Things it might be useful to know in the first few days.

Finding your way around

A map of the school buildings is available from Reception. Dotted around the school and another is here for your perusal.

Forms

Copies of the most commonly used forms can be found on the school's cloud site, this appears when you log into a school computer or go to cloud.gravesendgrammar.com 

Finance, budgets

The finance office is to the left of the school’s main entrance opposite reception. Budgets are controlled by heads of departments and requisitions should be ordered with their permission.  In departments such as Science where a great many orders are placed for consumables, the support staff will usually carry out the ordering procedure for you.

Student trips/ visits

The AV1 form is used to communicate your intention to take pupils on a trip (in or outside of school hours) to senior management and other interested parties. The form is on the cloud.   This should be filled in, a risk assessment added, and handed into the finance office from whence it will be passed through the various levels of approval resulting in an ‘approved’ slip arriving in your pigeon hole. Queries and requests for clarifications should come directly to you.

Note: You should not usually need to accurately fill in the travel costs involved for shorter/day trips; this will be calculated/ researched by the finance department.

Student behaviour

Students in the school will expect teachers to pick up on minor misdemeanours in uniform etc. You will not receive a confrontational response from the vast majority of students unless taking on a confrontational attitude yourself. Your first few lessons are vital in setting down procedures etc. Pupils are very willing to cooperate at this early stage and will follow sensible instructions without too much whining.

A short lunch–time detention is the commonest form of punishment for homework issues, minor classroom incidents etc. Lines are not used at GGS although a focused essay may be given to induce a pupil to explain/analyse their behaviour. Failure to attend lunch-time detentions or continuous issues with behaviour can result in an after school detention. SIMs is used to log these and send details to parents.  SIMs is also used to log “star pupils” for the lower school.

Photocopying and related areas:

The Reprographics department is situated in the basement near the main entrance.

Photocopying request forms can be found on the cloud, in the staffroom and down in the Reprographics department itself. Electronic forms are sent via the cloud, or paper copies should be completed and left in the ‘in-tray’ in Reprographics paper-clipped to the material to be photocopied.

Tutoring system

Tutors should be informed of issues with students in their tutor group and will usually take responsibility for contacting parents where necessary.  Tutors are also responsible for pastoral issues and delivering the PSHE curriculum.