STAYING IN TOUCH & GENERAL INFORMATION

PARENTS EVENINGS AND REPORTS

Each term we have an open evening when teachers are available to discuss your child’s progress with you.

The Autumn and Spring open evenings run over two days, the first being 2.30 to 5.30pm (with the school closing at 2pm) and on the next day 5.00 to 7.30pm. A time slot request form is sent home in advance so that you can book an appointment with your child’s teacher. The Summer term open evening runs from 5.00 to 7.30pm and does not include fixed appointments.

At the meeting in the Autumn term teachers will discuss your child’s targets in the core areas of maths and English. They will cover how they have settled into their new year and discuss what they need to do to maintain their progress. Your input as parents is equally valued.

The Spring term meeting is similar, except the discussion will focus on your child’s progress to date and what needs to be done to maintain or improve that progress. Teachers might have already put in place additional support and they will want to discuss what difference that might have made. Again your input helps us all work towards the best outcome for the children.

The final Summer term is when the reports arrive home and the open evening is an opportunity to look at what has been achieved over the year. There are no individual appointments but the teachers are available to chat over any issues that might have arisen.

The SENDCO, the Deputy Headteacher and the Head are always available at the open evenings if you want to discuss any thoughts with them.

CONTACTING TEACHERS

Teachers are very happy to talk through questions you may have, so please do not feel that you have to wait until parents’ evening to speak to your child’s teacher.

We ask that you do not try to talk to the teacher in the morning at drop off as it is important to settle a class for the coming day. The teacher will be happy to see you at the end of the school day.

Drop a note or an email to let them know that you would like to meet them. Writing down the query lets the teacher know what they might need to prepare to help you.

MORNING AND AFTERNOON ROUTINES

Children should make their way straight to the classrooms once they have arrived at school from 8.40am. The register is called at 8.50am so all children must be in the classroom before 8.50am. 

Members of staff at the gates will send any late arrivals to the office on Magdalen Road from 8.50am. Parents must use the playground gates to exit, and cannot enter the school at this time of day unless they have been to the office to be signed in and collected by a member of staff. The gates are manned until 9am when they are locked. 

At the end of the school day children in Reception and Nursery classes are to be collected from the classroom door at 3.20pm. Parents and carers of Year 1 children should wait in the KS1 playground in the tram lines. The children will be brought out at 3.20pm and lined up. When the teacher can see the collecting adult the child will be released to them. Parents and carers of Key Stage 2 children should wait in the KS2 playground where the children will also be lined up at 3.24pm and sent to the collecting adult when the teacher has seen them. 

Please ensure that you collect your child on time as it can be distressing for them. In the event of an unexpected delay, please contact the office. Whilst the school understands there may be the occasional emergency, it does have a duty to refer carers who are persistently late collecting their children as it can be considered neglect.

The school has a responsibility to hand the children over to a responsible adult at the end of the school day. Older siblings or cousins are able to collect your child with your permission and our agreement. If you arrange for someone else to pick up your child, the teacher must be informed in writing or they will not allow them to leave school. Even if the teacher knows the adult who is picking up, they cannot release the child without deferring to the senior leadership team for advice and confirmation. We will accept a list of adults who can pick up in an emergency (or occasionally) which might help to reduce the number of letters you have to write.

Dental and medical appointments should normally be arranged at the end of the school day/out of school hours. If you have a hospital appointment we recommend that you collect your child and return them during a ‘break’ period to minimise disruption to the rest of the class.

TRIPS

With rising transport costs, trips are now more expensive to organise and fund. We do fund and subsidise some trips through the PTA Voluntary Fund but the majority are by your contribution. In some cases we do not receive all the payments for a trip. If this is the case the trip will be cancelled to avoid a loss to the school. All letters for trips will make this clear to avoid any confusion.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Religious Education is taught in all UK schools/  Each Local Authority has a body called SACRE which agrees what RE is taught in school.  There are guidelines and the contents cover all major religions.  However some parents may feel that this is against the beliefs of their own faith.  Parent may choose to have their child withdrawn from RE lessons in school.  This right has some caveats:

Parents have the right to withdraw their child or children from Religious Education, which forms part of the school’s basic curriculum. To exercise this right parents are asked to write to the head teacher informing her/him of their desire to exercise the right to withdrawal from RE.

In line with Wandsworth’s SACRE’s recommendation, where a pupil is withdrawn from RE and they do not take part in alternative religious education they will be supervised by a member of staff or placed in the school where they can be safely supervised, whilst doing work set by their parents which will seek to further their knowledge and understanding of their parents beliefs and values.

If you do wish to exercise your right then that is not an issue for the school, but you will be expected to provide suitable work during the RE lesson your child is missing on a regular basis.