Pupil & Parent Voice

At St Ivo School we strongly believe in giving the students a voice and an opportunity to influence and input into aspects of their experience while in school. Whenever possible we try to use Pupil Voice to inform and influence decisions in a very real way. The main areas that students are consulted on are:

In addition, we are actively engaged in Parent/Carer Voice work, asking selections of parents/carers for their opinions on matters which affect their child whilst in school and regarding matters of home/school communication.

Every Child Matters

Below are links to the are results to an internal questionnaire that was completed to investigate student opinions regarding the school and the Every Child Matters agenda from the government. The questions are wide ranging covering many different areas of school life. The work was conducted in the Summer term of 2006 and the Summer term of 2008 (with the same questionnaire) allowing comparison. School Leadership use the results as part of their self-evaluative process and respond to the issues it raises as appropriate.

Click here for the results of the 2006 questionnaire, and here for the results of the 2008 questionnaire (Microsoft Excel files).

Options Process Review - Pupil and Parent Voice May 2007

Click here to see the results of the parent survey (PDF document). 50 questionnaires were sent out to parents/carers of Year 9 students (parents were identified by the Head of Year to ensure a fully representative sample). 45 questionnaires were returned. Please note that some questions do not add up to 45 as not all parents answered every question, and percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Click here to see the results of the pupil survey (PDF document). 276 pupils were consulted. Please note that some questions do not add up to 276 as not all students answered every question, and percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Timing Of The School Day

Pupil, parent/carer and staff voice work has been carried out as part of our consultation on changing the timings and structure of the school day. Click here for a PowerPoint presentation showing the results of this work, together with models for the structure of the school day and other information including possible arrangements for those pupils travelling to and from school by bus. The information shown in this presentation is also available in a PDF document - click here to access this.

Key Stage 4 Review

During the autumn term of 2005 we will be conducting a review of the Key Stage 4 curriculum. The aim is to review what courses are on offer to students in Years 10 and 11 and the number of courses that students study. As part of the process all interested parties will be consulted including staff, students and parents. Click on a link below to access documents outlining the work undertaken with both current Year 9 and their parents/carers (please note that documents are PDF files, which require Adobe Acrobat Reader to open):

Pupil Voice - questionnaire, results and results commentary.

Parent/Carer Voice - questionnaire, results and results commentary.

Previous Pupil Voice Work

Over the course of the last academic year there have been many examples of Pupil Voice work being undertaken with students of all abilities and in all year groups. The aim of this section of the website is not to provide a comprehensive list of all the work that has been undertaken, but rather to provide examples of the work that has taken place and give a flavour of how we use student input.

One major area of work for us has been to evaluate and review the provision that is provided for Year 11 students in the run up to their GCSE exams. Last year we managed to improve our GCSE pass rate of 5 A* - C grades to 71%. As a school we are trying to maintain and improve this. To this end Year 12 students were chosen for the Pupil Voice process as they are the students who have most recently experienced the exams and the revision programmes on offer within the school. A whole range of approaches had been adopted by departments last year to aid students' exam preparation. Pupil Voice was used to establish what students felt worked best and to see whether any patterns emerged. All Year 12 students completed a questionnaire so that we had a large amount of data to gain an impression of the students' thoughts. This was backed up by interviews with many of the students. Since this work every department has reviewed their methods of revising and have modified these as a result. For more detail on this work click here (PowerPoint presentation). A printout of the slides in this presentation is also available here (PDF document).

Another important area of Pupil Voice work was in relation to the work experience that students currently undertake at the end of Year 10. Due to external changes in funding we wanted to be clear that our belief that the majority of students gain a tremendous amount from their time on the work placement was actually what the students felt. Pupil Voice work was carried out with Year 11 students to ascertain their thoughts on the scheme. The results of the work show overwhelming support for the process from students ensuring that the process will continue in St. Ivo. For more detail on this work please click here (PDF document).