We love hearing from you!

Our parent surveys reveal strong themes to celebrate and be proud of. We are particularly pleased that in a recent survey:

• 92% agree or strongly agreed that the quality of teaching is good, with teaching checking level of understanding and providing clear feedback
• 94% agree or strongly agree that the school provide high quality pastoral support - as you know this is at the heart of our ethos and values
• 92% agree or strongly agree that the school supports children to be confident, resilient and independent - again central to our vision
• 97% agree that the school has high expectations of behaviour, and 98% agree that any issues are dealt with in a timely fashion
• 97% agree that the school is effectively led by senior leaders and governors

A selection of comments from our leaver survey are below:

• You always feel valued and appreciated. Teachers always push you to do your very best and support you always. 
• Great opportunities.
• [Teachers] have all believed in me, taught excellence and gave me hope for a brighter future. 
• Thank you all for everything, TSS has a special place in my heart. I'll speak about this school to my children, grandchildren and the audiences when I collect my awards! You produce STARS. I love you all!
• Amazing teachers and really supportive school!
• Thanks for creating a special and unique school.
• This school has really helped me become who I am - building my way up in life and fully maturing. 
• ...has helped me achieve my full potential and I'm so grateful.
• ...helped me through a rough time in my life.
• The school is perfect :)
• The friendliness of teachers and the family-like nature of the school.
• The real life, adult-like treatment from the teachers. I feel this has best prepared me for the future. I'm gonna miss the school!
• I value the connections I have built and the memories with people I now have because of this school. 
• I will forever love this place. 
• It's a small school so we are known.
• The teachers all genuinely care about how well we do. 
• I enjoyed my time here, not just the education but the social side as well. Thank you!
• Forest School ignited my interest in nature and the outdoors. I was inspired that I could achieve anything.
• Very supportive of each other, especially with mental health, teachers are very caring. 
• I've valued how personal and honest teachers are, the school is small but successful. 
• Genuine and meaningful conversations with teachers about the subjects. 

Emails and cards are regularly received by our office. Here's just a few.

• I have the privileged job of teaching young people when they are ill in Poole Hospital. We like to get to know our students and often talk to them about their schools and how they get on. When we asked these questions of one of your students recently they were very positive about your school and commented that "students are treated as an individual and not just a number". It was so lovely to hear a young person speak so warmly about their secondary school that we wanted to pass on their feedback.
• A friend and I spent a day out in Swanage yesterday, and on the way home encountered a number of your pupils. Can I say how impressed we were with the way they were dressed. A simple but very smart uniform, ties still perfectly in place. Going home on the bus with a number of them, they were without exception sensibly behaved (while still being children!) In my home town there is a very sad comparison. Whatever you are doing it is working.
• I would like to send some praise back to The Swanage School. My daughter had a surprise 13th birthday party at home on Friday, with 17 of her school friends, some of which I had not met before. What a lovely group of girls and boys! They are so caring and supportive of each other, which I feel is a reflection of The Swanage School ethos. Many thanks.
• I am writing to say how impressed I was by your students and staff when they visited yesterday. I work as a Tour Guide at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester and we have many groups of young people come to have a look round the football club. All your students were unfailingly polite, attentive and very well behaved. They were great ambassadors for the school. A special mention for the 2 members of staff accompanying the group who had a lovely relationship with the group but took their duties and responsibilities seriously. It was a pleasure to show them all around. I am a retired Headteacher so I appreciate what hard work trips can be!!  I send this email in a private capacity not on behalf of MCFC.  Please pass on my congratulations and thanks to your students and staff.
• Please could you pass on my thanks to your Y7 teachers and the lovely student tea-deliverers for a really super parents' evening! Your staff's enthusiasm and care for the students really shone through and we are very appreciative of their time and the useful written report. Our son has loved every day at TSS and really enjoys all his classes - and this has made his transition to secondary so easy and positive.
• Thank you for several things last evening. For the courtesy of pupils who made way for my wife, seeing her blind white stick, for the helpfulness of staff "on the door" getting a pupil to find us best seats for poor sight, for the member of staff who phoned for a taxi for us, for the show itself, and your explanation to us of how it was developed by the cast, back-stagers etc, for the pleasure of being carried back to the days as a head, when I so enjoyed putting on primary school plays - so did the children - Oh yes they did! Keep up the good work!

Our shows garner huge support and the final 'wrap' social posts always receive a huge number of comments, all of which are positive! Here's just a selection. 

• Awesome show once again. We are never disappointed when we see the school perform!
• Completely brilliant performance...all the cast and support staff rocked their socks off! Be proud Swanage School!
• I have to say that I was totally blown away by how good this production was. I loved every minute of it. Well done to all the cast and crew and of course Mr Peake. You are all amazing. Can't wait till the next one! Well done!
• Another amazing and very entertaining performance. Well done to all involved. Looking forward to the next one already.
• Outstanding! Well done to everyone involved! You all make us proud!!!!
• Another absolutely blinding show by The Swanage School, laughed out loud and was wowed by the sheer amount of talent and the set was incredible! Well done to everyone involved!
• I still can't believe how fantastic and professional every single member of the cast, crew and band were. The acting, singing and dancing were amazing. It was like seeing a production in the West End.
• A truly amazing performance! Massive congratulations to all involved. The acting, singing and dancing were all superb, and the support from the back stage crew and band was seamless!
• Incredible performance - brilliant. The 'West End meets Broadway' all wrapped into one. Each song, actor, actress, dancer - amazing. True professionals. Back stage fluent. What you pulled out, motivated and inspired in the children in incredible, you rocked it!
• What an amazing show!
• Outstanding! Superb! Encore! The best show!!!
• Amazing performance! Truly enjoyed it!
• What an amazing show!!! Can't wait to see it again tomorrow - seriously well done everyone! The Swanage School rocks!!
• Wow wow wow what an amazing show! What talent the Swanage School have. Well done to everyone involved. We all had a smile on our faces through the whole show - just superb!
• What  fantastic performance! So full of energy! You could clearly see they were all loving every minute of it. Absolutely brilliant! A MASSIVE WELL DONE to all those involved - cast, stage crew, production crew, musicians, wardrobe and make up, all those involved behind the scenes and especially Mr Peake and Miss Bunney for making it happen. Absolutely brilliant! Well done all of you!
• Wow what an absolutely fantastic show!! We absolutely loved it! It was funny, spectacular on the eyes, fab singing, such talen, great dance moves, wonderful energy....Like a professional production!
• Fantastic show once again, well done to everyone involved, really brilliant performances!
• Brilliant - we were blown away by how fantastic it was - huge congratulations to all involved!
• A fabulous show! You were all so good. What a credit to yourselves and the school....and that goes for the staff and crew too! Absolutely crackin' guys!!
• The show was absolutely fantastic! Such great energy and you could tell everyone was having a ball.
• Wonderful five star production of "Hairspray" at the Mowlem by The Swanage School tonight. Go if you can, on Friday and Saturday too.
• I just wanted to pass on our huge congratulations for the total triumph that was Hairspray. Thank you so much for going so far "above and beyond" the extra mile - what an amazing show! We came to both the Friday and the Saturday shows, and were blown away by the sheer talent and confidence of the students and the truly fantastic singing from the cast. The show was a proper West End spectacle - amazing colourful costumes and brilliant dancing. Loved the professional 60's props - and the humour - especially between Edna and Wilbur - had everyone crying with laughter. It was a real privilege for Finn to be part of this fantastic show, and it was clear from the positive energy on stage, that everyone had an awesome time and didn't want it to end. We really appreciate all the blood, sweat and tears that goes into a major product - so thank you all so much again. As the Deputy Head said "The Swanage School don't do things by halves" - and long may than continue!!
• The show was fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The enthusiasm of the cast was amazing and the quality of the acting was on a part with the professional theatre. The dedication required to produce a show of this quality is a credit to the young people in the cast. The music director was so involved throughout the show, conducting, playing, singling along and inspiriting the cast to reach great heights.
• What a great night out! Thank you Year 9, Miss Bunney, Mr Peake....Perfect panto, oh yes it was.
• It was an amazing performance done by all, we are so lucky that the school have such fantastic teachers to be able to show our students how a professional job can be done, well done all of year 9 on a fabulous performance, us parents, teachers and school are so proud to say you belong to us all.
• Brilliant! Very funny - well done to everyone involved
• Well done Mr Peake & all who helped put this production together, it was fantastic as always. To all the pupils that took part on stage & behind the scenes  you were excellent, a real credit to The Swanage School even after the show last night in the show bar. A real proud parent!
• So, that was just brilliant. I don't know about the cast, but we can't wait to see what you do next. Well done The Swanage School
• We had four generations watching and everyone of us loved it
• Amazing, thoroughly enjoyed it!
• Nothing has ever made me wish I was back in school aged 14...until I saw how much fun and hard work has gone in to make this fabulous school production. A lovely show, you should all be really proud of yourselves.
• Superb show and production! A great credit to your school - superb casting and such professional performance from all involved.
• Superb performances! Massive congratulations to all the students and staff involved! Well done - loved it!
• It was fantastic, a credit to all who worked on it and in it, can't wait for next year's show, a lot to live up to!
• it was amazing, still smiling thinking about it today...so proud of everyone!!
• It was so amazing! Thank you for making a fabulous show and making all the kids shine!
• I enjoyed it so much I had to come back a second time! What a great show. A huge well done to everyone involved!

• Good afternoon, I have just bought a poppy from two very cold looking young ladies from your school outside of Boots in town. They were an absolute credit to themselves and to your school - as were the two lads in Co-op. What they were doing is fantastic and a vital part of supporting the wider community. Thank you for supporting this cause and the town in this way. [Well-wisher]
• Today 7 of your students came to Explorers to work on getting things ready for the up and coming youth club.  I would just like to say a big thank you to them and your school. They were excellent ambassadors for the school. They all worked very hard and were courteous and polite at all times, making an excellent impression on all the staff and children here today. I look forward to working with them in the future and know they will be an asset to the new youth club. Thanks again.
• We would like to say a huge thank you for hosting the visit from Ludmilla, the Ukrainian school director, Ksenya, her interpreter and Jon from Hope Now, last Friday. It seems they had a wonderful visit and were very impressed by the teaching methods and all that you do for the students...Thank you for all you do in encouraging your school's involvement in the things we do at Emmanuel.
• Just a note to say how very much my friends and I enjoyed the tea party that your school gave last Friday. A massive thank you to you, your staff and the lovely young people who looked after us so well. I'm sure you are very proud of your pupils, whatever part they played in the festivities they played the role well. They were all so polite and a credit to their parents and to your school. My grateful thanks for a really lovely afternoon. Best wishes to you all." [Seniors Tea Party attendee]
• Please can you thank everyone who helped to make such a wonderful afternoon on Friday. All our members who came thoroughly enjoyed the choir singing, joining in with some Carols and especially the refreshments. The students were so courteous and welcoming - congratulations on a successful achievement and for sharing this with the local community.
• Thank you for a lovely afternoon; your school, teachers and pupils are amazing.
• I am writing to say how much we appreciated being invited to the Seniors' Christmas Tea held at the School yesterday. It was also very obvious that an enormous amount of effort had gone into the preparations for the Tea by the staff, students, and volunteers.
• What a wonderful event for young and old to connect.
• Thank you all for a lovely afternoon - our residents from the Old Rectory had a great time, with two of them having their grandchildren come out of lessons to see them, this meant so much to them.
• Mrs X enjoyed this, she was quite emotional telling me about it.
• Thank you all for a great afternoon - thoroughly enjoyed by all!