Your Latest Feedback
Thank you to all our parents for your comments and feedback. Please find a selection below.
Feedback for our Parenting Course
You have both transformed our family life! We are beginning to enjoy our children more with a little less shouting and nagging. After attending the parenting course, I feel like Mary Poppins with a bag of tricks and parenting techniques! I’ve gained a toolbox to use and adapt as my children grow. The most magical for us is praise and empathy. Being more aware and listening, to make a difference. Family rules rock! The hand gestures for choices and consequences work wonders! A huge thank you to the both of you. Your support and advice have been much appreciated. You are both amazing! You have a great partnership, which in turn delivers the objectives of the course in a nurturing and fulfilling way. This course is outstanding! I’ve learnt soo much and have already recommend to other parents.
The positive parenting course has been a brilliant, insightful journey into the daunting world of parenting and expertly delivered by both Terri and Michelle. I wish we had known about this valuable resource earlier on in our parenting journey and I would go as far to say it is as, if not, more important and valuable as the NCT antenatal classes we attended before becoming parents. Lots of soul searching and self-reflection, the course invites you to delve into your own childhood experiences and upbringing (as well as learning from such experiences from others in the group) to understand what worked well and what didn’t work so well. This has helped in really understanding various experiences from my child’s perspective in their important formative years and whilst much of the course content does seem quite obvious in many instances, the reality is that due to our busy schedules and hectic lives we live, we often forget or we are distracted from what is truly important and best for our children in these critical early years. The basic interactions, reactions and engagement we have with our children on a daily basis clearly has a profound impact on their own mood, character, wellbeing and development and attending this course has highlighted the ways in which we can tailor our own daily engagement with our children to become more naturally conscious of this, in doing so really helping our children to excel and avoiding habits that we have as parents that may be inadvertently hindering their growth.
I have learnt so many useful tips and strategies from the course to promote my child’s independence and to encourage them to be the best version of themselves whilst simultaneously using the parenting experience for self-growth and inner reflection. Whilst I realise that nurturing young children is no easy task and there will be many challenges and hurdles to overcome, the course has really helped shift my perspective of parenting into a much more positive and rewarding context. I am incredibly grateful to the course leaders Terri & Michelle for their dedication, positivity, humour, kindness and encouragement during the past couple of months and for delivering the course in such an engaging and thoughtful manner throughout. I would highly recommend this course to any parent or carer to really equip themselves and get the most out of the parenting journey. Thank you Michelle and Terri once again!
Feedback from Parent Forum Jan 2023
It is reassuring to know that you are listening to parents’ requests and taking action.
The school is absolutely fantastic at caring for children and tailoring solutions for their individual needs.
We really appreciate teachers greeting children and parents at the gate/outside the classroom in the morning. What is even better is every teacher always has a big smile on their face and is happy for a quick chat. It is reassuring for parents and a great start to the day.
Excellent communication between the school and parents - I know what is happening with my child in their class and in the school as a whole.
Always on top of issues - well done! You react so fast to suggestions and problems we raise. We are very happy.
Burlington is a lovely, warm and friendly school. Even though it is a big school, it doesn’t feel like it, all pupils seem to be recognised individually.
Teaching and Learning
We really like everything about the school, and its outstanding teaching activities, and wide range of after school activities. Parents visiting classrooms and activities were really helpful and supportive - they were my favourite part of the year - it gave us a sense of what our child is doing.
Burlington Infants is an excellent school that has really coped well with the past few years and all the challenges it has thrown at the education system. The children have responded well to all the extra support and the general enthusiasm provided by the teachers and support staff.
I cannot praise this school enough. There is such a strong culture of kindness and acceptance. Alongside a great education with lots of varied ways of delivering teaching, there are lots of extracurricular activities and celebration of music, sport and cultural diversity. They are great at celebrating effort and not just achievements. My two children absolutely loved coming to school, sad to be moving on and am so thankful they had such an excellent start at Burlington.
My child has had another wonderful year at school and continues to grow and flourish in so many ways thanks to the support and guidance she receives from everyone she encounters at Burlington. Thank you!
Transition to Nursery or Reception 2022
It was lovely that the nursery teachers were outside the reception area to welcome the children back to school. They were familiar faces to the children and gave reassurance that school is a friendly place with trusted people. The children were so excited to see their old teachers and felt really reassured by being back after the long holidays. We thought the staggered start with children starting on different days was a lovely, calm way to get the children used to the environment. We found the first week was set up brilliantly. It was the next few weeks that were tricky as tiredness set in and my child realised school would be a long day! The teachers did well at bringing her into the classroom.
After visiting the school for the various induction events, I just wanted to say how happy and reassured I felt. The communications have been great and everything was well planned and organised. Please continue this as this was amazing.
Everything went so well for us. My daughter has settled in so well and I can not thank the nursery staff enough. They are amazing with her and she has really taken to them which is such a relief. The nursery staff at Burlington go above and beyond and are always welcoming and happy to answer any questions.
You Said... We Did
At the recent parents’ forum/coffee morning, a parent asked if we would consider having the 2 Y1 classes who usually eat in the small hall be swapped with the 2 that eat in the Great Hall so that they have the chance to experience eating in the Great Hall in the summer term before they move on to Y2. We thought this was a good idea and would like to try this in the summer term. They will keep the same lunch supervisors, but do a swap with the other 2 classes. So Sapphires and Emeralds will eat in the Great Hall and Rubies and Diamonds will eat in the small hall in summer term 2. We will build in a class visit to start with, at the end of summer 1. Thank you to the parents who attended our parents forum, we had some wonderful feedback and some really helpful suggestions!
A parent requested that we do more to encourage children to try more new vegetables. We have healthy eating incentives at lunch times when new vegetables are promoted and children are encouraged to try a new vegetable with a simple sticker if they have tried it. We will relaunch this with our caterers and also learn about it in assembly/in class.
In response to a request to use washable paints for the Nursery children, we would like to assure parents that we do use washable paints but we appreciate that it can be difficult to clean. Nursery will now be focusing on training children to put on aprons every time they paint and are also purchasing some larger, long sleeved aprons.
Following a helpful suggestion from parent feedback, Reception and Year 1 will also be posting their ‘What we are learning’ posters on Tapestry as the Year 2 team already do.
More of Your Feedback
Jubilee Picnic
Just wanted to say a huge thank you to you and your team for such a lovely Jubilee Picnic on Friday! It was so nice to see everyone out and having fun again... Lots of the parents were saying the same thing, so I just wanted to make sure that the feedback reached you. We were really appreciative that the school did something lovely to mark the occasion, and gave the children such a nice end to the term. It really is such a lovely and supportive school - long may she reign!
COVID Lockdown and School Provision
As this half-term draws to a close we wanted to again just drop a line to you and all the staff team at Burlington to thank you for your tremendous hard work and the passionate way you have all continually sought to educate and encourage the children over these past few months at such a challenging time for all.
We have been continually impressed by the unfailingly cheery, welcoming and positive attitude amongst all the various staff we have encountered – most impressive given that they will doubtless have had plenty of “balls of their own to juggle”, both practically and emotionally.
I can't fault Burlington at all for their home schooling provision, it has been excellent. The quality of teaching, work set, guidance for parents a fabulous, engaging dialogue from the teachers and teaching assistants has been superb. The school has also been reactive, listening to feedback and changing things accordingly.
SEND and Inclusion
Thank you for helping my child this year. I felt that the school was really helpful and supportive and he has really benefited from the interventions that were put in place this year. Thank you to the Deputy Headteacher and the support staff for all of your hard work this year. Excellent communication.
Here are some of the things that you really do well:
-Excellent communication!
-Really good advice and steps that could be taken at home to support my child
-Excellent relationships between my child and all of his teachers
-Very good monitoring of my child’s progress and timely interventions put in place when concerns arose
Thank you for listening to my concerns.
My child has progressed so much at Burlington and this is due to the staff understanding his way of thinking, and supporting him through tricky days, as well as acknowledging all of his achievements. He is doing better than I ever could have expected in all areas-socially he is improving. He is learning well and as always, I am so grateful for the lunchtime support. Thank you.
I cannot praise SEN support my child gets enough. She struggles with transition, communication, anxiety and emotional regulation; this has all been looked at and continually supported. What a difference the Deputy Headteacher, Class teacher and all that have been involved with her have made to her being able to access learning. From very early on with us working together, my child’s triggers were identified and her signs of anxiety picked up on. The Class teacher focused on helping my child deal with and process that, found motivators to get her interested and trying new and challenging things. You all have an incredible passion for teaching and this shows in abundance in the support and care shown, constant communication, ideas, structures, planners and mini support classes. The open door approach is so relaxing and just knowing that you will be listened to lighten the load enormously. Thank you all! You really do a make a difference to our journey.
Parents who have attended the Parenting course in 2023
So many new ways to help me with looking after an active child. [This course] is very good if you have a child who struggles to listen or doesn't do what they are told!
This is such a fantastic course for anyone who would like to learn some new tools to manage their child's behaviour. Attend with honesty and openess and it really will be life changing!
I loved this course. It has helped with our confidence, supporting each other and having a 'toolbox' for tricky situations or behaviours.
When I signed up for the course I often felt frustrated and at a loss as to how to handle certain types of behaviour from my children. The course has given me plenty of top tools and tips to use and using them has already had an impact. Putting aside the time to attend the course also gave me the time and space to think about how I was parenting and what I could do differently. The group meetings were very supportive and it was comforting to know that parents had had similar struggles. I now feel calmer and more confident in my parenting abilities.
Parent View
Please share your views! We are continually striving to improve our school for all our children. It only takes 5 minutes to complete a short on-line survey, and would really support us.
Please click here to visit Ofsted's parent view site where you can give your views on the school.
OFSTED's Parentview