At the end of last term, we conducted a Whole School pupil questionnaire. It was deliberately short in its scope, so that questions could be focused on key areas for our strategic development. All children from Years 1 – 8 took part.

The survey gave us a huge amount of information and data, which has given us a great deal to reflect on and action. Below are some key highlights that we thought it worth sharing:

This is a chart showing the responses to the question, ‘What I like most about St Andrew’s Turi is….’: It is worth noting that for a large number of pupils, the thing they like most about Turi is the quality of education they are receiving. They are very grateful for the opportunities that they have here, and are aware of just what a fantastic provision that is on offer to them.

One thing to emerge that perhaps we weren’t anticipating was the positive impact the environment and the School grounds had on our children. This is good to know, not only as we plan future developments, but also as we begin to work much harder in initiatives such as ‘Ditch the Plastic’ day.

Other headline statistics to emerge were:

94% of pupils felt safe and secure at Turi. Those that didn’t cited the dorms being too dark at night, being wary of the School’s sirens, or other pupils being unkind to them as reasons.  Our School target is that 100% of our pupils feel safe and secure here.

84% of pupils knew who they would talk to if they had a problem here at School. Again, we would like this to be 100%, and we will be talking to pupils in more detail to find out what we could be doing more to help.

92% of pupils are aware of where they need to improve academically. This is very encouraging for us. Teacher feedback has been a key focus for us recently, and it is crucial that our young learners have a clear idea of what they need to do to get better.

99% of pupils say they aim to ‘Seek the Highest’ in their work. Many were honest and said that they didn’t always manage that, but it is great to see our pupils having the right attitudes.

96% of pupils said that they found our Leader-in-Me program useful. This is one of the School’s major strategic developments recently, as we look to prepare leaders that will change the world for good. It is great to see them responding well to the program, and you can find out more about what we do at our presentation this Viso.

Below is a chart showing the responses to the question, ‘The School would be even better if…’:

These responses will provide the focus for our main response over the next two terms. For example, we will be conducting a further Food Survey later on this term, to get more specific feedback around how we can make our provision better. On Wednesday 23^rd January, we held an Anti-Bullying Day, as we continue to work with our children to make this School an even happier environment; Boarding Facilities are very much in the forefront of both the School’s and the Board’s mind, as we look to develop our facilities over the coming years; and creating more opportunities for leadership, trips and activities in a busy calendar is a constant balancing act that we are trying to improve upon.

However, it is the 42% of children that would like to be more listened to that has become our priority. When we drill down in the data across the whole questionnaire, there are themes that come through, namely:

1. “Finding time to get to know staff, and for staff to get to know me”
2. “Building trust and understanding how the school will respond when I tell a teacher something”
3. “Allowing me more freedom to choose the direction I want to go in”

We have already put some processes in place, and we know that relationships take time to build, but we will be working hard, especially with Year 7 & 8 pupils who gave the majority of responses in this area, to understand their concerns more, and work with them to find solutions. Our School vision is to be the leading school in East Africa, and a fundamental part of achieving that is to listen to and work with our young people, to make sure that this a School of which they are proud and love being part of.

Fergus Llewellyn