SCHOOL ORGANISATION

Supervision is not available on the yard before 8.40am, but after this there is a member of the Senior Leadership team available out on the infant yard to talk to parents before school opens.

We have a very successful breakfast club which is available to every child between the ages of 3-11. The club starts at 8.20am and finishes at 8.50am. The children are supervised at all times. 

During break-times, members of staff are on duty on each playground.

Throughout the lunchtime break, pupils are cared for by the midday supervisors.  The Headteacher or Deputy Headteacher are also on duty.  On wet days pupils will still go out to play, so please ensure that they come with appropriate ‘wet weather’ clothing.

At the end of the day Foundation Phase children will only be allowed to leave the building when you, or your representative, is seen by the teacher.  If someone else is collecting your child, you are requested to inform the class teacher, preferably in writing, beforehand.  On no occasion will a child be allowed to go home with another adult if school has not been informed.

Should there be no one waiting for your child, they will be supervised by a member of staff until you arrive or contact the school to give alternative arrangements, however, this is seen as an emergency measure as, normally, you will be expected to meet your child on time, failure to do so can be extremely distressing for the child.

Although this is very rare, any child not collected after an hour with no communication from parents/family it is our unfortunate duty to contact Social Services, who will then take over care of the child. I must stress we do try to contact all family members before resorting to this procedure.

For educational visits, supervision will be by members of staff at the level suggested by the Educational Authority’s Regulations.

When we exclude from the school day the time spent on registration, assembly and breaks, the time left at Foundation Phase for teaching amounts to 21 hours 40 minutes each week.  At KS2 the time left for teaching is 23. 45 per week.

Assemblies are held daily and this provides an opportunity for the whole school, department or year group to be together.  Assembly is taken by the Head, Deputy, members of teaching staff or guests.  Religious Education is a compulsory subject in our school.  Christian and other world religions are studied as laid down by ‘SACRE’.  Parents must inform the school if they do not wish their children to be taught the agreed scheme or take part in acts of worship.

We understand that your child will occasionally be absent from school. Our school procedure asks parents to contact us on the first day of absence and send a written notice in with your child on his/her day of return to school. Where the school is not contacted we implement ‘First day calling’ whereby the school will contact parents to enquire about their child’s absence. This is part of our Safeguarding Procedure.  Authorised marks may be given in certain circumstances and so it is vital for your child’s attendance record that you keep us informed, either by letter or by phone so that your child may be given the correct mark.  Legislation means that all absences which are not explained in this way must be considered as ‘unauthorised.’  We are required to seek a reason for all unexplained absences.

The parents of pupils who have poor attendance or who have ‘unauthorised’ absences will be contacted firstly by the Deputy Headteacher and an appointment will be offered to discuss concerns. In cases where this is not effective the Headteacher would contact parents. If the problem persists the Education Welfare Officer who works with the school to help every child maximise their attendance will make contact with the parent. The Local Authority Education Welfare Service works closely with all families whose children have less than 80% attendance. For further details, please see our school attendance policy in full on our school website.

Our attendance figures for 2023/2024 were:

Our target for attendance for the academic year of 2024/2025 is 95% 

The Welsh Assembly now expect parents to take holidays during the school holidays whenever possible. Please ensure holiday forms are completed before your trip. These are available from the school office.

Recently our Local Authority has asked all schools to adopt the same policy regarding authorisation of holidays. We are only able to authorise holidays/absences in extenuating circumstances which are stated in the policy as:-

• Family holiday request from parents who are employed by the Ministry of Defence.

• Family request for holiday due to religious beliefs

• Extenuating family circumstances e.g. bereavement.

Such considerations, in exceptional circumstances, may result in the school agreeing with the request and authorising the absence accordingly. The absence will only be agreed for a maximum of 10 days in an academic year per family.

This means that holiday requests during term time will not be authorised by the school unless there is agreement between the school and the parent/carer that exceptional and extenuating circumstances apply, as aforementioned.

There is an expectation that parents and carers will abide by these arrangements in order to continue to secure the best possible education outcomes for their child/children during their time in schools in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Class teachers monitor the punctuality of children and report outcomes to the Local Authority. The school bell rings at 8.50am and pupils should be in school by this time. Children who arrive after 9.15 a.m. are recorded as being late in class registers.  We urge all parents to ensure that pupils arrive on time as being late can cause distress to a child and valuable learning time is lost.