Communication with Parents Policy

Our school is a community where pupils, parents, teachers, and ancillary staff collaborate and work in partnership for the children. Respect for the professional role of the teacher and an awareness of the statutory responsibilities of the Principal, Patron and Board of Management is always an essential and important consideration. Our school recognises the important and central role the parents/guardians play in the education of their children.

1. Parents are invited to become involved in the school in many ways and at many levels, for example:

• Serving on school bodies e.g. Board of Management, Parents Association
• Fundraising
• Policy making e.g. Code of Discipline; Relationships and Sexuality Education; School Lunch Box etc.

2. Communication with parents takes place on an ongoing basis under the following headings:

• Infant Day – Introduction to classroom surroundings, teacher and general ethos of the school
• Parent/Teacher Meetings organised formally once a year
• Religious meetings for children in Sacrament classes
• New Curriculum Development e.g. ‘Stay Safe’
• Letters are sent home on ongoing basis regarding school policy updates, holidays, concerts, sports, walks, health issues etc.
• Parents are informed regarding misbehaviour of pupils and major incidents involving pupils in the school
• We ask for consent with regard to children attending Learning Support Teacher/Resource Teacher or Medical/Psychological/Behavioural Assessments
• We also inform parents of Medical tests that are carried out on a yearly basis by the H.S.E. e.g. eye, ear, dental, MMR etc.
• A report on each child’s progress in each class will be sent home at the end of each school year.
• The homework diary is used extensively for a lot of the above correspondence and any notes going home should be signed by the parent/guardian. If contact is unsuccessful, follow-up can take place by phone or letter. Contact details will be updated annually.

3. Outside of these times if a parent/guardian wishes to communicate with a teacher the following guidelines apply:

• Appointment should be made through the school secretary for a time during school hours, suitable to both parties for an agreed purpose. It follows from this that teachers should not under any circumstance be approached at the school gate or outside school time on school business.
• It should also be understood that phone calls to the homes of teachers will not be entertained.

4. If a teacher encounters aggressive or intimidating behaviour, physical or verbal abuse from a parent/guardian the following steps should be followed:

• End meeting
• Report to Principal, Deputy Principal or another colleague and subsequently to the Manager /BOM
• Where necessary, immediate medical assistance should be sought and the victim can be taken to casualty
• Record incident as soon as possible
• Parent/Guardian will be instructed in writing not to make direct contact with the teacher or the school pending full consideration of the matter by the B.O.M.
• See also our policy on Violence in the Workplace.

For any meeting with the parent/guardian a teacher may be accompanied by another member of staff

5. Formal Parent/Teacher meetings take place each year and because of class size they tend to be short. They will deal with the academic and social progress of the child. If a child has ongoing educational/behavioural problems a separate meeting, as suggested above, should be arranged.