Most parents are satisfied with the schools their children attend

03 Mar 2006

A new report, Parents' satisfaction with schools, found that inspectors judged parental satisfaction to be excellent, very good or good in 88% of primary schools, 77% of secondary schools and 92% of special schools inspected between September 2003 and the first week of July 2005. The satisfaction of parents with their child's school depends on how effective the school is and how well pupils achieve. The ethos of a school, the quality of leadership and management, the behaviour of pupils, the welfare of pupils and the handling of issues such as bullying and harassment also strongly influence parent satisfaction. There has been an improvement in parents' links with schools in recent years, particularly in primary schools. Schools that are good at consulting parents, telling them about the progress of their children and listening to their concerns, have highly satisfied parents. Ofsted's Director of Education, Miriam Rosen, said: "It is important to celebrate the very good work going on in schools across England and this report shows that the efforts of headteachers, teachers and governors are being recognised by parents who, overall, are very satisfied with their children's schools." The report finds that there is a greater sense of parental loyalty to primary schools compared with secondary schools which means that parents of children in primary schools can be satisfied even when school effectiveness and pupil achievement are less than good. In addition, parents of children in primary schools are more forgiving of weak leadership and management and more tolerant of weak teaching than parents of children in secondary schools. The report suggests that this could reflect a more intense focus by parents on educational outcomes at the secondary stage, or beliefs that broader aspects of education, such as social development, are more important at the primary stage.

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Most parents are satisfied with the schools their children attend

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