Gotherington Primary School

The Lawns, Gotherington, Cheltenham, GL52 9QT

Parents  »  Your Views

Parent quotes from our Summer 2022 Parent Survey 

‘I feel the communication is exceptional, I feel informed on all aspects of school life and progress of my son. There is a clear strong leadership of the school which is evident in the success my son has achieved and the wonderful environment he has the privilege to be in.’

‘I could not ask for more from the school it has been the best possible start to my son's academic life. I can't thank the staff enough for all their hard work.’

‘I feel my son has made outstanding progress in all areas. he has just the right amount of challenge and support to achieve the best he possibly can. Gotherington really has nurtured a love for learning in my son, he truly enjoys reading and maths. He enjoys all the clubs and I have noticed great progress in his languages.’

‘I am amazed at the positive relationships my son has created, not only within class but all other years. I feel this is incredibly unique to Gotherington and such a pleasure to witness when he gets greeted by much older students coming in and out of the school grounds.’

'The school provides such a great environment for our children to learn, form friendships and feel safe/secure. We are privileged to have GCPS on our doorstep. Full credit to the school's leadership and all staff.'


How you can express your views
Your views are important to us: we’re always keen to hear your questions, comments and feedback.

Speak with the class teacher
Parents’ evenings are held twice a year – once in the autumn term and another in the spring. However, informal meetings can be more effective.  We encourage parents of all our pupils to keep in close contact with the school – it’s nearly always possible to speak with the class teacher for a moment or two before or after school, and a longer discussion can be arranged within a day or two. These meetings can be arranged if you have specific concerns or would like to know more about how to support your child.

Speak to the headteacher
As well as speaking to the class teacher, Mrs Langley will provide you with an overview of your child’s learning as well as talk about ways to support you and your child. She treats all feedback sensitively and appropriately – your feedback is one of the ways we can keep getting better and better.

Put your views in writing
Every year in the Summer Term, we send out a questionnaire for parents / carers. The questionnaire relates to Ofsted inspection criteria and will be about teaching, learning, behaviour and safety, and leadership. There’s always space for you to express your views, too. There are also opportunities for your thoughts on an issue so we know whether or not we should work on improving it (school dinners, for example). The surveys can be returned to us unnamed, if you’d prefer.

Don’t wait until the annual survey, though! If you’ve got some feedback for us, we’d like to hear from you. You could send us an email or a short note.

Contact Ofsted
Parent View gives you the chance to tell Ofsted what you think about Gotherington Primary School. Ofsted uses the information you provide when making decisions about which schools to inspect, and when. By sharing your views, you’ll be helping us to improve – we’ll aim to keep doing the things you praise and improve on those areas where you have raised concerns. Please remember that if your feedback is specific to your own child, it might be better to contact someone at school so we can respond quickly and specifically to help your child.

At the Parent View website, you’ll also be able to see what other parents have said about Gotherington Primary (and, if you want to, view the results for any school in England).

Look out for our communications
Your questions, comments or concerns are often answered in our communications. Near the start of each term, parents / carers receive a curriculum newsletter which is specific to each class and outlines the theme and content of what a child will learn during that term. The school also sends out a weekly newsletter to all parents.
We send home paper copies of essential communications. However, we increasingly use other ways to communicate. There are various ways for you to receive our news and updates electronically. If you use Twitter, you can follow us there or follow our Twitter feeds via our school website. We also use Class Dojo to communicate and share photos of the children's learning with you. You will also receive communication via  ParentMail which we use to send emails and to text – contact the school office if you don’t yet benefit from communications using ParentMail.

Raising Concerns and Resolving Complaints
Complaints are extremely rare at Gotherington. We have an open culture. Staff are nearly always available – it’s easy to have a quick chat with teachers or the headteacher so most concerns or complaints are dealt with quickly. However, from time to time parents, and others connected with the school, will become aware of matters that cause them concern. To encourage resolution of such situations the Governing Body has adopted a “School Complaints Procedure”.  The procedure is devised with the intention that it will:
  • usually be possible to resolve issues by informal means.
  • be simple to use and understand.
  • be non-adversarial.
  • provide confidentiality.
  • allow problems to be handled swiftly through the correct procedure.
  • address all the points at issue.
  • inform future practice so that the problem is unlikely to recur. 
Full details of the procedure may be obtained from our website, the School Office or from the Clerk to the Governing Body.