The School Day

• Nursery: 9.00am-3:00pm (30 hours a week)
• Infants: 8.45am-3.15pm (32.5 hours a week)
• Juniors: 8.50am-3.20pm (32.5 hours a week)
• We operate a soft start in the  juniors (8:40am-8:50am)

It is extremely important that children attend school regularly and arrive on time. Pupils arriving late are marked as late in the register and this is recorded on their report at the end of the year. The Attendance Improvement Officer visits the school regularly to monitor absences and lateness.

If your child has an appointment and will be late for school please notify the class teacher in writing prior to the appointment. On your child’s return to school please accompany your child to the school office so that they can be registered. If your child has an unavoidable appointment during school hours please report to the school office before collecting your child from the classroom.

It is extremely disruptive for a child to go on holiday during term time and children should not be taken out of school for holidays.

Illness

If your child is absent please telephone the school on the first day of absence and follow this up with a letter on your child’s return to school.

In the case of longer absence please telephone the school as it helps us to be aware of illnesses and in particular those that are infectious.

Please let us know if your child has been in contact with an infectious illness. If your child has a bout of sickness or diarrhoea, it is policy to allow 48 hours from the last episode before the child returns to school. This helps prevent the complaint spreading to other children.

When children return to school after illness, they will still go outside during break and lunchtimes as part of the normal school routine. However, we understand that they may not feel ready for active or energetic play. To support them, they are always welcome to use the gazebo as a quieter, calmer space where they can rest and relax while still being safely supervised. This helps them ease back into the school day gently and comfortably as they continue to recover.

Medicines in School

We need to know about any particular medical need before a child is admitted, or when a child first develops a medical need. Parents should tell us about the medicines that their child needs to take and provide details of any changes to the prescription or the support required.

All medicines must be brought to the school office by the child’s parent together with a consent form (Parental permission to administer medicine) signed by the parent.  This form is also available from the office. No child should ever bring medicine into school themselves.

Medicines should always be provided in the original container as dispensed by a pharmacist and include the prescriber’s instructions for administration. It is helpful, where clinically appropriate, if medicines are prescribed in dose frequencies which enable it to be taken outside school hours. Medicines that need to be taken three times a day could be taken in the morning, after school hours and at bedtime.

We are unable to accept responsibility for dangerous medicines or for failure to administer a dose and are unable to store medicines in a fridge. We ask that any medication that needs to be kept refrigerated is brought to school in a cool bag with ice packs.

Health and Hygiene

We work hard to teach children the first steps in looking after themselves, e.g. washing their hands after using the toilet, wearing a coat when it is cold, not staying out in the sun for too long and blowing their noses properly.

If your child has an accident we will enter the details in our accident book. If your child bumps their head we will send home a note to let you know or we will telephone you.

Head lice and threadworms are endemic throughout the population. Parents can help prevent head lice and threadworms from spreading by training children to always wash their hands after going to the toilet and by combing their hair every day with a fine tooth comb. Be aware that these conditions spread very quickly so do look out for symptoms.

Routine medicals take place once consent forms have been signed.

Parents are notified of any concerns.

Security

During school hours it is only possible to enter via the West Avenue entrance. Please use the telecom button on the gate and the office staff will allow you access.

Safety

Children should be brought to school and collected by an adult. Y6 children may walk home on their own if you give permission. If you will not be able to collect your child please let the class teacher know who will be coming in your place. We will not release your child to another adult unless we have had a message from you. Please ensure that we know how to contact you by telephone.

As many children are brought to school by car we ask you to avoid parking in West Avenue, South Close and North Close because of the danger to children walking to school. Parents are not permitted to park in the school grounds or to drive into school to collect children from after school activities. There is a pedestrian gate on the southern perimeter of the junior playground leading to Greenwood Park where there is additional parking.

Your co-operation ensures the safety of the children and also the good relationship between the school and our neighbours in the adjacent roads.

The main school gate is closed to vehicles between 8.30am-9.00am and 3.00pm-3.30pm but we ask you to supervise your child closely and to ensure that they do not enter the car park. If children use the bike shed they should be accompanied.