Our Governors have recently asked us to look more closely into the reasons that our Enrichment offer scored the lowest satisfaction rating on our community survey back in the Summer Term. 17% of respondents to that stated neutral or negative views about the ‘extras’ on offer at Parkdale, which is a concern to Governors and Transform Trust Execs and Trustees who have always prioritised this aspect of school-life and felt that the offer here was particularly strong – a source of pride, in fact.
Naturally, staff, who work very hard to provide many experiences above and beyond the core curriculum, much of it voluntarily in their own time, were also somewhat surprised by this feedback. Our reputation locally, further afield and within Transform is that we are a school with an unusually high level of commitment to going beyond the core curriculum, so again this feedback was a bit of a shock. Our offer ‘beyond the curriculum’ is often cited by admissions applicants as a reason for wanting a place or transfer into Parkdale.
To ensure a fair and balanced report – not just school-led ‘propaganda’, we have loaded details of our enrichment and extra-curricular offer for AI analysis and comparison against that of other schools and against Ofsted expectations. We asked the AI to summarise our offer and evaluate it critically. The outcome of this is presented below and we hope it is reassuring to our community that they and their children are not being ‘short changed’.
Of course, we will not ‘rest on our laurels’ and we are always trying to offer more. Last year, for example, hosting more community events and inviting parents/carers into school more frequently was part of our School Improvement Plan.. We plan to build on this further this year.
As far as clubs go, we are doing what we can. We have previously explained that we are regrettably unable to offer the once popular Multi-Sports Clubs due to costs of over £5,000 for the outside providers, but staff have tried valiantly to fill the gaps with clubs run voluntarily, against the background of the ongoing national ‘work to rule’ which specifically states that they shouldn’t be doing this. We are grateful to them for that.
Maybe you have skills and time to offer? If, having read the report, you feel there is a gap which you could support us with by leading a club yourself, please feel free to let us know.