Teacher’s in the Junior School quite often hear parents say during parent/teacher meetings “I just want ……. to do their best and be happy in school.” Whilst this is great, perhaps we should be rethinking this statement and here’s why:
Noble et.al. (2008) view a ‘student’s level of well-being at school [as being] indicated by their satisfaction with life at school, their engagement with learning and their social-emotional behaviour.’
Happiness, a positive attitude, positive relationships, resilience and a high level of satisfaction with learning experiences can make a huge difference to your child’s well-being which in turn has a positive impact on their academic achievement as well as being linked to success in later-life, so perhaps this should come first. Hattie (2008) suggests that by telling a child to do their best, limits the expectations placed on them – children should always be challenged to do better.
So perhaps we should be saying, “I just want ……. to be happy and always feel challenged in school”.
Many researchers (e.g. Hattie and Yates , 2014, ) suggest that ‘achievement in schools is maximized when teachers see learning through the eyes of students,’ so in order to help us do this we have chosen to measure pupils attitude to self and school by using the Pupil’s Attitude to Self and School (PASS) survey with all pupils from Years 1 to 6. This will help us build a complete picture of your child’s motivation, attitude and engagement in learning. Pupils are asked to respond to a series of statements about learning and school that fall into nine standardised factors proven to be significantly linked to educational goals:
- Feelings about school
- Perceived learning capability
- Self-regard
- Preparedness for learning
- Attitudes to teachers
- General work ethic
- Confidence in learning
- Attitudes to attendance
- Response to curriculum demands
Unfortunately, we will not be able to share individual reports or responses to PASS with you in a report through the parent portal, however, if your child’s class teacher has any concerns arising from the analysis of the class reports, they will contact you directly.
Your child’s class teacher will use the data from PASS to add to the overall learning profile of your child. The teachers will continue to use this information to adapt lesson plans and delivery of the curriculum to meet your child’s specific needs and allow them a more personalised learning experience.
If you do have any questions about PASS please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher, Ms Alison or me.
Melanie Wardle
Deputy Head Academic
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