Our School

The nursery is part of our school and welcomes all children in their preceding years before they are

eligible to commence their primary education. Here children can develop their motor and co-ordination

skills, their social interaction and their concepts and knowledge of their world in an informal, structured

atmosphere.

Nursery times are different from school times:

• 9.00am-1:00pm (Mon)
• 9.00 am– 12.10pm (Tues-Fri)

We offer children 5 sessions per week. In line with Scottish Government requirements the Nursery

hours are due to increase annually but the hours above are our current times.

From time to time incidents can occur within the school setting which cause concern and could indicate that a pupil is suffering some form of abuse.

In terms of Highland Child Protection Inter-agency Protection Guidelines, Education Service staff must report such incidents to Social Work Services which can lead to a joint Social Work/Police investigation.

More information on Child Protection Policy Guidelines

All agencies involved in Child Protection are obliged to make the welfare of children their paramount consideration and this will be the priority for Education Service staff. More information about Child Protection Procedures within Highland can be obtained from the Child Protection Officer:

Mrs Eliz MacKintosh

Highland Child Protection Committee

Kinmylies Buildings

Leachkin Road

Inverness

IV3 8NN

Telephone 01463 703483

Fax 01463 713237

We believe that much of the strength of the school lies in the positive relationships between staff, pupils and their parents. These relations must be nurtured by a healthy exchange of information between teachers and pupils, between home and school. We always welcome parental interest in the welfare of our pupils. Whatever the nature of the issue, you can be assured of our help.

The school works very hard to keep parents informed regarding their child’s progress and any key decisions being made about their education. This includes:

• Parents’ evenings – November and May
• Progress checks
• Target Setting
• Information on the school website

The support of parents in their children’s education is key to the success of young people. Taking time with them, discussing work, practicing language, helping them manage their homework and encouraging responsibility are important ways of supporting children’s learning. The school always seek to involve parents in any key decisions about their child’s education and keep parents informed about progress.

Parent Council is a group of parents selected to represent all parents of children at the school. Any parent who wishes to raise an issue for the Parent Council to consider can do so by contacting the Chairperson; Jane MacKintosh.

Useful information for parents and how to get involved in your child’s education, how to support the school, and for information on curriculum developments can all be found here.

Each school serves it’s own particular catchment area. Pupils whose homes are located in that area will have priorty in being allocated a place in the school. However, parents have the right to specify the school in which they wish to place their child. Application must be made to the Area Care and Learning Manager, Jacquelyn Jennett.

Placing request forms can be obtained here.

Transportation to and from school, for placing request pupils, is a parental responsibility.

Parents of children with Additional Support Needs, including those who have Co-ordinated Support Plans, can make placing requests to any school in Scotland including schools outside of the local authority are they live in. All appeals about placing requests to special schools will be referred to the Additional Support Needs Tribunal.

As a school we believe homework is important in your child’s progress.

• It encourages children to be responsible for their independent learning
• It allows parents to see what kind of work their child is doing at that particular time
• It provides extra practice for the child
• It encourages children to work on their own
• We value and promote parental involvement in supporting their children at home in a range of contexts, including reading for enjoyment and reading for information.
• It helps the child to catch up on unfinished work

Please take an interest in your child’s homework by giving your child encouragement and by setting aside a regular time to do it each evening.

The school use Home/School books for teachers and parents/carers to keep in touch and pupils to keep note of homework.

At this moment, children’s progress is monitored by the teacher and information on this is given through the child’s Progress Report Form issued at Easter and also normally in the form of Parents’ Evenings. We now also have termly Progress Reports to keep parents informed. Parents, however, should not feel restricted to these times and are most welcome to visit us at an appropriate time.

Progress is constantly assessed by, hearing children read, set exercises, questioning, discussing and providing set assessment tests. The staff may on occasion give other assessment tests to monitor overall or individual progress. We also currently use Scottish National Standardised Assessments computer generated testing at P1, P4 and P7 (See section on assessment)

If a parent has any concerns they should contact their child’s Names Person in the first instance. This is usually the Head teacher. The school will always endeavour to resolve issues by listening to parents and seeking solutions in partnership. Should a situation not be resolved, parents can contact the Area Care and Learning Manager, Jacquelyn Jennett.

Please note that transport is not a school responsibility and any queries should be addressed to the Transport Development Officer, Highland Council, Glenurquhart Rd, Inverness, IV3 5NX.

Advice and support can be found at Scotland’s National Children’s Charity; Parentline.

Good attendance is vital if pupils are to achieve their full potential. But if a pupil is absent from school, a parent or guardian should phone the school on the first day of absence. When returning to school after an absence, the parent or guardian must give written reason for time of absence.

Permission to leave during the school day: If a pupil needs to leave during the school day for an appointment etc, pupils need to bring with them a note from parent/guardian. Where at all possible, medical and dental appointments should be outwith school hours. If pupils fall ill during the day, parents are contacted for them to collect their child, therefore it is essential that we have up-to-date daytime contact numbers and emergency contact numbers for all pupils.

When parents are considering whether or not to remove their children from school for a family holiday, they should be aware that such a decision:

• Will result in a significant loss in classroom experience
• Will result in a pressure to ‘catch-up’ on missed work by pupils
• Could result in pupils missing assessment with consequential impact on pupils and teachers
• Could result in loss of curricular activities
• Will affect school attendance records and efforts to raise standards of attendance
• Under the guidance issued at a national level, most family holidays will be coded as unauthorised absence, only in exceptional cases will the absence be recorded as authorised

In conclusion, we would ask parents to be aware of these consideration when making decisions on planning holidays during term time. If parents decide to make arrangements during school term, this should be confirmed in writing to the Head Teacher.

As a school, we seek to provide information to pupils, parents and staff to assist in the effectiveness of learning and teaching process and in raising attainment. Teachers will use the assessment process as an evaluative, diagnostic and formative tool to provide evidence of pupil attainment and progress and to inform learning and teaching approaches and pupil targets.

Pupils should view the assessment process as a motivating experience which takes place within the overall context of a supportive school.

Pupils should make use of feedback, in all it’s forms to inform next steps for the improvement of their own learning.

Parents will receive feedback on their child’s progress through pupil, reports, progress checks and target setting information.

Pupils will reflect on their progress, achievement and best work on their e-portfolio.

Parents wishing to enquire about a pupil’s progress are invited to get in touch with Dawn McKenzie, Headteacher.

Class teachers, in conjunction with Additional Support Needs Teachers monitor the progress of pupils with additional support. The needs of such pupils are generally catered for within the normal curriculum but with specialist advice and support as required. If necessary, a child’s plan may be put in place to help plan, organise, monitor and regularly review a child’s progress. Parents and pupils will be involved in these procedures and in reviews. More information can be found about the Highland Council model for support and child’s plan at:

• Highland Practice Model
• Co-ordinated Support Plan

Sometimes a Children’s Service Worker will be involved in supporting a child. They will:

• Work in collaboration with the support team in school
• Work to support families in their own communities
• Work with individual pupils and small groups – offering a further level of support

Parents/Carers will always be involved in discussions about any additional support being suggested for their child and any need may be identified within the school. Highland Council would seek to work in partnership with parents at all times, but sometimes you will have a concern that you don’t feel is being addressed, or will want to talk to someone outwith the school. Should you have any concerns that your child’s additional needs are not being met, you should contact your child’s named person, Dawn McKenzie, in the first instance.

If your concerns continue, there are a number of means of resolving difficulties and disputes. Information on this can be found here.

School will only deal with minor cuts and bruises, these will be cleaned and a plaster applied. If your child is injured, falls or becomes unwell during the school day you or the emergency contact you have provided, will always be contacted and you may be advised to collect your child from school.

National Guidance on the Administration of Medicines in Schools has been issued by the Scottish Government.

This guidance is based on a number of common principles that will be consistently applied when identifying, supporting and reviewing the healthcare needs of children and young people in Highland schools to enable them to make the most of their learning. Where appropriate, we will make arrangements for staff providing healthcare to pupils to receive appropriate training from a health professional, or other accredited source in the care they are providing. Assistance with intimate care may be needed by children in any school and this will be provided if required to support these needs quickly and with respect for children’s privacy, dignity and rights. If your child requires medication, please note that this will only be administered by staff when there is clear written guidance from a parent/carer providing:

• The name of the medicine
• The quantity of the medicine to be given
• The time it has to be given

As far as possible prescriptive medication should be given by home by parents/carers. If it is required to be given in school, the medication should be clearly marked with the instructions from the pharmacist and administered as part of an agreed medical protocol.

Staff will support the emotional development and well-being of pupils through formal and informal curricular activities. Any concerns about a pupil’s well-being can be discussed with the named person. Schools have access to Highland Council’s Primary Mental Health Worker Service and consultation and advice may be sought if there are concerns that might require more targeted support. Parents would generally be involved in discussions beforehand.

The Pupils’ Educational Records (Scotland) Regulations 2003 extend to parents the right of access (within certain specific exceptions) to any record held by the Authority in relation to their child. Parents may make application to the Head Teacher.

The Scottish Government and it’s partners collect and use information about pupils through the Pupil Census to help to improve education across Scotland. For details on why we need this information, how we use it and what we do to protect the information supplied to us, further information can be obtained here.

Information on pupils, parents and guardians is stored on a computer system and may be used for teaching, registration, assessment and other administrative duties. The information is protected by data protection legislation and may only be disclosed in accordance with those codes of practice.

Information about pupils’ education is collected through our statistical surveys in partnership between the Scottish Government and Local Authorities through the ScotXed Programme which aims to help schools and LA’s by supporting efficient collection, processing and dissemination of statistical information. The Scottish Government then provides analysis of the data to support research, planning, management and monitoring of education services as well as to produce National Statistics publications.

Education data within Scottish Government is managed effectively by secure systems and is exploited as a valuable corporate resource, subject to confidentiality restraints. As part of it’s data policy, Scottish Government will not publish or make publicly available any information that allows individual pupils to be identified, nor will data be used by the Scottish Government to take any actions in respect of individuals. Data is held securely and no information on individual pupils can or would be made publicly available by Scottish Government.

The individual data collected by Scottish Government through the Pupil Census is used for statistical and research purposes only.

Information on why we collect data about pupils and who we share this data with can be found in Highland Council’s Privacy Notice.

In order to make the best decisions about how to improve our education service, Scottish Government, education authorities and other partners such as the SQA and Skills Development Scotland need accurate, up-to-date data about our pupils. We are keen to help all our pupils do well in all aspects of school life and achieve better examination results. Accurate and up-to-date data allows us to:

• Plan and deliver better policies for the benefit of all pupils
• Plan and deliver better policies for the benefit of specific groups of pupils
• Better understand some of the factors which influence pupil attainment and achievement
• Share good practice
• Target resources better
• Enhance the quality of research to improve the lives of young people in Scotland

The collection, transfer, processing and sharing of ScotXed data is done in accordance with data protection legislation. We also comply with the National Statistics code of Practice requirements and other legislation related to safeguarding the confidentiality of data. Data protection legislation gives you the right to know how we will use your data. This note can give only a brief description of how we use data. Fuller details of each individual ScotXed survey, including the purpose of each and the published data, can be found on the ScotXed website: www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/ScotXed/SchoolEducation

Scottish Government works with a range of partners including Education Scotland, Skills Development Scotland and the SQA. On occasion, in order to help meet our aim of improving the life of young people in Scotland, we may make individual data available to partners such as the National Registers of Scotland to carry out research relating to the national population census and also academic institutions and organisations to carry out additional research and statistical analysis to meet their own official responsibilities. Any sharing of data will be done under the strict control of Scottish Government, and will be consistent with our data policy. This will ensure that no individual level data will be made public as a result of the data sharing and that this data will not be used to take any actions in respect of an individual. Decisions on the sharing of data will be taken in consultation with relevant colleagues and individuals within and outwith Scottish Government. At all times pupils’ rights under the Data protection Act and other relevant legislation will be ensured.

Concerns

If you have any concerns about the ScotXed data collections you can email the Head of Schools Analysis at ScotXed@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or write to:

The ScotXed Support Office

Area 2D

Victoria Quay

Leith

EH6 6QQ

Alternative versions of this page are available on request from the ScotXed Support Office, in other languages, audio tape, Braille and large print.

Highland Council commitment to Equality & Diversity

In summary, our activities in school should ensure that we:

Eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, promote good relations. Activities should not discriminate against any of the following ‘protected characteristics’ - age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity.

Our school welcomes and supports families, their children and young people from Forces families: serving, veteran and reservists. We understand some of the challenges that mobility of service life can bring and we look forward to working with you to ensure a smooth transition for your child/young person coming into or moving on from our school. Please get in touch with us as soon as you can so we can work with you to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible. Highland Council have proudly committed to the Armed Forces Covenant and as such support our veteran and reservist families as well as those currently serving. There is dedicated Highland Council Military Liaison Group (MLG) which has been formed to promote and ensure equality and equity for your children and young people.

Visit the Highland Council Armed Forces website for lots of helpful information and support.