Parent Survey Results Feb 2012

Survey Results

We’ve now finished analysing the results from the survey. From your responses we are able to come up with a view of what you want for your children. We grouped ratings of ‘Not Important’ (rating of 1) and ‘Slightly Important’ (rating of 2) as ‘Not Important’ and ‘Important’ (rating of 3) and ‘Very Important’ (4) as ‘Important’. However, analysis of the data indicates, that, even when broken down into the degree of importance (i.e. whether something is simply important or is very important), we found the data followed a very similar pattern in terms of the order of subjects. E.g. English Literacy, Mathematics and R.E are the top 3 topics when the rating is grouped, as well as when broken down.

Years 1-3

Table 1: Importance of different areas of learning for years 1-3

Curriculum Area of Learning		Important	Not Important	Important as %
English Literacy	English	23	0	100
Mathematics	Maths	23	0	100
Religious Education	Social Justice	23	1	96
Health and P.E	Body care/Physical Safety	21	3	88
Social Sciences	People and Environment	21	3	88
Religious Education	Spirituality	20	4	83
Health and P.E	Food & Nutrition	19	5	79
Computer Literacy	Safety	19	5	79
Health and P.E	Outdoor Ed	19	5	79
Arts	Visual Arts	18	6	75
Social Sciences	Identity & Culture	18	6	75
Arts	Music	17	7	71
Arts	Drama	15	9	63
Science	Biology	15	9	63
Health & P.E	Mental health	14	10	58
Arts	Dance	14	10	58
Science	Science skills	14	10	58
Science	Geology/Environmental	14	10	58
Religious Education	Sacraments	13	10	57
Technology	What is technology	13	11	54
Technology	Tech concepts, plans, systems	12	11	52
Health and P.E	Sports	12	12	50
Technology	Modelling & development	12	12	50
Languages	Te Reo	11	13	46
Computer Literacy	Word	11	13	46
Computer Literacy	Internet	11	13	46
Social Sciences	History	10	13	44
Social Sciences	Economics	10	14	42
Science	Physics	9	15	38
Science	Chemistry	8	16	33
Computer Literacy	Spreadsheets	8	16	33
Languages	Sign	7	17	29
Health and P.E	Sexuality	4	19	17
Languages	Other Language[1]	2	22	8

The emphasis appears to be on developing foundation skills, and learning to care for yourself and develop as a person.

Years 4-6

Table 2: Importance of different areas of learning for years 4-6

Area of Learning		Important	Not Important	Important as %
Religious Education	Social Justice	24	0	100
English Literacy	English	23	0	100
Mathematics	Maths	23	0	100
Computer Literacy	Safety	23	1	96
Social Science	Identity & Culture	23	1	96
Science	Biology	22	1	96
Science	Geology/Environmental	22	1	96
Computer Literacy	Word	22	2	92
Computer Literacy	Internet	22	2	92
Science	Chemistry	22	2	92
Social Science	People and Environment	22	2	92
Religious Education	Spirituality	21	3	88
Health and P.E	Body care/Physical Safety	21	3	88
Science	Science skills	21	2	88
Health and P.E	Outdoor Ed	21	3	88
Social Science	History	21	3	88
Science	Physics	20	3	87
Social Science	Economics	20	4	83
Health and P.E	Food & Nutrition	19	4	83
Technology	Tech concepts, plans, systems	19	4	83
Technology	What is technology	18	4	82
Arts	Visual Arts	18	6	75
Technology	Modelling & development	17	5	77
Computer Literacy	Spreadsheets	18	6	75
Health and P.E	Mental health	17	7	71
Arts	Drama	16	8	67
Arts	Music	16	8	67
Religious Education	Sacraments	14	9	61
Health and P.E	Sports	14	9	61
Health and P.E	Sexuality	14	10	58
Arts	Dance	12	12	50
Languages	Te Reo	9	15	38
Languages	Sign	7	17	29
Languages	Other Languages	4	20	17

As can be seen, the different areas of learning are all very close in terms of importance. There is a shift of subjects, with a desire for introducing sciences, a broadening of social sciences and increasing the health and P.E areas.

Years 7-8

In descending order of importance, the top 11 areas of learning for years 4-6 were:

Table 2: Importance of different areas of learning for years 7-8

Area of Learning		Important	Not Important	Important as %
Religious Education	Social Justice	21	0	100
Technology	Tech concepts, plans, systems	21	0	100
Technology	What is technology	21	0	100
Social Sciences	Identity & Culture	21	0	100
Science	Science skills	20	0	100
Science	Biology	20	0	100
Science	Geology/Environmental	20	0	100
English Literacy	English	20	0	100
Mathematics	Maths	20	0	100
Computer Literacy	Word	20	1	95
Computer Literacy	Safety	20	1	95
Science	Chemistry	20	1	95
Social Sciences	People and Environment	20	1	95
Computer Literacy	Internet	19	2	90
Computer Literacy	Spreadsheets	19	2	90
Science	Physics	19	2	90
Social Sciences	History	19	2	90
Social Sciences	Economics	19	2	90
Technology	Modelling & development	19	2	90
Religious Education	Spirituality	18	3	86
Health and P.E	Mental health	18	3	86
Health and P.E	Outdoor Ed	18	3	86
Health and P.E	Food & Nutrition	17	3	85
Health and P.E	Sexuality	17	4	81
Health and P.E	Body care/Physical Safety	17	4	81
Arts	Visual Arts	16	5	76
Arts	Drama	14	7	67
Arts	Music	14	7	67
Religious Education	Sacraments	12	8	60
Health and P.E	Sports	11	9	55
Arts	Dance	9	12	43
Languages	Te Reo	8	13	38
Languages	Sign	7	14	33
Languages	Other Languages	4	17	19

Technology, Sciences, and Computers increase in importance for years 7-8. Social Sciences also expand.

Board of Trustees Performance

We gathered some great baseline data. From this we can identify areas in which the Board can improve its operations. We also received some great feedback, which will help with this. Be warned – we’ll repeat this part of the survey towards the end of the year to see if the changes we implement have improved our performance.

Need more Info?

A full report is being written for this survey. It is currently in draft form, but can still be viewed (grammatical errors notwithstanding). Just ask Lisa in the office.

If you want more information on the break-down of data into the four different levels of importance, graphs for this are contained in the full report.

[1] Other languages identified as languages important for children were Spanish, French, Japanese, Cantonese and Mandarin.

St Marys School

Carterton

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Parent Survey Results Feb 2012

Survey Results