Our Partnership with Families

Our continuing partnership with parents is absolutely crucial if we are to ensure that our students make the most of their time at Woodfield School. Most of our students are transported to and from school, so the daily contact at the school gates or on the playground is rare. That’s why we encourage parents to visit the school, both formally and informally, as often as possible.

We offer two Parents’ Evenings where students’ progress is discussed. We do encourage students to be involved in the process as this does encourage them to understand what has been achieved and how they can improve.

The Student Planner is an important contact book for both school and home and we actively encourage its use. Regardless of this method of communication, we do encourage parents to contact us as soon as they identify a concern or problem.

Parents are also invited to special occasions where they can see for themselves, how Woodfield operates. We hold an Open Day each February for current families as well as other visitors. There is the annual Christmas performance which is a huge success, as well as a number of social events for families throughout the year. Visitors to the school always comment on how friendly and polite the students are. It is important, also, that our students learn to socialise with others; they love to show people round the school or have the opportunity to talk with a variety of visitors.

New Families

First impressions are key. That is why the headteacher will personally meet all prospective families and show them round the school, often encouraging further visits nearer transition time. By the time we offer an Induction Day in the summer term, there has already been positive contact/visits. At this day, families find out about the day to day running of the school, and how they can help their child get off to the best possible start. We always encourage them to tour the school as this continues to give excellent and usually very accurate impressions of our ethos and expectations. Our evaluations have told us that both students and parents were 100% pleased with the induction programme.  Year 7 tutors make home visits to the incoming year 7 to ensure there is a smooth transition. This has proved to be very worthwhile in forging positive relationships and families have commented on how important this has been to them.

For students in Year 9, we hold an evening session to introduce both parents and students to what we offer in the last two years of their child’s education, what opportunities there are beyond sixteen and the personnel who can support during transition. This is in addition to the termly Parents’ Evenings. All of these are essential to attend in order to support each student in the best possible way.

We welcome opportunities for parents to volunteer their time to help with a range of activities at school. To date, parental involvement has been highly successful and has actually led us to adopt a parent governor! If interested in offering a little of your time to support the school, then contact the school office.