Communication Policy - Instrumental Music Program

Overview

It is very important to us that we work closely in partnership with parents and carers, and communication between home and school is key. We recognise however that it can often be difficult communicating with teachers because they have a very full timetable; and we recognise that parents and carers also have very busy lives.

Contacting the School

Communication by email or phone is the preferred method:

• Emails directly to the IMP teacher/ensemble conductor/s are by far the best way to get a message to a teacher promptly and should be used for the majority of everyday communication.
• Some IMP staff have also provided their mobiles numbers to families to contact them on the day of a system ensemble rehearsal if a child is going to be late or absent.  These numbers should only be used for this purpose.

Teachers want to respond to parent queries at the earliest opportunity and will do their best to do so, however, the majority of teachers’ time is taken up teaching and preparing for lessons. Teachers’ responsibilities extend beyond the classroom, and they may be unable to respond to you on the day a query is made. We have also agreed with staff that there is no expectation to respond to queries during their personal/family time.

Telephone

Please use the IMP office number (02 6142 0477) to leave a message for a teacher to contact you:

• IMP staff will relay messages to teachers as soon as possible.
• If a call is urgent, please inform the staff member on the phone who will attempt to find a senior member of the IMP staff to speak to you.
• We will try to respond to you within three working days, if not sooner.
• Please note, lessons will never be interrupted for teachers to take calls.

Email

Please use staff email addresses if you need to contact staff directly:

• Teachers are not in a position to check emails consistently throughout the day and the school does not expect work email to be checked during a teacher’s personal time.
• We aim to respond to you as soon as possible and within three working days. Part-time staff may take longer to reply.

Meetings

The day-to-day care, welfare and safety of your child is managed by the person who is placed closest to them.

• In the first instance, please approach the following members of staff who are responsible for your child in the following order:
  1. School Based Teacher (SBT) (if the query is relevant to the Instrumental Music Program in schools)
  2. IMP Teacher or System Ensemble Conductor (if query is relevant to the Instrumental Music Program)
  3. Executive Teacher
  4. Principal
• Meetings should always be pre-arranged with members of staff.
• If you urgently need to see someone, for instance if there is a serious family emergency or a child protection issue, please phone ahead and the IMP staff will do their best to find a senior member of staff to see you.
• For non-urgent meetings we will aim to meet with you within five working days. The IMP will determine the level of urgency at its discretion, to enable it to manage multiple demands.

Contacting You

Our preferred method of contacting you is via email.

The school also provides a range of opportunities to share information about students’ learning and progress throughout the year, including concerts and events, google classroom pages, semester reports and updates on our social media channels.

If our teachers identify any concerns about a student’s learning or behaviour, or have other matters that need to be discussed, they will contact you as soon as possible.

Social Media

We use our social media channels to promote student achievements, some performance information and generic educational information. This information can also be found on the IMP website. You can find these by searching –

• Instagram - @imp_canberra
• Facebook - ACT Instrumental Music Program
• Website – www.imp.act.edu.au

No Response

If you have not received a response from the IMP within three working days, please contact the school by emailing imp@imp.act.edu.au and we will chase up your enquiry. Communication with parents and carers is important to us, and we will continue to monitor this policy and our approach to improve the process further.

Contact Information