It was great to meet parents of our new S1 on Thursday. We know how much Parents like to put faces to names and it is also of great value to teachers to meet parents. We do a great deal to try and support the transition of pupils into S1 with many from our local Primaries having had around 6 half day subject visits and a 2-3 days following their timetable with senior buddies before starting here. Parents who have developed relationships with their local Primaries over many years can find their local Secondary school to be further away both in terms of distance and relationships. The early parents night is one way we have of shortening this distance.
This weekly blog, twitter, Group Call and Google classroom are some of the other ways we use to try and shorten the distance between home and school. We have a very active Parent Council and work very closely with them to find ways to support Family Learning – one example being a well attended open evening we held last session for P6-S3 Parents.
We appreciate it is not always easy for parents to make it along on any date we set and if you were unable to attend or need to speak with outwith the times we set then do not hesitate to get in contact.
We also appreciate that there are, at times, challenges as we try to navigating our way through the pressures of being a school, a parent and a teenager. When this happens and we have a difference of opinion I hope we come over as being approachable, willing to listen and seeking to work on finding a way forward together.
Most of the time this seems to be the case but there are times when, for whatever reason, a parent feels they wish to make a formal complaint or want someone outwith the school to take an independent look at a situation. I do not think either of these options should be seen in a negative way as both can lead to an improvement in the situation for the young person, which is the goal we are all seeking to achieve. Links to both the complaints and mediation processes are under the information tab on our website but are copied here for information:
https://harlawacademy.aberdeen.sch.uk/complaints/
https://harlawacademy.aberdeen.sch.uk/asn-mediation-service/
In closing there are times when parents get in contact to let me know about something their child has achieved outwith school or something we have done well with and they want to say thank you. We are always happy to receive this sort of communication as again it can help us acknowledge the achievement of a pupil, the contribution of a member of staff or learn from something we have done that has been of help to you.
It was great to meet so many parents from S1 last week and we are now looking forward to welcoming S5/6 parents back to the school on 13th November and S4 Parents on Tuesday 26th November.