Parent Communications and Useful Links
ParentMailX
We try very hard to keep parents regularly informed about what’s going on at the school, however, sending paper letters home can be rather ‘hit and miss’ with letters often going astray along the way.
We are also increasingly aware of the substantial cost, time and environmental impact associated with the amount of paper and photocopying involved with this.
To help improve these areas we use a service called ParentMailX, which is used by over 3,500 schools across the UK to communicate with 2 million parents by email and text message.
ParentMailX will be beneficial to you because:
- Messages will get to you reliably
- We can send messages directly to mums and dads at the same time
- You will quickly know about important or urgent messages
- We can tell you more about what’s going on at the school
To use ParentMailX we need to collect your email addresses and mobile numbers and we would ask you to complete the consent included in our online registration form or the blue registration booklet. Please ensure that your email addresses are clear and legible. The majority of letters sent home will be via email, it is your responsibility to check your emails or the PMX app on a regular basis and ensure that all email addresses and mobile numbers are kept up to date.
Download the app for free from the Apple App store or the Google Play Store now
Please be assured that ParentMailX is registered with the Data Protection Registrar and guarantees that all information you provide will be kept private and will not be passed on to any other organisation.
http://pmx.parentmail.co.uk/
Important
ParentMailX email messages will be sent from messages@parentmail.co.uk.
Please add this address to your email address books (or approved sender list) to prevent messages from being blocked by your SPAM/JUNK filters.
ParentPay
What does ParentPay do?
- enables you to pay for school meals and other items such as school trips and Kidz Biz out of school club.
- offers a highly secure payment site
- gives you a history of all the payments you have made
- allows the merging of accounts if you have more than one child at school
- shows you all items available for payment relevant to each of your children
- emails a receipt of your payment to the email address you register
How does ParentPay help you?
- gives you the freedom to make payments to school whenever and wherever you like
- stops you having to write cheques or search for cash to send to school
- gives you peace of mind that your payment has been made safely and securely
- helps with budgeting; payments are immediate, there is no waiting for cheques to clear
- payments for many of the larger trips can be made by instalments up to the due date
- ParentPay is quick and easy to use
How do I get started?
We will send you an activation letter after admission in September or when your child starts school to enable you to setup your ParentPay account. The activation letter will contain a personal activation username and password to enable you to login to ParentPay. During the activation process you will be guided through changing your username and password to something more memorable; you can also merge your accounts if you have more than one child at St Botolph’s or for siblings at other schools who also use ParentPay.
Please see below links for guidance notes to help you if required and contact the school office if you require any assistance.
Parent/carer evenings
We are delighted to welcome parents into school for Parent Teacher Consultations each term.
Please book your appointment via the button to the right. A guidance video is also available by clicking the button to the right. You can contact school office staff if you need any further assistance.
BOOKING FOR SPRING TERM CONSULTATIONS GOES LIVE ON MONDAY 5TH FEBRUARY AT 6PM.
Appointments this term are available on Tuesday 13th February 2024 3:45pm - 6:30pm or
Thursday 15th February 2024 - 3:45 - 6:30pm
Please ensure you have booked by 6pm on Monday 12th February 2024.
In the meantime, should you have any concerns about your child or wish to discuss how they are getting on at school then please speak to their class teacher who will be happy to answer questions or provide advice.
Parent View
Introduction
Parent View is an online facility launched by Ofsted in October 2011 that allows parents and carers to give their views of our school at any time of the school year. The questionnaire is also the main mechanism for parents to give their views to inspectors about their child’s school at the time of a school inspection.
The questionnaire can be accessed directly at https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk or from the home page of Ofsted’s website www.ofsted.gov.uk.
How to register on Parent View
To register on the Parent View site, parents must initially enter an email address, and confirm that they are a parent or carer. They will also be asked to clarify how many schools their children attend (allowing for different children at different schools). An email is then sent to the specified email address to verify the account. On verification, users then select a secure password for their account.
The Ofsted website has a brief introductory video demonstrating Parent View to show users how to register, complete the questionnaire and set up alerts about schools.
Parent View questions
Once your login has been activated, you can follow the instructions on the screen and indicate whether you strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree or don’t know in response to 11 short statements. Question 12 asks whether you would recommend the school to other parents.