Thank you to all the parents who shared their views on our existing school values during the parent consultation evenings a few weeks ago. Over 150 of you had your say.

We asked parents to vote on which of our current identified values (learning, respect, creativity, relationships, inclusiveness and community) were the three most important. Learning, respect and creativity received the most number of votes in similar numbers with relationships and inclusiveness receiving approximately half the number of votes as the “winners”. When we asked parents what other values they thought were important, some clear themes emerged. Kindness and compassion were seen as key, alongside the need for children to be happy. Parents also prized values around “getting on with others” such as teamwork, tolerance, co-operation, trust and equality. The importance of “character values” such as honesty, persistence and courage were also highlighted.

Over the evenings, we had a number of very interesting conversations with parents. One of the issues discussed was the importance of having values described in a way that a 5 year old might understand. We don’t think our current stated values have got this right and we are looking to make them more child-friendly for the future.

Focus group. A number of parents have volunteered to take part in a focus group looking in more details at our school values. Thank you if you offered to do this – we will be in touch soon. We are looking for more parents to participate in this group so please let governors know if you are interested in taking part. (Either leave a message in the office or email chair@Morley.cambs.sch.uk.) We hope to run the group before the end of term and it should only take about an hour of your time.

This consultation with parents about our school values is part of a wider discussion with all our stakeholders (staff, children and governors) around our school values. Once we have heard what everyone has to say, governors will revise our values to reflect what our current school community feels are important.