Parents & Carers

Ridgeway prides itself on developing close home–school relationships and being an open school that encourages parental involvement.

At Ridgeway, we understand that our parents and carers know their child best; they are the experts about their child. They know their likes and dislikes, what engages and motivates them, their strengths, passions and interests. By combining parents’ knowledge of their child with staff’s expertise in teaching and learning, we can ensure the best outcomes for children. We believe that strong, effective relationships with parents and carers is in the best interests of our children. 

We encourage families to take an active role in their child’s education and seek to provide ways for parents and carers to do this at home. We provide families with a range of information to empower them in supporting their child. There are opportunities for parents to understand their child’s progress through parent consultations and an end-of-year school report. We also provide opportunities for parents and carers to understand our approach through workshops and sharing information about our practice.

In addition to supporting their own child, some parents seek ways in which they can support our children more widely by providing regular support in the classroom, for example with reading, learning activities or supporting group activities (such as Forest School), while others support one-off activities that enhance children’s learning, such as craft projects or cooking. Some parents have particular knowledge, skills or expertise that can provide children with opportunities to develop their skills (for example, through an after-school club), while others share their professional expertise to broaden children’s experiences (by sharing their experiences that relate to children’s learning). We welcome parents’ involvement in supporting learning in our school and look forward to hearing from parents interested in getting involved.

Our school is very fortunate to have a dedicated, enthusiastic and tireless Parent Teacher Children Association (PTCA). Details about the work they do to support our school can be found here.