Parent Survey Feedback 2019
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all parents who completed our survey in January. It is important to us to receive your constructive comments and feedback in order to improve our standards and serve our families in the best way possible.
Congratulations to those of you lucky enough to win the book vouchers!
Here are some of the issues that you raised along with our responses:
Our Environment
The CDC is a small space which we have tried to utilise as effectively as possible. Within these constraints we also strive to serve as many children as we can. Hence, unfortunately we have had to forfeit playground space and have a no-waiting policy within the entrance. With Hong Kong’s property prices being amongst the highest in the world we have insufficient budget to rent a larger space. To learn more about the source of our funds and how we allocate these, please see http://www.cdchk.org/we-are/money-matters
Group delivery
It was suggested that it would be preferable for the CDC to deliver our government-subsidised intervention on an individual basis. The CDC structures its delivery on a group model with the therapists and teachers working at stations addressing the children’s individual goals that are set following assessment. In addition, the group allows children to start to generalise their skills in a social setting, which we believe to be crucial. Individual therapy is available on a parent-funded basis.
Assessment
It was also suggested that assessments were not frequent enough. The assessments that we use are standardised, which lose validity if repeated more than once every six months. In addition, more frequent assessment would not allow children the time they need to practise and master their goals.
Parent Training
Thank you for all of your suggestions for possible parent training topics. We present regular parent workshops free of charge to CDC families and we are always eager to know of the topics of greatest use and interest. For the next school year we will review our workshop programme with your suggestions in mind. Apart from these free workshops we also present longer parenting courses – Triple P (English) and Happy Parenting (Chinese) as well as the Hanen It Takes Two To Talk and More Than Words language parent programmes.
Communication
One parent commented that they were not well-informed about their child’s progress. Communication is extremely important to us so we were disappointed to hear this. As you will appreciate the small lobby area is not conducive to discussing the children at any length. Please note that we have parent meeting slots available every Thursday afternoon in term time. These can be booked through CDC’s APP. In addition, parents are welcome to come and observe their child in their group or therapy session at any time. Please let your class teacher/ therapist know in advance so that they know to expect you. Of course, if you have a specific question then our staff members are very happy to give advice or answer questions via email. On Friday mornings from 9am to noon, we have Open Door when a senior staff member is available to chat regarding anything to do with your child. If you want specific feedback on your child’s performance in the group during that time, please let us know in advance. Monthly classroom news is available on our website and our new app, which was launched in early March, will enable parents of children in EIGs, Giraffes, Tigers and Teddy Bears to access their child’s goals at any time. To learn more about the app, please see https://www.cdchk.org/news/cdc-app-launch/
We strive to keep the same class teachers throughout the school year. However, there are sometimes unavoidable changes. We agree with the comment that parents should be informed of any change of staff and will ensure that a personal email is sent should this happen.
Administration and finance
Feedback included that our admin and finance procedures are tedious. As always, we continue to strive for more efficient administration and finance procedures.
It was felt that our policy of three-day leave absences a year for private therapy was insufficient. This leave allows for unforeseen events such as school interviews or family commitments. So far, three days seems to be sufficient for most families based on our experience. However, as this is a new policy for the current school year, we will be reviewing it before August and taking any comments into consideration.
Social media and our Annual Report
The CDC has both Facebook and Instagram. Of the parents who completed the survey, only 50% engaged with our social media. We have recently placed the QR code for both accounts in our lift lobby area for ease of access. Please follow us! This will enable you to easily access our parent tip videos as well as keep up with all of the latest news at the CDC. We announce the release of the Annual Report via our social media and through the newsletter. It can also be found on our website. In addition, hard copies, in both English and Chinese, have been placed in the lift lobby.
Last but not least, a big THANK YOU for all the positive and warm comments, particularly regarding the quality and professionalism of our staff. We were delighted to see words such as kind, passionate, professional, reliable, supportive and knowledgeable as well as friendly and fun!
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time with your questions, comments and feedback. Our aim is always to partner with you to provide the best for your child.