Survey results

Thank you so much to those who took the time to complete our survey over spring break. There was such rich content in the results and comments that it has taken us two weeks to go through them and to develop a plan based on them. We are still learning as we go along also. Here is an overview of the results of our surveys:

Staff survey:

• took place from 1st to 3rd April 2020
  
• Invitation sent via email and responses collected via Google Forms
  
• 26 responses, representing 71% of those invited to take part
  

Parent survey:

• took place from 3rd to 17th April 2020
  
• Invitation sent via email, reminder sent via text and responses collected via Survey Monkey
  
• 172 responses, representing 60% of families in the school
  

Feelings check-in:

• 73% of staff members indicated they were either ok (46%) or great (27%)
  
• 85% of parents indicated that their child was coping reasonably well
  

• 25% of parents said they were worried about money, housing, food or other basic necessities
  
• 7% of parents said their family was not coping on a basic level and needs help
  

Teacher to pupil communication:

• Suggestions from staff members:
  
  • 32% suggest Seesaw app
    
  • 24% suggest continuing to use emails via Aladdin
    
  • 20% suggest creating new email accounts to use
    
  • 12% suggest Google Classroom
    
• 95% of parents say they would use the Seesaw app if we introduced it
  
• 97% of teachers would be happy to use Google Classroom with 69% of those saying they would need support to do that
  

• Of the families who received an email from the teacher:
  
  • 86% of parents say their child was cheered by the email 
    
  • 90% of parents were cheered by the email
    
  • 91% of parents found the email helpful
    
  • 94% of those who got an email from the support teacher found it helpful
    
• 69% of parents said they watched a video by a teacher
  
• 92% of families who watched the videos by teachers found them helpful
  

Home to school communication:

• 66% of parents said their child submitted at least one piece of work to the school that week
  
• 31% of parents said their child did not submit a piece of work to the school that week
  

Themed weeks:

• 88% of staff members support the idea of including themed weeks
  
• 94% of parents support the idea of including themed weeks
  

Engagement with activities suggested by school:

• 88% of parents say their child is engaging with the activities set by the teacher
  
• 2% of parents say their child is not engaging in any activity at all
  

• 75% of parents say their child can sit and focus for the time the activities take
  
• 24% of parents say their child cannot sit and focus for the time the activities take
  

Quantity and content of activities:

• 78% of parents find the number of activities suggested by the teacher is about right
  
• 13% of parents find the number of activities suggested by the teacher is too much
  
• 9% of parents find the number of activities suggested by the teacher is not enough
  

• 80% of parents say their child can complete the activities with relative ease
  
• 19% of parents say their child cannot complete the activities with relative ease
  

• In terms of video content by teachers, parents ranked the curricular areas in the following order, when asked what they would like to see more of:
  
  • English - writing
    
  • English - speaking and listening
    
  • English - reading
    
  • Maths
    
  • Gaeilge - speaking and listening
    
  • Gaeilge - reading
    
  • SESE - History
    
  • Gaeilge - writing
    
  • SESE - Science
    
  • SESE - Geography
    

Access to devices:

• Note: there were two families in the school who did not receive the survey, despite our attempt to send it via both email and text; our pupil management system confirms that all other families received the survey link, either via email or text
  

• 91% of families have access to unlimited internet connection
  
• 8% of families have access to limited internet connection
  
• Less than 1% of families have no access or very irregular access to internet connection
  ​
  
  

• 98% of families have access to at least one device
  
• 1% of families do not have access to even one device
  

• 74% of families have at least one device per person
  
• 22% of families do not have at least one device per person
  

• 55% of families have access to a printer
  
• 44% of families do not have access to a printer
  

• 98% of families have access to a camera
  
• 2% of families do not have access to a camera
  
  

The School Hub:

• 50% of families have watched at least one episode of The School Hub
  
• 44% of families have not watched even one episode of The School Hub
  

Live interactive sessions:

• In response to the statement “If the class teachers were to offer live interactive sessions, this would require one device per child, with fast internet connection, with parental supervision and without distraction by other family members in the same room”:
  
  • 52% of parents said this would be no problem
    
  • 28% said it might cause some problems but should be ok
    
  • 12% said it would be difficult or stressful but possible
    
  • 8% said they could not manage it
    

• In response to the statement “Live interactive video sessions would mean that your child is visible to others, could potentially be recorded by others and that the school could not guarantee total data protection”:
  
  • 74% of parents said they were fine with this, that the benefits outweigh the risks
    
  • 12% said they were not ok with this, that it is too risky
    
  • 14% said they would have to do more research before deciding
    

School management are very pleased with the written responses received from both staff members and parents. The content of these sections were rich with thoughtful ideas and provided lots of food for thought for us in our decision-making and planning. We hope that our plan represents the most practical solution possible, having considered these submissions. We very much thank our community for the effort and thoughtfulness you put into your responses.