Year 7 End of Term 1 Parent feedback survey

At the end of Term 1, Year 7 parents were invited to give feedback about their perception of their child’s experiences at Fort Street after one term. Around 70% of students had a parent respond on their behalf. This information has been very useful in helping us to manage wellbeing in the Year 7 cohort and tailor our teaching program within Fortitude and Fortunae classes for maximum benefit. This article presents a brief summary of the responses to questions asked and outlines how we have utilised this information.

1.Student enjoyment and enthusiasm.

Overwhelmingly, parents thought their children were enjoying and/or enthusiastic about attending Fort Street. This is fantastic news! It is important for parents to recognise when their children are not enjoying school or experience sudden changes of mood as this can be a key indicator of things going wrong at school.

2.Student friendships.

A common concern for parents of Year 7 students is that their children will struggle to make friendships in a new school environment. These social connections are important as they offer a support network which helps children to feel more confident and seek out help if required. Peer networks also helps to make school an enjoyable experience which promotes healthy learning. Although responses in this area were mostly positive some strategies have been put in place to help support students in making friendships with peers. For example, teachers are able to form learning groups which are inclusive and peer support leaders from other year groups will be organising some activities for students to bond during lunchtimes in Term 2.

3. Parent access to Sentral

A small number of parents indicated they were not able to access the Sentral Parent Portal. Access to permission notes, payment for excursions and the ability to follow your child’s timetable are all accessed through the parent portal, so this forms a vital link between parents and Fort Street. Parents who indicated they could not access the portal were emailed their login information.

4.Student bullying.

Bullying sadly remains an occurrence at schools with around 1 in 4 Australian students reporting that they experience bullying every few weeks or more^[1]. Moreover, peers are present as onlookers in 85% of bullying interactions, and play a central role in the bullying process. Often students are reluctant to contact teaching staff, yet this is an essential step in stopping bullying and parents are encouraged to help encourage their children to speak with teaching staff.

All parents who reported concerns about bullying were contacted. However, if you have any concerns about this in the future, please contact the Year Advisor or Deputy Principal. You can also encourage your child to use this form to report bullying should it occur.

This is also an important moment to note that bullying no longer stops at the school gate. Cyberbullying mean that parents should be mindful of their children’s internet usage and access to devices. If you would like more information about this topic, the Australian government website “Bullying. No Way” has a helpful range of resources.

5.Time management

Around 13% of respondents reported feeling as though their children were not managing homework effectively. Although this is a minority, we have added additional lessons and strategies to navigate time management into our Fortitude program for students during Term 2.

6. Difficulty of homework and assessment

Around 13% of parents also reported feeling concerned that the time and difficulty of homework or assessment tasks was overwhelming. There are several factors involved in this. Firstly, students need to manage their time effectively. They also need to recognise when to seek help from their teachers and be able to do so confidently and appropriately. To address these issues we have implemented a lesson on workflow planning and emailing teachers to ask for assistance. This will be followed up with lessons on “chunking” of tasks so they can be effectively broken down and completed. Students may also need to address some underlying anxiety and perfectionism issues so they can submit work without it becoming overwhelming.

In addition to these questions which may have highlighted serious wellbeing issues, parents were also invited to give feedback on any other issues that had arisen. In this response, mobile phone and device usage by students was the most significant concern raised by parents. This issue will continue to be address with Year 7 and as whole school issue as led by the executive.

I would like to thank parents for taking the time to respond. This information has been very beneficial in helping us to manage the wellbeing of the Year 7 cohort. If you do have any concerns that arise, please feel free to reach out at any stage throughout the year.

David Latimer,

Year 7 Year Advisor