BAROMETER GROUP MINUTES
TUESDAY 24TH NOVEMBER 2015
Apologies:
Mrs M Chilvers , Parent; Mr D O’Toole, Parent Mrs S Rafferty; Parent
Present:
Miss J Mason
Mrs S Crawford
Principal
Deputy Principal - Pastoral
Mr B Hannon
Parent
Mrs C Pomfret
Mr J Goulder
Deputy Principal -Teaching & Learning
Parent Governor (observer)
Mrs F Hannon
Mrs T Partridge
Parent
Parent
Mr J Barron
Mrs S Duckworth
Parent
Parent
Mrs R Pook
Mrs S Cumming
Parent
Parent
Mr N Hosking
Parent
Miss F Watts
Parent
Area of focus
Key discussion points
Follow up action
Matters arising from
last meeting
Charlotte Wolf (Librarian) & Dave Clemow (English teacher & Y7
Head of Year) are trialling reading passports with Year 9 top set
groups. These are ordinarily reserved for KS4 students. If
successful, this will be rolled out to Y7 & Y8 to support the most
avid readers.
None
Home Learning policy has since been updated by a group of staff.
National & international research about the purpose & impact of
home learning has been drawn upon. Parents have a chance to
comment before the policy is taken to students & Heads of
Department in January for ratifying.
Please read through the policy &
email Clare Pomfret with any
comments by Friday 4th December
on
pomfret@heles.plymouth.sch.uk
Tom Graham explained the new assessment and reporting system
& stressed it is work in progress. We will be refining the system
throughout the year, & feedback from parents, students & staff
will be instrumental in this. A great deal of discussion followed.
The rationale and the philosophy behind the new reporting
system was deemed to be sound. The bar has been raised for
students of all abilities, with an aspirational target of at least four
levels of progress from their Key Stage 2 SATs results being set.
Parents welcomed the increased challenge presented to all
students, regardless of starting points. However, those students
making progress in line with national expectations (3 Levels of
Progress) are deemed to be under performing, which parents
found misleading & unfair. There was some discussion about the
value of keeping the current grade, or whether this added a
confusing layer. There is variation in the way the current grade is
used against the estimated grade – the school is working hard on
ensuring consistency & clarity amongst all staff. Parents wanted
to know what the next steps in learning are, & reported they
would prefer to have this in one place (perhaps the student
planner?) so they could discuss this with their children easily
rather than having to look in books across a number of subjects.
The role of the tutor that of subject teachers was discussed, with
a request to find an opportunity when the Interim Assessment is
issued in giving those next steps. There was suggestion that the
tutor evening could happen for most year groups later in term 1,
after the interim assessment had been issued. This would give
parents and tutors more focus and purpose to the discussion. Year
Tom Graham to lead further
discussion at SLT meeting with a
view to tweaking the system for
IA2, specifically around:
Assessment &
Reporting (Tom
Graham, Assistant
Principal)

information and help to
interpret the new grading
system

ensuring
consistency
across teachers

ways to capture & share
next steps to close the
gap between the current
grade
and
the
aspirational target grade

consideration of the
number of reports per
year
7 could happen early in the term as a ‘meet the tutor’/settling in
conversation.
Anti-bullying policy –
Sandra Crawford
Sandra Crawford demonstrated the ‘Confide’ button on the school
website where members of the school community can report any
concerns or worries about bullying, & not be a bystander. Reports
are purposely not anonymous since it is sometimes important to
know who to speak to if follow-up is required. This came out of
Student Voice, whereby some students were asking teachers to
do more to tackle a clique mentality in some lessons where some
students felt ostracised and that the teacher was unaware.
Students termed this ‘silent bullying’. Children can decide who to
report to: Mrs Pomfret, Mrs Crawford or Mr Graham. The system
received a very positive response from parents. It was suggested
that some students might feel intimidated about reporting to
senior members of staff, although this doesn’t appear to have
been an issue thus far. There have been 31 contacts made via the
Confide button, with 15 of these being bona fide concerns that
have been followed up. Mrs Crawford talked through how the
school deals with incidents of bullying. Although rare, bullying can
& does happen, but we have a robust system for tackling this
swiftly. Cyber bullying has certainly has certainly increased over
the years & has presented its own challenges. The current antibullying policy was distributed to parents for information.
Please pass any further thoughts
or comments to Sandra Crawford
by e-mail
crawfords@heles.plymouth.sch.uk
AOB
Parents who attended the recent Post-16 Opportunities evening
were very appreciative of the support that was provided by staff
and students, and wanted to pass on their thanks for an excellent
evening. Some parents had attended open evenings at other
schools but commented that "Hele's is up there with the best.”
Justine Mason will pass on thanks
and feed back to staff through the
staff bulletin this Friday.
Meeting closed at 7.40pm
Date of Next Meeting: Tuesday 26th January, 6.30pm, in 5A
Agenda :
Food provision (specifically looking at the nutritional content of the menu) – Wendy Farnham, Business Manager
Assessment & Reporting after IA2 – Tom Graham, Assistant Principal