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Using the ‘golden triangle’ to make learning better
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Communication in schools is often taken for granted. But effective communication to support our children is complex. It sounds simple in theory, but can be notoriously difficult in practice.
At BISS, we use a variety of ways to communicate with parents and I’m going to outline a few of these in this article that we believe are effective.
I’m a great believer in the “golden triangle” of success to help our students.
The triangle is the relationship between students, parents and teachers. For our children to be successful in their academic studies, in sports, performing arts and within the community, we need to ensure communication flows smoothly between parents, pupils and teachers and that students are placed at the heart of everything that we do together.
At the beginning of a new school term, many parents want to know about the challenges their children will face in different phases of secondary school. We hold information events during the first term to explain the courses and subjects that they follow and the examination systems. Parents hear from subject teachers and students themselves.
Our youngest students’ parents are keen to find out how best to support their child at home in terms of organization, who to contact if they have a question about a subject or a pastoral concern and how to help their son or daughter with homework.
The transition from primary school to secondary is often a focus at Key Stage 3 events.
With students at Key Stage 4, parents often wish to find out more about successful IGCSE study habits, so staff have used information events to explain the benefits of practicing past papers, planning revision timetables and the different techniques for preparing for exams, such as making revision cards, mind maps and effective methods of note-taking.
For the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, as well as encouraging the development of independent study habits by building on those learnt in the other Key Stages, parents often wish to find out about CAS (creativity, activity and service), TOK (Theory of Knowledge) and EE (extended essays) — three key elements of the full Diploma program. They also receive lots of advice on how we can work together to support their child in making decisions about study at university level from our team of Higher Education advisers.
In all of these information events, there is a real focus on how to create and sustain good habits and be successful academically, while at the same time plenty of information and tips on how we can ensure that pupils develop resilience, enjoy their time at school and stay healthy.
The pastoral system is also a key element of supporting students and pupils all have a form tutor, with whom they meet each morning. The form tutor meets parents at the start of the year and is the first port of call for parents. The form tutor then follows this up and directs parents to the most appropriate member of staff. Tutors help support the wellbeing of our pupils and so communication via email and face-to-face meetings is the norm.
We also hold student-parent-teacher conferences throughout the first and second terms, giving parents the opportunity to meet all subject teachers and form tutors. Students are expected to attend with their parents, as the opportunity for open, three-way communication is very valuable: the “golden triangle” in action!
The school uses digital media to communicate school events with parents through weekly newsletters and blogs and our website www.bisspuxi.com has a “Parents’ Essentials” section. Check it out.
At BISS we offer many enrichment activities to pupils through extra-curricular activities in many sports, languages, the performing arts and through trips in collaboration with Juilliard, MIT and FOBISIA.
Our school website supports the dissemination of information about these exciting opportunities and an app provides up-to-date information. Daily blogs and a weekly digital newsletter shine a light on and celebrate the achievements and learning experiences of our students.
One of our key communication tools that parents have often said that they find invaluable is our ODIN service which provides a daily lesson summary and homework for each lesson that students have attended.
There are always ways of improving as an organization and so listening to parents and students is one of the keys to a progressive school. We also hold many consultation meetings with parents. These are vital in enabling healthy discussion on a range of issues and in agreeing ways for future improvement.
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