Thank you to everyone who took part in the recent P1-3 Shared Start.  Below are the evaluations from the sessions.

Shared Start Evaluation Responses – Term 1 2017

1. What did you expect from the session?

• Take part and find out how they learn – development of ideas
• See the kids in situ and watch them learn
• To have fun doing activities with my daughter
• To see what Beth’s classroom is like and what kind of work they were doing
• To see how children are in the classroom, interact and how they learn
• Experience learning
• Working with my child and experience tasks with them and their class
• Fun and educational, great fun!
• Fun and be able to interact with child
• To see how my child is doing
• To have fun and get to know what children are working on
• To observe my child in class and discover how the class works together and what they do
• See my child’s learning
• I expected to see pupil doing classwork
• To join in and see what goes on in class
• To see my child in a structured learning environment
• An opportunity to see the pupils at work, how they learn, classroom experience etc.
• To see how children learn
• How she gets on in group, observing and joining in with groups – numbers/writing, how to assist with homework
• To experience a small part of my child’s learning
• Working in groups
• To see what my child is learning at school
• To see and hear examples of what the P2s are learning and how they are shown how to do activities
• Spending time seeing what kids are doing in class
• To be able to see the children doing work exercises
• To see what the kids were learning and how their class works
• Thought it would be more sit at table and less fun (old times)
• To watch the activities that are done in the class
• Lots of fun!
• To see a few activities that the children do in class
• Exactly what we got!
• To see what my child is working on
• Great to see the different numeracy activities in class
• Having undertaken shared start sessions previously I had an idea of what was involved. Each occasion I’ve attended has been great – this session was no exception.  It’s great to see my son in a different environment.  I had lots of fun.
• To find out what happens in class
• To see some of what the children do with their time in class
• A general overview of class tasks and to witness how the class are getting on
• To learn what activities daily class involves
• To get a feel of what the children do in class
• To find out what happens in class and how the kids work

2. Did it meet your expectations?

Yes            41                                                                    No       0

3. Were the timings convenient? Please explain why

Yes            40                                                                    No       1

• Still time to get to work a bit later after
• I am a stay at home mum so either suits at the start of the end of the day
• First day back to school may not be convenient as children aren’t settled yet
• Useful to attend before starting work
• A variety of days
• I took time off work to attend
• First thing then can go to work
• I work mornings to had to take time off
• It was great coming straight from drop off
• It is easier for me to go into work late
• Immediately after drop off works well
• Just after drop off
• I don’t work on a Thursday, could then get work done after shared start
• There were varied days to choose from
• Right after drop off
• Perfect being right at the start of the day
• Easier to get into work later rather than leave and go back
• Yes, seeing what they are doing great
• First thing in the morning is very handy
• 1^st thing works best
• Yes – straight after the bell is good
• Good that it was shortly after drop off
• It’s convenient at the beginning of the day

4. What was helpful in supporting your child at home?

• Yes – great
• See visual exercises – how to make learning fun
• Yes – good to see where they are in Numeracy and different game ideas
• Very – think I have a better idea of some Numeracy work
• Yes
• Fun game with phonics and numbers
• Spotting areas that need help and encouragement with trickier multiplications
• Reading books
• Going over times tables using a variety of methods – e.g. the football game they liked bumping their opponent off
• Need to practise his numbers with him
• Knowing what they are working on
• Learning what they are doing in Numeracy so we can work on it at home
• Yes – good to see the best way to help them with sounds and games we can play
• I got to see how she is doing at school so know what her strengths are
• It’s given me some great ideas to try at home
• To a point, much of it are things we do at home. But it was good to see in practice
• Seeing different activities, methods for teaching, pace etc.
• Yes
• Yes – ways to help with looking at number homework
• Understand learning methods
• Yes
• Seeing different tools that are used for teaching e.g. number lines and bingo
• Seeing what they are working on in class
• Good for checking what level they are getting their work pitched at – good for LOL
• Understanding what stage they are at in class
• The homework jotter – more space to write and do Maths
• Counting games
• Very much
• See how you teach counting coins
• Knowing what times tables he is working on
• Yes – was lovely to see what work they were doing
• Yes – it gave me some ideas for fun activities at home
• Finding out numeracy apps on ipad and games to help learning
• Able to talk about their day
• Different strategies for learning
• Yes as I have an insight of what they do in class and how they learn
• We’ll see!

5. How could we improve Shared Start?

• N/A – tea/coffee before was great!
• Great, really enjoy it
• Sessions throughout the school P1-P7
• Everything’s perfect
• More regular occasions through the year. Loved the dancing in give me 5.
• Nothing
• More disco fun in French! Hilarious!
• Explain more beforehand. What are we coming to?
• Maybe do sessions at the end of the day
• More sessions
• Nothing that I can think of. A really enjoyable visit.  Thank you.
• Probably in the minority but I would like to see it more often but I understand it takes a lot of effort for teachers etc. Also wouldn’t mind if it was done in upper school but realise the above makes it tricky.
• Nothing – seeing them learn and have so much fun. Thank you.
• More of them? Grandparent shared start sessions?
• More please!
• Hopefully Shared Start continues throughout the years
• N/A
• Nothing
• Keep doing it the way you do it! Would be good to see it continue into P4 and up J
• I think it works well
• Nothing
• No improvements