What To Do If…

It is extremely important that students attend school for every possible session. There have been numerous studies carried out that clearly show the detrimental impact upon learning caused by even short absences.

Should a parent feel that they must keep their child off school, then they should contact the school (by phone or email) each morning of the absence, providing a reason for the absence.  

Each student has a tutor who is on hand to deal with any incidents of bullying, so the child must speak to their tutor straight away. In most instances, issues can be resolved quickly. However, where there is no quick solution apparent, the tutor may pass the matter on to the Year Manager.  Of course, parents can also speak to the student’s tutor if the child is unwilling or the parents feel it is right to do so.

If a child needs to leave school early, parents are kindly asked to call the school attendance officer and provide details. In addition to this telephone call, a note should also be provided (with medical evidence where appropriate), this can be emailed to the school attendance officer or could be handed to the child’s tutor as soon as possible. 

From time to time children report feeling ill whilst in school. In such situations, the child should tell their tutor and/or current subject teacher. Often, after a short period of time, a child will feel well enough to continue taking part in some or all lessons that day. Therefore, the best course of action is not usually to ask parents to collect their child. In cases of minor injury, specialist teachers (e.g. PE, Technology or Science teachers) will often be able to attend to the problem themselves. Failing this, a First Aider will be asked to help.

It is rare that a child feels so ill that we need to contact a parent to collect them. However, there have been occasions when we have needed to contact parents but they have not updated their contact details, and therefore we have been unable to contact them. It is extremely important that parents notify the school immediately of any changes to their contact details or those of people who they would like us to contact as an alternative.

To tell us about a change of contact details, simply download the form below and return it via your child to our Student Services desk. Alternatively, send us an email by clicking here.

Parent contact details update form

If your child is struggling with a subject,  please encourage them to speak to the subject teacher and ask for feedback about how they can improve. Parents can also ask to speak to the subject teacher by contacting the school reception by telephone or sending us an email. There are also parents’ evenings throughout the year when there is the opportunity to speak with teachers.

Please ensure that items of uniform are labelled with the child’s name, as otherwise, it is difficult to identify the owner of lost items. However, should a child lose an item they should firstly retrace their steps in an attempt to find it. If this is unsuccessful, then they should speak with one of our Student Support staff who will attempt to identify the item from our lost property store. If the item is not found, then the parent will be required to replace the item as soon as possible. Until then ties, jumpers and blazers can be borrowed from Student Services.

Please note, due to limited storage space lost property is retained for one month only, after which we dispose of it.

Most students soon get into a routine of loading up their lunch account via the revaluer machines in schools. Parents can now also top up using the online payment system.  Should a student/parent forget to top up then the student will be provided with lunch and the Finance department will contact parents / carers directly should any account fall into arrears.

Most parents appreciate the negative impact upon learning that mobile phones can present if they are turned on whilst children are in school. Therefore, most parents support our rule that mobile phones are permitted in school but must be turned off at all times. This does not prevent students from using their phones whilst coming to school or returning home and therefore making contact with parents if necessary.

Parents should not, therefore, encourage a child to leave their phone turned on in school, in order that they may receive a call or text from the parent. Rather, parents can simply call the school and our reception staff will get a message to the child if urgent.

Whilst we make every effort to resolve issues that parents may have with any aspect of our work, we do appreciate that on occasions parents may want to know about the process that is in place to deal with a complaint. With this in mind, please see the Key Information section of our website, where you will find the Complaints Policy.

If you would like to see a printed copy of any school policy, please contact the school and we will send a copy of the policy through the post.