Our Communication Charter

Everyone will:

Ensure that children are always given priority;

Smile, be welcoming and friendly;

Use a professional tone at all times;

Use excellent manners, thank each other;

Listen carefully to each other, ask questions to check you understand;

Be patient, give the other person time to think and respond appropriately, you do not know what else they are dealing with;

Give people time to liaise with staff members, getting the full picture will mean that the matter is managed as well as possible;

Try to be clear and concise;

Have a right to speak privately, making sure conversations about children cannot be overheard by others;

Have a ‘can do’ attitude, never ‘I can’t do it’, instead ‘I can’t do it yet’ so what do I need to do first to get there in the end; and

Follow our school values; thankfulness, community, compassion, truthfulness, forgiveness, courage and forgiveness

Our communication charter applies to governors, staff, parents, carers, visitors and pupils.

Class Dojo is an online platform that we use in a number of different ways. One of the main uses is for us to share and celebrate the very many good choices that the children make on an individual, small group, whole class or whole school basis. 

When Dojo points are awarded to the children they are given a reason for why they have earned it so that they know why what they did was a good choice. Some examples of what teachers reward children for are for excellent work, showing readiness to learn or participating extra curricular events. 

We feel that Class Dojo is also used as an essential communication tool between class teachers and parents. There is a messaging service for individual one-to-one messages for this. There is also a 'class story' area where the teachers share events that are happening in the class or will upload photos of the school day. 

At home, parents can see what the children are learning about, as well as being able to communicate simply and safely with their child's class teacher. Class Dojo is 100% free for teachers, parents and students. Class Dojo is easily accessible and can be accessed via an app or internet browser. 

We ask that all parents, staff and older children to read and sign our Class Dojo Acceptable Use Agreement. More than one parent can sign up to access their child's profile too - let us know if this is something you want us to set up for you.

What will our staff do? 

• Promote positive behaviour on Class Dojo 
• Share information about events and activities happening in class, in school and across the Trust
• Send out and reply to individual messages (in working hours)
• Share links to useful websites, important/interesting information. 
• Use Class Dojo to support the children in class and encourage their learning and behaviour. 
• Maintain the highest professionalism and security settings at all time when using Class Dojo
• Automatically invite parents to join their child's Class Dojo page when they start in their class. 

What do we expect our parents to do? 

• Check Class Dojo for messages 
• Make sure they appreciate staff well-being and not expect responses immediately (even if the message has been seen by the class teacher) 
• Use Class Dojo to structure a conversation about their child and what they have been learning. 
• NOT screenshot or share any content from Class Dojo on social media or other messaging services. 
• Arrange to speak to a teacher if you have any concerns that you wish to discuss.
• Not use it as a replacement for face to face discussions. 

We are sure this will not happen, but please note that any individual who uses Class Dojo to post abusive, defamatory, threatening or offensive comments about staff, pupils or the school will be removed from the site, either temporarily or permanently. Also any parents who are identified as copying content from Class Dojo to share on social media will also be removed as we need to protect all of our children and staff.