Parent Voice Survey Results

October 2025

At Our Lady & St Joseph Catholic Primary School, we value the views of our parents and carers. In Autumn 2025, we carried out a Parent Voice Survey to gather feedback about different aspects of school life. We were delighted to receive 106 responses from parents across the school.

We are proud that the overwhelming majority of parents reported that their child is happy, feels safe, enjoys school and is supported by positive role models. Parents also recognised our strong Catholic ethos, welcoming community and the care shown by staff.

The survey highlighted a number of significant strengths, with particularly high levels of strong agreement from parents:

✅ Children feel safe at school – 98.1% positive responses, including 49.1% who strongly agreed that their child feels safe at OLSJ.

✅ Children are happy at school – 96.2% positive responses, with an impressive 50.9% strongly agreeing that their child is happy at school.

✅ Children are encouraged to behave respectfully – 93.4% positive responses, including 47.2% strongly agreeing that the school promotes respectful behaviour.

✅ Staff are positive role models – 90.6% positive responses, with 48.1% of parents strongly agreeing that staff provide excellent examples for children.

✅ The school is a supportive and joyful community – 89.6% positive responses, including 39.6% strongly agreeing with this statement.

✅ Parents understand and support the Catholic mission of the school – 88.7% positive responses, with 49.1% strongly agreeing that they understand and value the school's Catholic ethos.

Some of the comments received included:

"Very nice Catholic school."

"Great school, no complaints at all. Good thanks."

"The school has helped. She has become more thoughtful, respectful and disciplined."

"Our child feels really supported and loves coming to school."

We are committed to listening to our community and continually improving. Below are some of the key themes from the survey and the actions we have taken in response.

Parent Comment	School Action
"Would be good to get a small weekly letter from the class teacher."	We have continued to enhance communication with parents throughout this academic year. In addition to our weekly school newsletter, sent every Friday and packed with information about learning, events and celebrations across the school, we also share additional weekly Nursery and Reception Newsletters. We hold a Meet the Teacher session at the start of each academic year and two Parents' Evenings annually, which is in line with other local schools. We recognise that communication is important and encourage parents to contact the school office [email protected] at any point during the year if they would like to arrange a meeting with their child's class teacher.
"More notice for event days — sometimes messages come on the same morning."	Following the survey, we have further strengthened our communication systems. Key dates are shared with parents at the start of each term and we now send a reminder of upcoming events every Monday morning. We create posters for events and share these with families as far in advance as possible. Reminder text messages are also sent before events and a final reminder is issued at 7:00am on the day of the event. These changes have helped ensure parents have more notice and can plan ahead.
"More support and better discipline for children who disrupt lessons."	This academic year we reviewed our Behaviour Policy to ensure that it supports all children effectively. We have clear behaviour expectations across the school and use a restorative approach, helping children understand the impact of their actions, repair relationships and make positive choices moving forward. We work closely with families and, where appropriate, access support from external agencies such as BASS (Behaviour and Attendance Support Service) to provide additional intervention and guidance.
"Zero tolerance to misbehaviour."	At OLSJ, we are proud to be an inclusive school. Whilst we maintain high expectations for behaviour and have clear consequences in place, we also recognise that some children may need additional support to manage their behaviour. Our restorative approach ensures that children are held accountable for their actions whilst being supported to develop the skills needed to make positive choices. This allows us to maintain a calm, safe and respectful environment whilst ensuring every child feels valued and supported.
"The only thing I would like to request is access to the food menu. My son can be a bit of a picky eater and it would be nice to know what he had in school so I can offer him a wider variety at home."	School lunch menus are regularly shared with parents and can also be accessed via the school website. In addition, our School Council has taken a leading role in gathering pupil feedback and working directly with our catering team to suggest improvements. As a result, we have further enhanced our provision through themed dining experiences including Spanish Day, International Day and World Cup Feast Days, helping children experience a wider variety of foods and cultures.
"More after school activities/clubs."	We are proud to offer extensive wraparound care through both Breakfast Club and After School Care. Breakfast Club operates from 7:30am and provides places for up to 40 children in Years 1–6 and 24 EYFS pupils. It is run by a highly trained team who ensure children have the best possible start to the day. Daily Mile takes place from 8:30am and all children are welcome to join. After School Care runs until 6:00pm and provides places for up to 72 children in Years 1–6 and 32 EYFS pupils. Children can enjoy reading, homework support, games, sports, arts and crafts and crochet activities in a safe and nurturing environment. We continue to review opportunities to further expand our extra-curricular offer.
"More experiences and trips."	This academic year we have significantly increased enrichment opportunities. Every class has attended at least one educational visit each term, with many classes attending two. Trips are carefully planned to enhance and enrich curriculum learning. Additional experiences have included reward trips for attendance prize winners such as Ice Skating and the IFS Cloud Cable Cars. Pupils have also benefited from specialist workshops including Water Song in Year 3 and Ballet Shoes in Year 5, alongside a range of visitors and curriculum enrichment activities throughout the year.