Parent Survey
2017 Parent Survey Results
We would like to thank the families that found time to complete the Parent Survey earlier this Term. The survey aimed to fill in some gaps that we found from the Insight SRC Survey.
The survey scale is from 0 - 10, with 10 being the best possible score.
Student Wellbeing
Parents rated their child’s happiness as quite high, with the average score of 8 out of a possible 10.
Parents commented on:
The social inclusiveness of children.
Successful peer relationships and friendships.
Teachers and staff are influencing the children happiness.
Galilee providing a safe environment, with nurturing teachers.
Children are learning new things all the time.
Opportunity for children to develop social skills.
Educational Experiences
After considering the academic, spiritual and social development of their child/ren, parents scored their child’s overall educational experience as 7.62.
Parents commented on:
The structure and success of the early years program.
The need for extension for those working above standard.
Positive results from Intervention Programs.
Needs to be a greater focus on science and maths through STEAM.
The variety of experiences that are offered to the children.
Religion is being integrated through the curriculum.
Learning is sequenced.
The development of spiritual understanding, and the effects it has on children’s growth and morals.
Homework is always a contentious topic! The parents at Galilee were asked to consider how homework supported their child’s learning. The average score was 6.4. The opinions varied as some parents do not believe that homework is beneficial and some parents consider it important to their child’s learning and connection to school. There also seems to be some confusion as to what Homework is classified as. Teachers set homework such as: readers, spelling, preparation for oral presentations, rubrics, online tasks and small projects for example.
Parents comments were:
Homework has no value to a child’s learning and only creates stress.
There is no relationship between the learning at school and homework.
Allows us to understand the areas where our children need more guidance.
Homework can be excessive.
Homework is interesting and challenging.
Primary school children shouldn’t receive regular homework. More focus should be on family, playing, sport and other activities.
Family dynamics affect the ability to complete homework.
Parents also had the opportunity to comment on how to improve the structure of homework.
Guide parents at start of year as to the expectations and how we can support/encourage children to undertake tasks. Include how long tasks should take and if parents can assist.
Reflection on the time frame given to complete tasks.
Homework to have a focus on the areas of improvement.
More interactive tasks.
More consistency across the year levels, with a gradual increased amount of time and effort as the child moves through year levels.
Include practical approaches to learning, rather than textbook or worksheets.
School Reports have always scored low in the previous 5 years using the Insight SRC Survey. However, in our personalised Galilee survey, School Reports averaged the score of 7.16.
Parents commented on:
Overly complicated.
Enjoy reading the teacher’s comments.
The structure is easy to read.
Academic performance is communicated, but not spiritual or social.
Reports are impersonal and generic.
Love and passion of the teachers has been taken out of the general comment.
Checklist of what is being taught and how my child is measured against it.
Structure is repetitive and boring.
Parents were asked to list their preference of a language choice at Galilee. Italian and Mandarin were the most popular.
Parents were also asked to reflect on specialist classes and how valuable they are for the holistic education and development of their child/ren. Parents unanimously agreed that all specialist classes play an integral role in their child’s education.
Parent Engagement
Parents rated their opportunities to be involved in the school community, e.g. classroom helper, incursions/excursions, sporting events, school events (trivia night, School BBQ), Masses and Liturgies and in their child/ren’s learning. The average score was 8.6.
Parents commented on:
The challenges of being a working parent.
Continual opportunities to be involved and that times are varied to include more people.
There are many opportunities and lots of different ways to be involved.
Open communication between parents and staff.
Consideration that Information Night’s to be held outside of working hours.
The doors are always open and positive encouragement for inclusion, including Open Classrooms.
Greater opportunities for parents to speak to children about their interests, jobs or special skills.
Parents were asked to reflect on communications with the school - written and verbal. Parents regularly read communication from the school with the average score of 9.1. Parents had differing opinions on communication, with some appreciating the amount given and others finding it overwhelming.
Some suggestions were:
Suggestion box at the school.
Have the teacher’s email.
Reduce the size of the newsletter.
Parents to have a greater responsibility to seek information via the newsletter, website, CareMonkey.
Parents rated the approachability and support of other parents at Galilee as 7.9.
Working parents sometimes find it difficult to make connections with others.
Parent culture is positive.
There are opportunities to mix and mingle.
There have been occasions where parents have not approached others appropriately, in front of the children.
Some parents make complaints about the school, making other parents feel uncomfortable.
There needs to be some consideration about paid parent events for those families who cannot afford it.
Galilee has a strong sense of community.
Parents are friendly and welcoming.
Parents were asked to reflect on the initiatives offered at Galilee.
Parents made comments on what they valued about the Galilee School Community, here are a collection of those comments:
Small school.
Values being instilled in the children and the open communication between teachers and parents.
The good community spirit and how all children in the various year levels know each other by name.
A sense of belonging, a small and close knitted community with supportive and friendly teachers and parent groups.
Friendly, approachable teachers and happy children.
The inclusive safe environment for our children to learn.
The work and effort put in by some of the teachers and the administration staff
The feeling that every child is valued and recognised within the school
Small school with high amount of pastoral care, especially good for younger year levels.
New leadership team has effected a number of positive changes at the school.
The balance in the curriculum and more recently the approach to give a little extra help to students by introducing initiatives such as the maths intervention program.
Enthusiasm of teachers.
Small, friendly both teachers and students. Students have manners. My child loves going to school.
Small school with high amount of pastoral care, especially good for younger year levels. We have found new leadership team has affected a number of positive changes at the school. We have always felt that staff are listening and helpful whenever we have raised any issues or concerns.
Quality education in loving and caring environment.
Staff who dedicate their time to ensuring our children receive the best education they can. Approachability of staff is very high.
Parents shared ideas on how we could improve the Galilee School Community, here are a collection of those comments:
Utilising all spaces in the school.
Smaller class sizes.