How Schools Can Benefit From Using A School Planner
Whether you are a Primary or Secondary school, your Teachers, Students and Parents would benefit from using a school planner for so many reasons.
School planners have evolved into so much more than a simple homework diary and timetable.
They now form the most trusted link between schools, students and parents.
A weekly goal tracker, help with mental wellbeing, key stage 1,2 and 3 spelling checklists for primary school students and structured financial and careers advice for secondary school students mean that planners have become a supporting chaperon for students and the instant access to school policies, term dates, parents evening prompts and daily link to teachers mean that they are also becoming a parent’s faithful companion.
How primary and secondary schools benefit from having their own school planner
One of the most rewarding benefits for schools when using a school planner is the ‘do it once and it’s done’ method of delivering the most important communication to parents and students. The ripple effect to this is often a significant money saving since there is no need for further consistent printing of communication throughout the school year.
School planners begin with some important reference pages before the diarised pages begin. In fact there can be up to 64 personalised pages at the front of each planner and schools can pick and choose the type of content to go on these pages, whether they design their own, use our own in-house designers to create the perfect pages or in the case of sixth form planners, they can pop in specialised pages designed and supplied by UCAS themselves.
It’s this section that benefits schools the most since it can provide instant access to the most important school information:
- School Uniform Policy
- The School and Student Agreement
- Important Dates
- Term Dates and Inset Days
- The School Code of Conduct
- Responsible ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and Internet Use Policy
- Parents Evening Prompts
- Bullying Policy
How parents benefit from their children’s school planner
Easy access to important school information is vital for parents and the way in which we’re now bombarded with digital communication from all areas, makes a physical planner all the more welcoming. No child need ever go to school on an inset day again!
Moving on to the plastic pocket (letter pouch!). A genius idea which means that no parent needs to dive too deep into the bottom of their child’s school bag.
Other benefits to parents of a school planner are:
- An easy glance at their child’s timetable and homework timetable
- The Comments/Notes section at the end of each week can be used for regular communication if required and is the most efficient way for teachers and parents to communicate, reducing the time spent at the school gates.
- Parents evening prompts with allocated space for questions. These allow parents to jot down any questions they have, before their parents evening slot. The teachers can be fully prepared for these situations and can bring along any examples of work or details of noticed behaviour that will help the child and parent where necessary.
- School Uniform Policy, specifically with items that aren’t allowed despite protestations from their child!
How students benefit from using a school planner
A school planner for both primary and secondary school children is an exciting upgrade from a simple homework diary and can help to motivate and steer children of all ages through their school years.
Used hourly by secondary school students for it’s well laid out timetable, a planner becomes the one thing a student can not leave at home. The weekly homework diary allows plenty of room to record homework, by subject or by day with a ‘due in’ column and ‘done’ column ready to tick. The green, red and amber traffic light columns allow the student to mark whether they found the work ‘easy, difficult or average’ and is a great way for teachers to monitor progress. It’s also great for the students who can gradually steer towards a green ticked column as the weeks progress.
With space at the beginning of each week to set goals with a goal tracker to tick off at the end and a special page to record merits and achievement points throughout each term, the planner quite simply has everything a student needs to stay motivated through the school year.
Primary school students can use their one school planner in place of a separate homework diary, reading diary and spelling list book, with each having its own special section. A school can even pop their unique spellings for the different key stages as a separate page inside the planner ready to be ticked off.
Parents and primary school students are prompted to check their planners daily. Not only to keep track of homework but also for other communication such as:
- Reminders of things they need to bring to school (eg PE kit, outdoor wellies)
- Who is collecting the child from school if different from usual
- Team practises
- Rehearsals
- Music Lessons
- Swimming Lessons
- Other after-school activities
- Going home with a friend
- Birthdays
- Parties
- Sleepovers
- Holidays
The reference pages at the back of the school planners can be tailored for each age group. Whether a periodic table would be helpful or the human body circulatory system, the reference section is a dependable part of the planner for when students forget such things like ‘calculating the area of a parallelogram’, or the year that Winston Churchill became Prime Minister.
A lovely addition to any of our school planners are the traffic light pages, placed where ever is the most convenient. For a child struggling in a certain topic, who may be too shy to put up their hand and ask for help, they can simply leave their school planner open at the ‘red’ page and the teacher or teacher’s assistant will know they need some extra support. Green means that they are absolutely fine. Another great way to monitor progress.
As a child progresses through primary school to secondary school and sixth form, their school planners will change and adapt as they themselves grow. A trusty and comforting companion to take through school for teachers, students and parents alike.