Hall Grove School

Headmaster and wife, and the vast majority of the staff bring so much positivity and new energy to the school. The headmaster is, however, very disconnected from the reality of the lives of many of their paying customers. As an ex-military family with kids who went to boarding school, they are simply not aware of the schedule juggle which most families have to manage. Many families have two parents working full time hours or maybe have single parents working full time , meaning that it is just not possible to drop everything at short notice for yet another webinar or lecture style meeting where the headmaster updates people on matters which could be simply shared by email, or as a recorded online meeting. Why not plan in all meetings at the beginning of term so that parents stand a fighting chance of being able to make it to some them?

Similarly, the constant notes home about shoe polish, fleeces (which the school shop sells!!!) and haircuts wear very thin. Perhaps they should encourage the kids to wear their trainers/wellies outdoors at breaks/lunchtime/forest school so the shoes don’t get so muddy and destroyed. At £60 per pair for new shoes I would certainly appreciate that.

Other recommendations:
1. Improve the quality and durability of the school uniform. Jumpers and socks in particular are poor quality, and the sports kit should just be some well know brand of sports clothing badged up for HG instead of the really outdated and terrible quality current kit.

2. Think about parents with two or more kids and proactively offer options to help with pick up times which might differ by 30mins-2 hours, especially at end of term.

3. Address the exodus of qualified sports staff, which has accelerated since the questionable appointment of a new head of sport, who seems to have zero ability to think more holistically about the kids development and communication with parents.

4. Please actually test the calendar so your poor parents don’t lose their minds trying to get it to work.