The School Day

Times of the school day

Monday – Thursday, the school day starts at 9am and ends at 2.15pm. On Friday, the school day starts at 9am but ends at 1pm.

School Dinners

School lunch is provided on site – the cost is £2 per day (£10 each week). Each week, children choose what meal they want each day, with an average of 4 choices offered each day.

Children may, however, bring packed lunch to school if you would prefer. Please speak to a member of staff to arrange this. We ask that packed lunches reflect a healthy lifestyle; a sandwich, fruit, yoghurts and crisps are all OK but we will not allow children to drink fizzy drinks or chocolate bars. These items will be sent home with the child at the end of the day.

We offer toast and cereals in the morning for breakfast to all children. In addition, fruit is available free of charge. Water is available to all children throughout the day.

Absence

Parents have the legal responsibility to ensure that their children attend school. If your child is absent the school must be informed from the first day of absence by phone, letter or in person. Any unexplained absences will be passed onto our Education Welfare officer, who will make a home visit to find out the reasons for absence.

Request for authorised absence

Absence may be authorised for specific circumstances and need to be agreed by the Headteacher. Taking holidays during school time is strongly discouraged. Any request for authorised absence must be made by completing a form, which is available from the school office. The Headteacher will make a decision based on the reasons for request and on the child’s attendance to date.

Medical Appointments

If your child has to leave the school premises during the school day to attend an appointment at the doctors or dentists, please inform school by letter or telephone, including details of who will be collecting the child and whether he/she will be returning on the day. Any letter or appointment card that is sent to you should be brought to school to copy for our records.

School Uniform and Valuables

ALL PUPILS MUST WEAR SCHOOL UNIFORM. This can be an Alder Brook or previous school’s sweatshirt, polo shirt, school trousers/skirt and sensible schools. Girls must not wear high heels.

Children must not bring any personal items to school, such as jewellery, mobile phones or money. These items will be removed from your child and kept in the office until the end of the day. If your child refuses to hand them over to staff, you will be asked to attend the Centre to take the item home.

School staff will endeavour to create an environment where personal and school property is respected and looked after, but we are not responsible for the items should they go missing or get damaged. If a child loses an item or something of their own gets damaged during school time, staff will make every effort to find lost items or take action if damage was caused wilfully, but school will not be responsible for replacing these items. If a personal item is lost or damaged at school, parents should always bring the matter to the attention of the class teacher so that school can make every effort to resolve the situation appropriately.

Medicines

In some cases, staff can administer medicines. Parents need to complete and sign the medical form available from the office to consent to any medicines being administered by staff to children.

Medicines should be sent in the original packet, which includes the pharmacy label with child’s name and dosage.

Children who suffer from asthma should keep inhalers in school.