JUNIOR SCHOOL PARENT FORUM
SPRING TERM 2026
Termly, Mr Jelley meets with both the Friends’ Executive group for junior school and also, separately, the year group reps. These meetings form an important part of the strong home school partnership that exists at Claremont, supporting effective communication around school development.
The below covers the range of topics raised by parents during either Spring term forum, with following detail providing contextual information and explanation, or an indication of matters carried forward for future action.
Please be aware that the meetings provide the opportunity to raise matters which are pertinent to a year group and therefore matters brought to the meeting are asked to be representative of a widely held view rather than individual queries which should be communicated to the school on an individual basis.
Item raised by parents Notes /comment from Mr Jelley Action
Security of the school perimeter
Our beautiful site has an extensive perimeter, and there are admittedly areas where the perimeter is more open than others. Whilst longer term there is the aim to accommodate a porter’s lodge style visitor facility at the top car park, which would support access control from the Portsmouth Road, we currently adopt effective measures to manage site security considering contextual detail: individual buildings are appropriately secured, and access controlled by key cards, and all adults on site are identifiable by way of lanyards (for Claremont employees or contractors) or visitor stickers for parents necessary. In the junior school, children’s activity and movement around the site is always under close supervision and the Fan Court recreational area is entirely secure.
N/A
Questions around the food provided for after school club
The school has not received any formal communication expressing concern around the food provided for after school club, and I am often present when the children are eating and anecdotally can say I observe the food going down well! However, I have asked ASC staff to be alert to any potential issues with quality and will raise this in my next meeting with the catering manager.
MJ to raise in next catering meeting and ensure that ASC menus are made available
Potholes on Claremont Drive
This issue has been noted and is largely a consequence of construction traffic using the drive with several residences under construction in the vicinity, plus the unusually wet and cold weather experienced over the winter months. The school has some responsibility to support road maintenance and is liaising with residents currently.
MJ to explore with Director of Operations and report back. Update - pot holes have been repaired this term.
This is very much an ongoing issue, and one that comes with the myriad benefits of our wonderful natural setting. MJ is exploring with the estates team ways to limit mud transfer from the surrounding grassy areas etc to the walkways and hard standing. It has only been a few years since the grass-play space behind Fan Court was modified with the installation of a synthetic grass “base”, through which natural grass could grow. Sadly, this modification has not achieved the desired outcome – further solutions are being considered within the wider site development plan.
N/A
Cleanliness of toilet areas in Fan Court
This matter wasn’t reported to the school at the time but has been explored subsequently. Discoloration by bleaching would appear to be the cause: the plastic seat of one of the pans had become slightly off white/brownish in appearance. The toilets are cleaned and checked
N/A
Mud around Fan Court
regularly by both contractors and Claremont staff. We are confident in the level of cleanliness and encourage any parent who feels the need for reassurance to contact us directly.
Request to extend pathway behind gravel parking spaces adjacent to Fan Court
This was raised as a safety concern as families were avoiding walking on the muddy grass and walking on the gravel car parking spaces as the path does not extend for the full length of the gravel parking spaces at drop off and pick up.
MJ to raise with Estates team – likely to be a recurring issue in the wet months.
Appreciation expressed for extended after school club timings and clubs offer Request for pre-nursery and nursery opening timing to align with Receptionyear 2 drop off Fan Court gates open at 8.20am and children in Reception to year 2 can be dropped in the supervised playground area from this time, before the doors open at 8.30am for the children to go to classrooms. Nursery doors open at 8.30am formally. To change timings would mean a change to early birds staffing, and the terms and conditions for staff working across our nursery provision. For families where an early drop off would be preferable, we would encourage use of the early birds drop off from 8am, and breakfast club for R-year 2 children in the new dining room (from 7.45am)
Appreciation for the accessibility of information via the parent portal
Request that future ski trip launches provide more time to consider the detail before booking opens.
Queries around processes for reporting pupil progress
Thank you – noted.
This is a fair request and will be actioned for next ski trip launch.
Monitor
MJ to refer to Mr Ferguson and the junior school’s educational visits coordinator for future reference.
There have been comments raised in recent forums, and also the parent survey feedback session held March 12th ,around how the school report on children’s progress, via reports/grade cards and also via parent consultations (this is a whole school, not junior school specific, matter). All comments are being collated and reviewed in light of a reporting review currently underway to implement change for the coming academic year.
MJ and junior school SLT will communicate how the reporting of pupil progress will evolve before the close of this academic year.
Appreciation for the quality of communications around digital literacy
Thank you – noted.
Request that children in Stable Court are able to bring bags to away sports fixtures and depart from the locality with parents who have travelled to watch rather than return to school for belongings
Request for the school to explore revising play areas/use of recreational time for upper key stage 2 children
Is there a continuation of Lacrosse club for years 5 and 6 girls?
Can the school look into storage options for children in years 5&6 to keep laptops at school rather than carry to and from school each day?
Historically, it has been felt that the lack of space in mini-buses makes it easier for children to leave bags at school, in addition to the fact that children may have expensive equipment with them, which adds a level of vulnerability (e.g. laptops). There is also a logistical challenge in ensuring that the sports teacher taking a team will have clear information about which children are being collected from an away fixture and which are returning to school, or what to do if a child who we expected to be collected from an offsite activity is not collected.
MJ to explore with sport and the Stable Court office, and feedback next meeting.
This is very much on our development agenda and the way we manage recreational time in Stable Court has evolved considerably over the past 18 months: we now use the walled garden for den building and there are plans for more play equipment to be installed for the coming academic year (supported by Friends’ fundraising).
Yes – a summer term club will be running for children in Upper KS2 to attend, which will be the pattern for next year as well.
This is currently on the development agenda but in the ‘nice to have’ category for now. Years 3 and 4 have the facility for storage/charging units in their classrooms, however, as the children in year 5 and 6 have more cause to bring devices to and from school within the week, for homework etc, rather than just at weekends (as is the expectation in years 3 and 4) it is not priority for investment but will remain an item on the development plan for junior school. We also want to support children of getting into good habits regarding device care: taking responsibility for updates and for charging devices at home prior to bringing into school in preparation for the responsibilities of senior school.
Could the start time for parent meetings held in the morning please accommodate parents dropping at Fan Court?
Is there scope to extend the languages provision in junior school?
All parent meetings for the junior school should not start before 8.40am to allow for all parents to drop off and attend – the one parent forum where this was not the case was publicised with an 8.30am start in error.
Monitor
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This is under consideration – to deliver a programme of both French and Spanish across the junior school years. It is likely, to best serve the children’s learning in either French or Spanish, that learning in one language will span a curriculum year or two, rather than being run concurrently as this has been proven to confuse children and deliver less favourable
MJ to communicate developments formally in due course
Queries over the current year 5 intake (25-26) being large
outcomes
We recruited well into the current year 5, which meant the number of pupils in the cohort grew from year 4 however it is the model, and a routine arrangement, for Clarmont to run 3 or 4 classes in either year 5 or 6. We ensure that we do not exceed our maximum number of children per class in any year.
Monitor
Lost property – Stable Court
Early in the term, Stable Court parents expressed some frustration with a number of items that had been missing for a period of time and hadn’t been recovered, however, after some ‘digging’, we found a number of JS, Stable Court items which had been collected and held in an area behind the Warren – probably collected by senior school staff or our estates team if items had been left by children on the playground after lunch, mistaking them for senior items. This improved matters considerably.
We remind parents that all items need to be named so that they can be returned to children quickly (we will implementing a weekly lost property run for named items in the black boxes at the front of school to be returned to children in classrooms). In a busy school, it’s very difficult to relocate unnamed items.
Monitor and implement Friday “lost property” named item return run.
