School Newsletters & Visits Key Sources of Information

School Newsletters And Visits Key Sources of Information for Parents And Whānau

Delving into the school bag for the newsletter remains a reality for parents and whānau of primary and intermediate students. School newsletters remain the main source of information about their child’s school for parents and whānau, although the newsletter is more likely to be digital in higher decile schools.

‘Parents and whānau also reported school visits as the most helpful source of information for choosing a school,’ Senior Researcher Linda Bonne said. ‘Over 50% said a school visit or open day had helped them, with school websites a distant second at 19%.’

The findings are from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) National Survey of Primary and Intermediate Schools 2016.

Over three-quarters of parents and whānau rated the quality of information they received from school about their child’s progress, achievement, behaviour, and attendance/lateness as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

Parents and whānau were satisfied with the quality of information they were getting about the child’s achievement at school. At least 85% of parents and whānau indicated they received clear information about their child’s achievement in relation to National Standards for reading, writing, and mathematics.

Parents and whānau were less likely to be satisfied with information about their child’s achievement in learning areas not included in the National Standards.

The NZCER survey got responses from 504 parents and whānau with children at a cross-section of 31 English-medium state and state-integrated primary and intermediate schools. These schools were a subset of a representative sample of 349 schools at which principals, teachers, and trustees were also surveyed. The survey was conducted from August to September 2016.

The findings have been released in a series of reports, all of which are available on the NZCER website. The report ‘Parent and whānau perspectives on their child’s schooling’ is available at:

http://www.nzcer.org.nz/principals_national_survey_2016

ENDS

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