At the beginning of this month, data from our 2022 Community Health Audit was provided to me.
This survey, undertaken in Term 2, 2022 gathered responses from parents, staff, and students (Years 6, 10 and 12). The purpose of these snapshots is to provide an update on key areas of strength and potential improvement for our school – in short, a chance for us to reflect. That is exactly what our senior staff will be doing over the coming weeks and months as we seek to distil our key learnings and implement related strategies into our practice.
And what did our survey results tell us? Our parent respondents identified five key strengths of our school. They were, in order of identification:
Christian teaching,
Strong academics,
Caring for students,
Christian values, and
Strong community.
This is an encouraging list and potential new parents coming to tour the school list some very similar reasons for wanting to enrol their child at Calvin Christian School. That consistency of message says a lot about the strength of our community and the high level of understanding and alignment that parents feel with our school vision, mission and values. There were no end of parent comments that I could have pulled out as examples of this. They included statements such as “very supportive Christian staff. Christian ethos/values. Striving for academic excellence”, and “the community feel, high education level, ever improving school facilities”.
“Just as we work to ensure our students are increasingly reflective, we too as adults benefit from opportunities to consider another perspective.”
In identifying areas for us to work on as a school, parents identified a range of aspects including: parking (pick up and drop off), size, space, and opportunities for contact with teachers. We were also able to gain a break down of parent satisfaction in each year group, providing some valuable insights and data for analysis. This week, I have been sharing some of these results with our teaching staff and we will continue to keep you up to date with plans and focus areas for the year(s) to come.
“Thank you for your contributions to the survey results and, more importantly, your family’s commitment to our school community. ”
Just as we work to ensure our students are increasingly reflective, we too as adults benefit from opportunities to consider another perspective. Thank you for your contributions to the survey results and, more importantly, your family’s commitment to our school community. Continuous improvement is a part of life and we look forward to sharing ways in which our staff team are working to improve our own practice for the benefit of your children. I welcome your engagement and feedback, whether provided through surveys or at other times of the year. Your words of encouragement mean a great deal as we partner with you.
As we are reminded in Scripture: ‘Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.’ — 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Scott Ambrose — Principal