Arrival & Departure

Arrivals

• It is the responsibility of staff to ensure that an accurate record is kept of all children in school, and that any arrival or departure to and from the premises is recorded. Similarly, when a child arrives late, parents must sign them in at the school office using the Visitor Management tablet in the entrance hall.
• Members of staff will be on duty at the EYFS, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 entrances during the opening times for arriving in the school, from 8.45am – 8.55 am each day. In this way information can be shared between home and school at the beginning or end of each session to ensure children’s welfare is given high priority.
• Parents/carers are asked to make an appointment at the office to discuss any concerns etc with the member of staff.
• Teaching staff will be available in classrooms to greet the children and ensure a good start to the day. On arrival, a member of staff will record the child’s attendance in the daily register, which closes at 9.00am, children arriving after the gates have closed MUST come into school via the school office using the Visitor Management tablet in the entrance hall.
• Any children not accounted for by 9.20 am, office staff will endeavour to contact parents/carers to ensure the child is ill and unable to attend and has not ‘dawdled’ on way to school, ensuring parents and school know where children are at all times.
• Looked After children [LAC] and children with Child Protection [CP] plans who are absent will be notified to the Head Teacher (or Deputy Head Teacher in her absence) as a matter of priority.
• The school will inform the attendance officer of any child who has unsatisfactory attendance [below 90%] and a pattern of non-attendance on certain days of the week.

Gates

• All entry and exit to school will take place on Frenchwood Knoll.  All gates, other than the main pedestrian gate at the front of the school, will be locked at 8.55 am.  After this time only visitors and children returning from appointments should be coming into school.
• At 3.00 pm the gates on Frenchwood Knoll will be unlocked and will be re-locked at 3.25 pm when the majority of the children have left the premises.

Appointments

• Medical and dental appointments should be booked out of school time wherever possible.  Where this is not possible, the pupil should only be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary for the appointment.
• Only medical or dental appointments will be considered as authorised absence.
• Pupils are not authorised to be absent due to their sibling’s appointment.  Alternative arrangements for their collection may be required.
• If an appointment must be made during the school day, school should be informed at the time of booking so that registers can be marked in advance as an authorised absence.  It is expected that this will be at least a week prior to the absence.  Please provide an appointment card or email from the surgery where possible.
• In the event of an emergency appointment for a child, school must be informed no later than the morning of the appointment.
• Pupils are not authorised to leave prior to the end of the school day for other reasons, e.g. a taxi waiting or needing to collect from another school.  In these circumstances other arrangements must be made.

Departures

• Infants –teachers will hand children to the parents or adults on the collection list.
• Juniors – At 3.15pm, pupils will be released in one of the following ways, according to written parental authority:
  •  Handed directly to an adult on the collection list.
  •  Sent through school to join their youngest sibling.
  • Allowed to leave school unaccompanied (Year 5 & 6 only).
• All children not collected within 10 minutes will be taken to our after school club (After school club is charged at £3.00 per child and closes at 4.15 pm).
• If the children are to be collected by someone other than the parent/carer, this must be indicated to a member of staff before 2.45pm. The adult nominated to collect a child must be one of those named by the parent. Only adults or young people who are at college (not high school) – should collect pupils, except in exceptional circumstances where the DSL/DDSL has given approval.
• Permission and arrangements for children leaving the school at the end of the day will be confirmed in writing by the parent/carer. The school reserves the right to refuse permission for a child to walk home alone depending on the distance and concerns the school may have at that time. 
• If a member of staff is concerned about the wellbeing of the adult collecting a child, then the head teacher (or deputy in her absence) may refuse to allow the child to leave the premises until other arrangements can be made.
• All children must be collected from after school clubs by an adult unless written permission is given for the child to walk home (Year 5 & 6 only)
• No adult other than those named will be allowed to leave the school with a child. In the event that someone else should arrive without prior knowledge, the school will telephone the parent/carer immediately and await their advice.
• If the parent/carer or alternative nominated adult is going to be late to collect their child, staff must be informed of this on arrival. If no one arrives to collect a child and the parent cannot be contacted within half an hour of the end of the school day, the school will contact social services to inform them we have an uncollected child on the premises.