Worried parents need support
WHEN your child is at a school which has effectively come close to being placed into ‘special measures’, parental awareness of the day-to-day life in school is immediately ratcheted up.
And so we understand and empathise with parents with children at St Sampson’s High School being worried about the prospects for their children in their forthcoming GCSE exams.
We can be sure that the Education authorities will be aware of those concerns, and, as they are looking to turn around the fortunes of the school, will be bearing that in mind.
However Education officials must be aware that what matters for parents is what is happening now. It’s no comfort for them to know that things may improve three years down the line.
Parents clearly want their best for their offspring.
But often they also feel powerless within the school corridors. As much as parents want to understand what should and should not happen at school, often they have only their own educational experience to fall back on, which may have been in a very different environment and era.
So they are heavily reliant on teachers and education officials to offer reassurance. And in what are clearly difficult times for Education and teaching across the board, that reassurance is likely to come best from clear, consistent and multi-channel communication.