Ashlands Primary School

Communication with Parents and Carers

Arbor

School uses Arbor for day to day communications with parents:

• To send out messages and letters
• To send out emergency text / SMS messages e.g. school closure due to snow, school trips late back etc.
• Parents can use it to pay for school diners
• Parents can update their emergency contact information online
• Parents can pay for other school items such as trips, milk and fees for nursery and Saplings

The scheme is entirely voluntary and it is understood that not everyone wishes to use an electronic form of communication. In these instances parents will receive communication from school in the form of paper copies in their child’s book bag and can pay for any school item wish cash or cheque at the school office.

Conventional methods of contacting parents through letters, phone calls, face to face contact etc will continue as normal where it is deemed to be more appropriate.

Setting Up your Arbor Account

When your child arrives at Ashlands you will be asked to complete an Admission Form that tells us all about your child, including guardian contact information. The email addresses for the primary guardians that you supply will be keyed into Arbor and you will receive a ‘Welcome to Arbor’ email from school. This email will confirm your username (your email on school record) and a link for you to click on that will take you directly to your schools’ Parent Portal site.

On your first login only, you will need to enter your child’s date of birth to access the dashboard.

If you do not receive this email please check your junk / clutter. If you have any questions or problems registering please contact the school office for assistance.

Helpful Arbor guides and links

Find below some guides about Arbor that you may find useful.

Arbor Parent Portal – a quick introduction

Please be aware that Arbor is used by both primary and secondary schools and there is some functionality in these guides at we do not use.

Home School Agreement

At Ashlands we have a Home School Agreement, between parents, children and the school, that underpins our work together. It sets out all our responsibilities for ensuring each child achieves his/her best.

The Home School Agreement is completed at time of admission to Ashlands and forms part of the School Admission Form.

Parents Evenings

We hold two Parent Consultation Evenings within the academic year, one in Autumn and one in Spring. At the first, teachers will discuss how your child has settled into his/her class and agree with the parent a set of targets for the academic year. This is reviewed at the Spring Consultation Evening held in February.

Where parents need to speak to a member of staff outside of these times they should speak to the class teacher or contact the school office to make an appointment. We provide a written report about your child at the end of the academic year.

Annual Written Report

In the Summer Term of each year we provide a written report to parents.

Contact With Staff

You are able to speak to the head teacher, often at short notice if he is free.

It is normally possible to have a quick word with the class teacher at the beginning or end of the school day. If this is not possible, or if a longer conversation is required please contact the school office to arrange an appointment.

Curriculum Newsletters

Our Curriculum Newsletters keep parents informed about what the children are doing in school. You can find these under the relevant year group in the curriculum tab.