Partnerships with Families What we did at Tonacliffe C.P.

Tonacliffe already had great partnerships made with families, local agencies and the community. However, new changes needed to be made within school, and these created new partnerships as well as strengthening those already established. Read on to find out what we have done…

Who’s idea was it? School Council The School Council wanted to change the way in which we celebrated birthdays in school. Eco Team The Eco Team wanted to plant fruit trees for people to use.

School Council & Birthdays Along with staff, the school council decided that as a healthy school, it wasn’t good for pupils to bring in unhealthy treats such as sweets and chocolates on birthdays. They asked pupils what they would like to bring in instead and compiled a list.

As this was a new school rule, the school needed to make a new partnership with parents and carers, and so we asked parents what they thought of the new idea. Parents were asked to vote whether they wanted children to be allowed to bring in another treat for the class from the list gathered by the school council or whether children would not bring anything into school at all on birthdays but would instead celebrate by wearing the class birthday hat and badge……

The results: 69% of respondents voted for children bringing nothing into school on birthdays but celebrating by wearing a special birthday hat and badge from school. This has now been made a school rule and has been implemented since Easter with great success.

The Eco Team The Eco Team invited families to come into school to plant fruit trees. Once these have grown, families will be able to pick the fruit to take home and eat. What we did: What we did: We planted fruit trees with our families… “So we can eat the fruit” – Eve, Yr4. “To save time and not waste petrol” – Finley, Yr3. “So that we will have a variety of fruit that we might not have tried” – Lily, Yr6. “To help us get the healthy schools flag” – Oliver Yr6. “Families helped plant them” – Eve Yr4.

The Eco Team Why we did it and how school will be better: Why we did it and how school will be better: “It will make it a better place because on birthdays we could use the fruit instead of sweets” – Brody Yr4. “It will make the playground look better” – Zac Yr4. “It will help birds and insects because we have planted the trees” – Ella Yr3. “There will be responsibility – looking after them and making sure people don’t break or kick them” – Oliver Yr6. “By coming picking fruit, it might persuade them to eat more fruit and cook with it. If it works we could plant more!” – Lily Yr6. “We could make a cookery book and ask parents to help by bringing recipes in using fruit” – Oliver Yr6.

Thank You Thank you to all the families involved in making these changes possible. As a result our school is a healthier place.