Parent Views

Our families and wider community will provide you with an insight into what it is like to be part of our St Francis' family.  In March 2024, parents and carers said that we do the following things well...

• Togetherness
• Exceptional support throughout school for children and carers
• Treating pupils and parents as a family, I have never had this in a school before
• Caring and supportive
• Communication, genuine care
• A very pleasant environment for children to learn and develop
• A lovely school
• Helps all of the children
• Communication is great
• Wellbeing
• Positive attitudes
• Helps my child build confidence
• Behaviour management
• Varied opportunities to learn
• A lovely helpful school
• Anti bullying

The opportunities that we offer to support personal development that are valued by our parents and carers are: 

To find out more about the school from our parents and carers and to find out how we have acted on their feedback to strengthen school, please open the questionnaire findings below. 

Poverty Proofing Audit 

In 2023 we invited Children North East into school to speak with children, staff, governors, parents and carers. We wanted to find out if the impact of school on family expenditure and find links to businesses and associations that can support us in providing low cost experience for our children. 

Strengths found:

Additional Opportunities

• The children were excited to name the trips they had been on, including St Clare’s Church, Dolphin Centre sport events and Newcastle Falcons. Many pupils were very excited to be going to ROF 59! “We are going to this climbing trampoline place this week! We won the trip because we decorated the best tree.”
• There are a variety of clubs offered by school including Minecraft, multisports, cookery, football, book, coding and movie club. It seems pupils across all year groups are aware of these clubs and many do engage with them. “I got into cookery club I love it we made pizza and could take it home!” “I go to football club, I want to be a footballer.”

Bullying

• Pupils across all year groups had a strong understanding of what bullying is. “Bullying is when you’re mean to someone all the time.” “It’s when you take teasing too far and it’s no longer funny it is just mean.”
• Most pupils that we spoke to about bullying were confident in telling us that they didn’t think there were any issues at their school and if there was then it would not be tolerated. “That wouldn’t happen at this school, you’re not allowed to bully people here.” “It is against the rules to bully you’d get a red card then you would stop.”
• When asked if there’s any teasing or bullying related to the clothes people wear or based on what they may have, pupils were quick to say no. One pupil explained that they all wear the same uniform and on non-uniform day everyone looks different so there would never be any teasing regarding this. “Everyone wears a red jumper so you couldn’t bully someone about that it would be like bullying yourself.”
• Children were excited to tell us about the visit they had from Dan Smith. This is a great opportunity for the children to learn about writing as a career and become inspired by books! It is also great Poverty Proofing © practice to provide all pupils with a book at the end (bought by the school), this way no one is left out. “Dan Smith came into our school and spoke to us! We all got a free book with our name in and signed!”

Celebrations

• Many pupils said that when it's their birthday they receive a card with a chocolate coin in it. If it is a pupils birthday over a holiday or weekend then they receive their card when they return. ‘’It feels amazing when you get your card.’’
• At Christmas the pupils take part in a Christmas Tree decorating competition, all the pupils talked about this with much enthusiasm, especially as the school had won last year.
• It was great to hear from the children that for World Book Day, rather than dressing up, they bring in books and celebrate reading, this is great poverty proofing practice. “We aren’t allowed to dress up on World Book day, the teachers don’t want us spending money on new costumes.”
• At feedback, the school told us that children very rarely gave their teachers gifts and if they do they are handed in at reception. Instead the school ask their pupils to nominate a member of staff who they think deserves a ‘Rainbow Medal’. The pupils have to give their nominations to either the Head or Deputy Head teacher with a reason why. This is a great Poverty Proofing © strategy as it allows all pupils to say thank you and all staff to feel appreciated.

Charity, Fundraising, Community

• The pupils spoke about a range of fundraising activities that happen at St Francis’s School, including Pudsey Bear Day, Comic Relief, Remembrance Day and non uniform days. Most pupils said that when money is collected they just need to put in their ‘spare change’ if they have any in a tub on the teachers desk. ‘‘It doesn’t matter if you don’t put in.’’ The school also put links to charity websites or just giving pages onto their newsletter if families want to donate.
• For Remembrance Day some pupils said that they made poppies out of origami and painted poppies to put up on the wall. There was also a food collection where all the pupils carried something up to the church. ‘’Everyone carried something even if they hadn’t brought anything in.’’ This is great Poverty Proofing© practice as it ensures that everyone is included.

Curriculum and Ability Groups

• Although most pupils are aware different tables sometimes do different work, there didn’t seem to be much of a stigma around the tables they were on. “You just get put with people you’ll work well with.”
• It’s great that all pupils are able to go swimming and transport costs are not a barrier for them. “Yeah, we all go swimming every Friday, it’s free I’m pretty sure our parents don’t have to pay anything."

Food

• Children on school dinners spoke positively about the food as well as the portion sizes. “I like the food; the pasta is really good.” “I think the portion sizes are fine, if anything they are too big!.” “You can always use the salad bar if you are still hungry.” “If you don’t like the food options you can also ask the lady to change it for next time and they will give you another meal.”
• We very much enjoyed eating in the dinner hall with the children during our visit. It seemed like a very calm space with short and fast-moving queues for food. After speaking with the children, they spoke positively about the dinner time experience. “Yeah, I like dinner time, it’s the favorite part of my day.” “It’s nice in the dinner hall, it can sometimes be loud but it’s usually calm.” “We go in at different times to make it quieter and not as busy."
• It’s great to see all the children can access breakfast club for free where there are different choices of foods to eat. “Lots of people go to breakfast club, you can go whatever day you want as long as you’re there before 8.30.” “You can have cereal, toast, fruit and even cereal bars I think!”
• The children also told us about the provision in place for those who come in at 9am without having had breakfast. It’s great that they all seem to know they can ask for food if they haven’t had breakfast. “If you come in and you haven’t eaten then you just tell a teacher and they will give you a rice cake or a breakfast bar or something, they don’t let you go hungry.” “They always make sure you’ve eaten something.”
• The year 6’s were very excited to tell us all about the SATS breakfast which is open to their whole class providing a wide variety of food free of cost. “There is Biscoff, Nutella and loads of other stuff you usually wouldn’t be allowed for breakfast!” “You come in earlier and we get the whole area to ourselves to eat breakfast, they even give us chocolate!”

Homework

• Children explained they have homework for spellings, reading and the older ones have SATS activities. None of this is given online which improves access to the homework. “We just have to do a page a week it isn’t that much.”
• When asked about reading expectations at home, children said they were expected to read four times a week at home and have their planners signed. The year 5’s and 6’s explained they could sign their own reading record if their parents are busy. Although the children are aware they may get taken out to do extra reading if they do not read enough at home, there didn’t seem to be any stigma or negative feeling surrounding this. “We have a little book where we get our parents to sign when we’ve read, or we sign it if they can’t.” “If you haven’t done enough reading then one of the teaching assistants will just take you out in breakfast club or in a lesson to do a bit of extra reading.” “You don’t get in trouble; they’d never take you out in your break.”

Leadership and Governance

• St Francis C of E Junior School is an inclusive school in which all staff support all children to reach their full potential. It is the school’s ethos that all their pupils can be the best that they can be. All staff are committed to ensuring that all pupils feel happy and confident and safe; each child is loved, accepted, encouraged and nurtured according to their individual needs. All staff do their utmost to ensure all children are able to achieve successfully with attainment and progress.
• The staff at St Francis C of E Junior School have a good understanding of the barriers that poverty may present for children in their school, but they are determined to give all of their children as many experiences as possible to develop their social, emotional and academic learning.

Pupil Support

• It’s clear there has been a lot of work done with the pupils around exams and how to deal with the stress and helping them to be resilient to the negative emotions they may cause. It’s great to see the pupils viewing them in a positive light and so confident that they are not a big deal and they don’t have to worry. “We had a lady come in and speak to us about how to deal with our feelings around tests and to help us not get nervous.” “I feel fine about them, I don’t feel worried.” “We just do them to show off how good we’ve got at our subjects.”
• When asked what they would do if they felt sad, angry or emotional, many pupils said they would go and see Miss Mason. Most pupils felt confident that if they had an issue within school they would be comfortable speaking to either Miss Mason or their class teacher. “I would go straight to Miss Mason, she always helps with friendships or your feelings” “I think I would ask my teacher what to do, or speak to a trusted adult”.

Pupil Voice

• Pupils explained they did a blind vote for who they wanted to be school councilor. This method they agreed was fair because it stops people voting for their friends and means it is not down to popularity of the candidates. “We basically had to write down why we wanted to be on the school council and then the teachers read out what we said. We then all blindly voted for whichever reasons we thought were the best and they won!” “I think it’s a very fair way of doing it because then people won’t just vote for their friends.”
• Most pupils seemed to have a strong understanding of the purpose of the school council and how they can go to a school councilor with ideas on what would improve the school. “If you want something brought up in a meeting, you just go and tell one of the school councilors in your class.” “The school council task about concerns about the school and what they could improve to make things better.” “They try and make the school a better place.”
• Eco-warriors: Pupils were very excited to explain what they did as eco-warriors. It was great to see their passion about making the world a better place. “We write letters to people to get them to sponsor us to help make a bigger difference.”
   

Resources

• Pupils from all year groups explained they don’t need to bring any stationery resources in from home as they have all been given a pencil case which stays within school. “I don’t think you’re allowed to bring one in.” “Everything we need we were given at the start of the year.”
• Children were very clear that bringing toys into school from home is not allowed. “No, you’re never allowed to bring toys in, you’d have them taken off you.” “There’s stuff in school you don’t need to bring toys in.” “You can only do that if it’s like a fidget toy and you have problems with your concentration, and a teacher would have to say that’s ok before you just bring it in.”
• When asked about the availability of coats many pupils explained there are spares you can borrow if you have forgotten your own and it is a cold or rainy day. “You just ask a teacher, and they will get you a spare one.” “There are spares, I’m not too sure where they are, probably in the office somewhere.”

Rewards, Behaviour and Attendance

• There appears to be a number of systems in place in order to celebrate each child’s achievements, including the outstanding award, the most resilient and the best thinkers and Christian Values.. It’s great that there are different criteria celebrating not only academic achievements but positive values, behaviours and qualities. Pupils spoke positively about rewards they get for these such as the hoodies, trophies and certificates. These seem to be a strong motivator for the pupils. “There’s an awards assembly every Monday, I wonder who it will be this week!” “You win them for all different reasons, and they change every week, so you get a lot of chances to be chosen”
• Pupils from all year groups were able to explain the steps which will be taken if a child is misbehaving. There seems to be a consistent behavioural system throughout all classes. “We start on a verbal warning then we get a tracker, if you keep misbehaving this then turns to a yellow card, two yellow cards then get you a red card.” “It is the same as last year, I’m pretty sure it’s the same in every year”

Support to families and parents

• St Francis has a family Liaison staff member who works closely with all the schools families. She ensures that she is on the school gate before and after school so that she is always visible to parents. She has, and continues to work hard to build relationships with families as she knows that pride and asking for help are barriers. All parents can email or phone the school too.
• Many families said that they feel supported by the school. “They are superb at supporting families/pupils in many ways possible and treat everyone equally.” (parent)
• The school is very aware that its not just FSM children who need support, but also families that are ‘working poor’, and school try to support everyone.
• The school support their families through the Greggs Hardship Fund as well as the Lord Crewe Fund.

Uniform

• When asked what they were required to wear to school, children explained they just need red jumper and dark trousers with black school shoes. All pupils were aware there was no requirement for them to have the logo on their school jumper this makes it more accessible to families. “You just need to make sure it [jumper] is red, I don’t think anyone wears a logo.” “You don’t have to have any type of shoe just as long as they’re black.”
• When asked if there are any repercussions for not wearing the correct uniform pupils explained they are just reminded to have it on the following day. Children were also aware they may get given uniform from school. “If you don’t have school shoes, I’m pretty sure the school gives you some” “They won’t tell you off, if you did it like 50 times you might get a yellow card.”
• During conversations with staff, we were made aware of the fantastic Lord Crewe fund which is being used to provide new uniforms to many of the families of St Francis. This is a fantastic way to reduce costs for families and ensure all pupils have the same opportunities within school as well as strengthening the relationships with the parents. “We applied for the Lord Crewe fund and managed to get £5000 which we have been spending on uniform for the children.”
• Even though pupils are allowed to bring any type of school bag they would like, there doesn’t seem to be any stigma or ‘trendy’ bags amongst the pupils. “I think we can have any school bag as long as it’s not got inappropriate pictures on” “I don’t really think anyone has the same bag, they’re all different”

Y6 SATS Results and Performance Tables

The government will not publish KS2 school level data for the 2021 to 2022 academic year. The last available public data is from the 2018 to 2019 academic year. It is important to note that the data from that year may no longer reflect current performance. 

End of Key Stage 2 Test Results

End of KS2 Progress Data 2019

Wider Curriculum Internal Performance Data 

If you would like to discuss the performance data, please make an appointment with the Headteacher. 

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