In the school week beginning Tuesday 4 May 2021, The Corinium Education Trust invited pupils, parents and staff across all of our schools to provide us with feedback by completing our stakeholder surveys. These surveys are based on those asked by Ofsted during an inspection and they enable us to take the temperature in each of our schools and across the Trust and gauge perceptions at a specific point in time.

 

In spite of the challenges presented by the global pandemic over the last 14 months, we were especially pleased to see relatively high levels of satisfaction continuing across all of our schools with 91% of parents confirming their children feel happy in The Corinium Education Trust’s schools and 96% reporting their children feel safe in their current schools. Communication was also commended across the Trust with 95% of parents confirming they felt well informed and 94% finding it easy to approach their children’s schools.

 

Similarly, we were delighted to learn that 97% of staff feel proud to be members of our learning community and enjoy working at their schools within The Corinium Education Trust. They also commended our school leaders with 95% of colleagues recognising the high levels of encouragement, challenge and support they receive.

 

Our pupils’ reflections on their experiences this year were a little more reserved and their responses, perhaps more so than the adults, reflect the impact of the pandemic on the continuity of our provision. Reassuringly, 88% of pupils still enjoy learning at their schools in The Corinium Education Trust and 87% feel listened to by teachers in their schools. However, their responses, while overwhelming positive about the level of challenge (94%) and support they receive (92%), have highlighted the need for school leaders across the Trust to provide more to promote and support our pupils’ physical, emotional and mental health in 2021-22 with each averaging around 73%, but lowest is our secondary school, Cirencester Deer Park. Their wellbeing, and the wellbeing of staff, is being taken forward as a priority in our strategic planning.

 

This year, most pupils and all parents and staff were invited to complete their surveys online and they could respond to the positional statements and provide written responses too. Pupils wrote about their experiences of home learning during the periods of lockdown and the relief they felt at being able to return to school. Parents commended the online provision in some of our schools and commended the efforts teachers, and other school staff, had made throughout the pandemic. Where they were occasionally critical, staff also recognised the difficult decisions our school leaders had had to make to ensure education could continue safely and effectively for all concerned.

 

Similar surveys were last conducted in 2019. These were mostly completed by parents during Parents’ Evenings and, therefore, we had higher response rates. However, where we previously targeted specific year groups, this year all pupils were invited to respond.

 

The results of our stakeholder surveys for each school will be shared with members of our local governing bodies and The Corinium Education Trust’s trustees. They will also inform our school and Trust self-evaluation. We are very grateful to everyone who completed a survey. We value the feedback we have received.

 

‘Lovely school. Proud to be part of the changes.' Member of staff at Siddington CofE Primary School

 

‘Everyone is so supportive and friendly. The lessons and work challenge me.’ Year 5 pupil, Kemble Primary School

 

‘I think the school did a really excellent job of engaging home learners and I was very impressed by the live lessons delivered by teachers and teaching assistants.’ Parent, Kemble Primary School

 

‘The school takes good care of every pupil and doesn't tolerate disruptive behaviours which means everyone is at their best.’ Year 11 pupil, Cirencester Deer Park School

 

‘It is a very safe, welcoming and kind school with lovely staff.’ Year 7 pupil, Cirencester Deer Park School

 

‘Deer Park were outstanding in both the speed of engagement and the standard of remote learning since the start of the pandemic.’ Parent, Cirencester Deer Park School