Posted on: 25/04/2024
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Communication Charter
MEA Communication Charter
Rationale
MEA recognises the importance of clear and effective communication that is open and accessible. It is very important to us that we work closely in partnership with parents and carers, and communication between home and school is key. We recognise, however, that it can often be difficult to communicate with teachers because of timetable pressures; and we recognise that parents and carers also have very busy lives.
In creating the MEA Communication Charter we aim to develop the effectiveness, the consistency and the efficiency, enabling us to forge strong home-school links, whilst also clarifying expectations to ensure that we are mindful of staff workload and wellbeing.
Contacting the School
We request that the communication between all parties is respectful.
Teachers want to respond to parental queries at the earliest opportunity and will do their best to do so, however, the majority of teachers’ time is taken up teaching and preparing for lessons. Teachers’ responsibilities extend beyond the classroom, and they may be unable to respond to you on the day a query is made. We have also agreed with staff that there is no expectation to respond to queries outside of their working hours.
The day-to-day care, welfare and safety of your child is managed by the person who is placed closest to them. In the first instance, please approach the following members of staff who are responsible for your child in the following order:
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Classroom Teacher or Curriculum Leader (if query is relevant to a specific subject).
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Form Tutor or Pastoral Leader (if query is of a more general nature).
Communication by letter brought in by the child
Letters to teachers can be an easy way to get a message to a teacher promptly and can be used as everyday communication. The student is responsible for showing the letter to the correct teacher.
Telephone
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Please use the main reception number to leave a message for a teacher to contact you. Reception staff will relay messages to teachers as soon as possible; lessons can never be interrupted for teachers to take calls.
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Teachers will try to respond to you within two working days, if not the same day.
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If a call is urgent (such as a safeguarding issue) please inform the receptionist who will contact your child’s Pastoral Leader or a senior member of staff who will contact you as soon as possible.
Emails can be a useful way of communicating quickly between parents and school, however as well as having many advantages, this ease of access has also increased the demands made of staff. As a school, our first priority is to deliver high quality teaching and learning. Staff cannot and are not expected to monitor and manage their inbox during lessons or at other times in the day, when they should be planning and preparing for lessons, assessing student work or carrying out school duties. To help manage the expectations of all, the following points are provided as guidance:
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We aim to respond to you as soon as possible and within two working days.
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Part-time staff may take longer to reply.
To reach specific teams within school, please use the following email addresses:
Year 7 Pastoral Team dg-mea-y7lead@prospere.org.uk
Year 8 Pastoral Team dg-mea-y8lead@prospere.org.uk
Year 9 Pastoral Team dg-mea-y9lead@prospere.org.uk
Year 10 Pastoral Team dg-mea-y10lead@prospere.org.uk
Year 11 Pastoral Team dg-mea-y11lead@prospere.org.uk
SEND Team DG-MEA-SEND@prospere.org.uk
Meetings
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Meetings should always be pre-arranged with members of staff.
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If you urgently need to see someone, for instance if there is a serious family emergency or a safeguarding issue, please phone ahead and the reception staff will do their best to find a senior member of staff to see you.
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For non-urgent meetings, we will aim to meet with you within three working days. The school will determine the level of urgency at its discretion, to enable it to manage multiple demands.
Contacting You
We recognise the importance of keeping you informed about your child’s experience at MEA and how they are progressing.
Parents should monitor all of the following regularly to make sure they do not miss important communications or announcements that may affect their child. It is important that school have accurate contact information, please ensure that school are informed of any changes as soon as possible.
- Email: We use email to keep parents informed about the following things:
- School surveys or consultations
- Class activities or teacher requests
- Parental webinars
- Community notices
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Text Messages: We will text parents about:
- Short notice changes to the school day
- Upcoming school events
- Scheduled school closures (for example, staff training days)
- Emergency school closures (for instance, due to bad weather).
- Information about trips and visits and consent requests
- Half Termly Principal’s letter
- Class activities or teacher requests.
- Student absence/late to school
- An incident resulting in a detention
- Recognition points
- Safeguarding updates
- Intervention updates.
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School calendar:
Our school website includes a full school calendar for the year. (https://www.manchesterenterpriseacademy.org.uk/346/calendar)
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Telephone calls:
We encourage staff to call parents regularly to discuss pupils’ performance including attendance. Telephone calls will also be made by school to parents where immediate contact with a family member is required, i.e. when a significant injury has occurred. A staff member will call the first named emergency contact as listed. Where no contact is made, a call will then be made to the second named contact. In the event that no contact can be made, the member of staff will either leave an answerphone message or ensure that repeat calls continue to be made to the contact numbers, where possible.
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Letters:We send the following letters home regularly:
- Letters about specific subject information
- Examination information
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Reports: Parents receive reports from the school about their child’s learning, including:
- Progress reports
- A report on the results of public examinations
We also arrange regular meetings where parents can speak to their child’s teacher(s) about their achievement and progress (see the section below).
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Meetings:
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All year groups have at least one parents’ evening per year (Year 7 and 11 have two). During these meetings, parents can talk with teachers about their child’s achievement and progress, the curriculum or schemes of work, their child’s wellbeing, or any other area of concern.
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The school may also contact parents to arrange meetings between parents’ evenings if there are concerns about a child’s achievement, progress, or wellbeing.
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Parents of pupils with special educational needs (SEN), or who have other additional needs, may also be asked to attend further meetings to address these additional needs.
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The school will hold Parent Forum events throughout the academic year. This is an opportunity for school and parents to discuss key school themes.
Where approrpaite, some meetings will be held virtually.
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School website: The school website holds a wealth of information about the school. On the website, parents can find Key information about the school, including:
- School times and term dates
- Important events and announcements
- Curriculum information
- Important policies and procedures
- Important contact information
- Parental Letters
Parents should check the website before contacting the school.
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Arbor App:
The Arbor App allows you to track your child's attendance, behaviour and progress, pay for school meals and purchase items from the school shop.
To access the Arbor App:
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Please click the link https://manchester-enterprise-ac.uk.arbor.sc/?/home-ui/index and input your email, then press 'forgot password', follow the prompts. You will then receive another email to reset your password. Once this has been completed you should be able to download the Arbor app and be able to view meals/timetable/homework etc.
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Social Media:
We use our social media channels to share what has been happening in school. Through these channels you can find information and celebrations in respect of student achievements, subject information and generic educational information. You can find these by searching @MEAcad on Twitter and manchester_enterprise_academy on Instagram.
No Response
If you have not received a response from the school within two working days, please contact the school by emailing admin@meacad.org.uk and we will chase up your enquiry. If you are unsatisfied with a response, please highlight the email FAO The Senior Leadership Team. Communication with parents and carers is important to us, and we will continue to work with parents to monitor this and our approach to improve the process further.
Respectful Communication
All staff should be treated courteously and with respect. Violence or abuse towards staff is unacceptable. Violence is not restricted to acts of aggression that may result in physical harm. It also includes behaviour or language (whether verbal or written) that may cause staff to feel intimidated, threatened or abused. Examples of aggressive or abusive behaviour include threats, physical violence, personal verbal abuse, derogatory remarks and rudeness. We also consider that inflammatory statements and unsubstantiated allegations can constitute abusive behaviour, whether made in writing (email, letter or social media) or during visits or meetings.
Please note: where physical violence has been used or threatened towards staff or their families, or derogatory and abusive language has been used directly to, or about, members of staff, this will, in itself, cause personal contact to be discontinued immediately. Access to the Academy may also be restricted or withdrawn. All incidents of verbal or physical intimidation or violence will be documented and reported to the Principal. Incidents will, where appropriate, be notified to the police.
