I have full trust in the Nursery team that they provide a safe, secure and trusting environment whereby xxxx feels confident and will continue to thrive and develop through his play and learning. XXXX is like a sponge so it’s lovely and reassuring to see, through photographs and lovely messages in his learning journey, that his achievements are celebrated. We are really impressed with the out of hours care provided also, and how it is a continuous learning space, again with special moments shared in his learning journey.
- Thank you to everyone who supports xxxx in his learning day at school (including lunch staff). He is one happy boy, and we are happy parents. "
- Extra support with 6 year olds reading
- Teaching quality
- Weekly learning update
- High standards and expectations
- My child is very happy to come each day and comes home full of all the great things she has done each day.
- The progress both of my children have made. How well looked after and how happy they are going to school - thank you.
- Sharing of learning through learning journey, child's overall development, child really happy to go into school, loves his teachers and has made lots of friends
- The way xxxx has been brought in to feel part of the school community despite not having attended the school nursery and hardly knowing anyone.
- Even with the world going crazy, school life has stayed relatively normal.
- Variety
- Celebrates all children and abilities
- Very strong sense of community and holistic emphasis.
- Communication between teachers and parents.
- School feels welcoming and friendly.
- Use of School app to communicate.
- "Communication with parents - better than other schools I've experienced.
- School infrastructure
- Dealing well in all domains with covid situation and taking level-headed pragmatic approaches
- Unobtrusive baseline assessments
- Promoting a caring /wellbeing approach
- Overall, one of the positives and negatives when considering MPFS was the size of each year - so far its only been a positive. Really important to stress how both the class teachers and the SLT seem to be doing a fantastic job in very trying circumstances - well done "
- Communication during difficult period
- She absolutely loves coming and is getting do much from it
- Management of cases of covid - all managed calmly and with minimum fuss. Kept well informed via texts etc
- It's nice to read the learning journey and see photos.
- Care and support from teachers.
- How easily xxxx has settled into the school and how supportive nursery staff have been.
- Welcoming and friendly atmosphere. Caring staff. Promotes kindness.
- How happy and relaxed my son is given the current circumstances
- Just how happy xxxx is to go to school and see her teachers and friends
- Xxxx (Staff member’s name)
- My son is extremely happy at school. Information and resources to help with reading are shared. Staff respond very promptly to any queries / concerns.
- Pastoral aspect to learning
- The way the headmaster and all of the teachers kept in touch with the children during lock down and the way they have lead the school through the pandemic keeping everything as normal as possible under the circumstances.
- Breadth of education and ensuring basics are learnt very well. Interaction with staff is a positive.
- The support and care from all the teachers
- Communication and how happy my child is
- How well she settled in September after a long time away
- The community feeling. Xxxx has learned so much in the first term. She loves school and her teachers.
- My child's progress in most if not all areas
- The friendliness and caring nature of the staff
- Her integration into the new school- she has settled in really well. The staff are lovely.
- The care for the kids and the educational quality
- Teaching support
- Headteacher’s leadership
- The staff and headteacher
- That xxxx is forming good friendships and that she is learning alot.
- Everything
- The approach the teachers take with my child
- The two teachers are wonderful. Skilled, positive, talented and very approachable. I know that they will be doing everything they can to give him the best Reception experience in difficult times. They are still having lots of fun in class which is great to see.
- How happy my child is.
What could we do better?
- It would be nice to have a little bit more feedback about how Joseph is getting on with phonics etc but I appreciate things are very different with covid. Perhaps a telephone/video parents evening would be an option at some point ?
- N/a
- Communication with parents about individual children
- I cannot identify anything at the moment
- The lunches. We understand that a restricted menu is in place but there is no nutritional value to these meals.
- Check toilet hygiene more
- Nothing at the moment.
- I don’t know.
- More feedback about child
- More information on what they do on a daily basis. I find out more from what happens at ASC than the nursery. Some days xxxx doesn’t talk much about what he has done so I’d find it beneficial to find out from teacher
- Nothing
- I need teacher need teach my little one more about How to Start reading and writing and some creative activity and also teach some good motto and ethic that kids need on daily basis to apply in their life since they little until he became adult.
- More regular updates about how the children are progressing.
- As it is our sons first year in formal education we would have liked more communication about his development and behaviour. However we understand that because of the covid situation this has to come second to the health and safety of pupils and staff.
- "Key comunications - e.g.school photos, bay foodbank collection would benefit from specific messages as well as newsletter items. We've missed a few things!
- Noted that this year has been different for obvious reasons, but communications in the run up to school start in September weren't good. We found out alot of key things via the parent 'grapevine ' and because we have friends with older children who told us how things normally work!"
- Perhaps a digital learning journey/communication tool for parents and teachers to communicate where necessary. It would be lovely to see photos of what the children have done during the week.
- We have a really positive experience of nursery so we don’t feel anything could be better at this stage.
- More feedback
- Half term report for first term would be nice
- Nobody's fault because of Covid, but it has been a long time for the first report instead of parents evening. I have not yet had any reassurance of how he has settled and his engagement.
- The school dinners could be a little more balanced and varied, though I know that circumstances due to Covid-19 make this difficult.
- Communication
- More feedback on what our child is finding difficult so we can help at home
- Not much I don’t think!
- N/A
- It would be nice if the school used a communication app like Class Dojo or ParentZone - especially as communication options are so limited at the moment.
- V happy with everything so far. Am hoping for slightly more interaction (remotely if necessary) with teaching staff before Christmas, even just 5 mins via eg Zoom, otherwise all assessment of how she's settling in /getting on is guaged from xxxx (although to be fair she relates more to us about school than her teenage brothers!)
- The first few weeks (pre-learning journey) were more difficult for me as a parent - I had no idea what she was doing day to day and whether she was settling in. It would have been really good to have it explained that the learning journey would come in time
- It's difficult to say as some of the things I am less happy with are due to covid.
- "- use of a learning / Comms platform like SeeSaw would be far better than the text system for information at the moment. I work with a number of NT schools who are using seesaw to excellent effect.
- - improvement to the school website, finding information is difficult, the organisation of the website is poor and it doesn't reflect the high quality education that goes on inside classrooms."
- Provide medium term plans so parents can prepare students for upcoming work.
- Nothing
- We have moved our son to a packed lunch as we noticed that he was putting on weight eating a plate of chips every day! I know that this is the responsibility of the school meals service rather than the school, but the food is appalling. I can't believe they are served chips every day. Surely schools should not be contributing to the obesity crisis in the north east!
- In class tests such as spelling, ee practice them with the children but then don't know the results. Therefore, we can't support at home with any issues. Nursery wise, I think it's positive.
- N/a
- Na
- Better stage so we can see our children during performances
- More time to prepare for events where possible, eg special dressing up days
- N/A
- Not much!
- Nothing
- online classes
- Nothing - you're all ace!
- Nothing
- Nothing at this time
- More photos on Twitter to show what the children are learning at school.
- "Dojo, more information daily about what they are learning. Was really concerned one time when my child told me about ""people not allowed to see there"" pointing to his pants. Turns out, through a mummy text group that a story about staying safe was taught. I thought parents should have been made aware of that.
- I would like to see some more phonic videos demonstrating it as not sure everyone in the house is on board with the way it is taught. "
- Thank you very much for welcoming Joseph to the school so well despite current challenges.
- You are doing great despite the circumstances. Thank you
- We’ve had no feedback about how our child has settled in, how they are progressing and developing, whether there is anything we need to be aware of or do, not had opportunity to meet the teachers (though this is understandable given situation) which all feels a bit disappointing and distant to be honest. I think hearing from the school if they’ve settled in to reception ok would be valuable for parents during the first few weeks.
- The involvement in the pumpkin trail has been excellent and such a positive idea.
- Keep up the excellent work!!
- Thank you for your consistent communication during these challenging times, I do think staff have really done a really exceptional job in managing everything.
- Nothing more to says as far as I can think of . Will have to see in the future.
- We couldn’t be happier with the school. Any uncertainty we have is due to the barriers raised by the pandemic. We are confident that once social distancing measures are relaxed communications and engagement will match the high standards that are apparent elsewhere within all aspects of our sons care.
- Thank you for everything.
- I feel I have shared everything above.
- Thank you for your prompt action and support during these difficult times. Communication has been very good as has the online learning.
- We are looking forward to the short report coming out soon to find out how she is doing.
- Felt extrememely left in the dark during the first few weeks with no updates on how she was settling in etc
- N/A
- Thanks for all you're doing
- Thank you for helping her settle in, she loves it!
- Just to say that I appreciate all the effort that is going into keeping school running smoothly under such difficult conditions. I appreciate things must be quite stressful for all the staff - but they have helped my daughter settle in very quickly and smoothly.
- Thank you for making my child's first half term in school successful. Thanks also to all the teachers, it's a tough job at the best of times so the work you are doing throughout the pandemic is incredibly important.
- Keep doing the fantastic work you do. It's appreciated, especially in this current climate.
- "We are very grateful for everything the school is doing to help Sam to settle in and make progress.
- The information shared about curriculum / reading is very helpful. It would have been helpful to have known that this was coming earlier on, as there were no transition meetings this year. "
- Well done. My kids love nursery and school in general.
- N/a
- No
- N/A
- You're brilliant. Thank you.
- No
- I am over the moon with his start to Reception, I have full trust in the teachers and the school and know that as always they are going over and beyond, as they always do, to give my son a happy school experience. The school seems to get to know each child very quickly and settles them in with ease.
- "I would like to know the standard of lunches. My child always mentions very unbalanced meals. For example Pizza with pasta (no veg/cucumber).
- I would like to know more about when they will get a reading book. How they are doing. Do they record RWI in jotters? What group phonics are they in? Math, what can be supported. The report will be 11 weeks since he started and I do not feel I know enough about how I can support the learning at home. We do complete the pink, red and yellow letters. "
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