Rainbow Picture courtesy of Jane Milne

General Administration

School Organisation

The School Day

Normal Hours are:

Morning: 08.55 - 12.15 pm

Afternoon: 1.15 - 3.10 pm

The school day is 4 hours 55 minutes excluding a 15 minute mid-morning break. The time includes both teaching time and time allocated for daily assembly and registration. Staff supervision begins at 8.45 am. Please try to ensure children do not arrive before that time.

The school participates in the Government Free Fruit & Veg Scheme for children in Oak, Ash and Birch classes. A mid-morning break takes place between 10.15 and 10.30am. During this time orange juice and milk is available (see School Meals) and the older children may bring fruit to eat.

Please note that children are only allowed to leave the premises during the school day if a prior written request has been made. Please inform the class teacher if anyone other than a parent is collecting your children.

If you are late for the start of the school day please enter your child’s arrival in the appropriate book in Reception. Additionally please sign your child in or out should they need to leave the school for appointments such as those for medical reasons.

School Policies

Details of these are on the School Policies page

School Meals

Hot meals are provided by the company, Sodexho. Menus are prepared twice-yearly and are displayed in each classroom.

On starting school reception children are given 'Buddies' from Y6 to help them individually through the dinner break.

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School Holidays

Holiday dates are published at least one full academic year in advance. There are also five staff development days during the year when the school will be closed. These dates are agreed on a termly basis.

Term Dates are set by Wiltshire County Council, and can be seen by following this link: Wiltshire School Term Date Calendar

Abseiling at Stackpole

Emergency Closures

Very occasionally the school will need to close for emergency reasons. If possible, a message will be left on the school answering machine. An emergency telephone network exists between parents, the details of which will be given to you when your child is admitted. We will also notify GWR-FM (102.2 FM) and BBC Radio Wiltshire (104.3 FM and 1332 AM).

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Absence during school term for other than medical reasons

Leave of absence during term times can only be accommodated for essential reasons. There is a legal requirement for your child to attend school. Absence from school disrupts the child's educational development and interferes with the teaching of the curriculum.

Applications for leave of absence must be submitted in advance so that the application can be considered and a reply made.

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Payments to the School

To help us in the office could you please ensure that:

Monies are placed in clearly marked, sealed envelopes, detailing name and purpose of payment.
All dinner, milk and orange payments should be made on a Monday morning. Meal money should be placed in the envelope distributed each Friday with the week's choice clearly stated.
Dinner money is separated from drink money.
Cheques for dinner and orange juice are made payable to "Sodexho".

Other cheques should normally be made payable to "Sherston School Fund".

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School Clothing and Personal Equipment

The school colour is ROYAL BLUE with GREY trousers or skirts. Royal blue sweatshirts with the school logo, together with many varied items of PE kit are available at very reasonable prices through the Friends of Sherston School. During the summer months, summer dresses (blue/white check) or short tailored trousers (not PE or football shorts) may be worn. The governors consider that jeans or jogging trousers are not appropriate uniform and that plain leather shoes are preferred.

Try some Brass in Activities Week

At primary level, school uniform cannot be made compulsory. Our policy for a uniform, together with a colour, was chosen by a large majority of parents. We therefore ask for your support and co-operation in implementing this policy.

Items of school clothing can be bought or ordered each Monday morning in the hall area from 8.50am.

Children will need a pair of blue/black shorts (not Bermuda), white tee-shirt and plimsolls for Physical Education. Football players will need to wear football boots, (though an old pair of shoes will suffice initially), together with suitable clothing (school colours are navy blue top/black shorts). Netball players will need a warm, long-sleeved top.

Please mark all your children's clothing, especially items of school uniform. Orders for Wovina name-tapes can be taken at the office.

For the safety of children, fashion shoes and jewellery may not be worn. Children with pierced ears are advised to wear small studs.

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Medicines

The school recognises that in some circumstances it may be necessary for a child to bring medication for administration during the school day. We will however require you to complete a short form, giving us relevant information about dosage. These yellow forms can be obtained from reception. All medicines and forms should then be taken to the office for storage.

Should the medication require refrigeration, please supply an ice pack or suitable container for storage. The school will not administer medication in tablet form.

Children who need inhalers for asthma will require a specific named inhaler for use in school. Depending on the child's age these are either kept in the classroom or stored in the child's drawer to enable immediate use. No written request is required for this treatment.

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Complaints Procedure

Problems and misunderstandings can sometimes occur. In most cases they can be resolved quickly through talking to us about them. If you are unhappy about any aspect of your child’s education and school life, please contact us and we will do our best to help.

Indian Dance Master Class with Soumitra Roy

The 1988 Education Act makes provision for parents to make complaint on matters of Curriculum, the provision of Religious Worship, Charging Policies or provision of information.

These should be made, informally in the first instance, to the Headteacher. If this proves to be unsatisfactory, parents may complain formally to the Governing Body and failing a satisfactory conclusion at this stage, a further formal complaint may be made to the Department for Education.

If the initial response fails to resolve your concern, or you remain dissatisfied with the response, then the formal complaints procedure can be invoked. The Governing Body have an appointed complaints co-ordinator, the Headteacher, who has responsibility for the management and operation of the school complaints procedure. You can approach the Headteacher with either a written or verbal complaint. There is a Complaints form which can be used. This is available with more information from the School Office and on the Complaints page .

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Policy for Charging

From time to time, children will have the opportunity to make educational visits to museums, wildlife centres etc. These will always be in connection with their work in school. All contributions to fund such activities from parents are voluntary and no child will be stopped from going on a visit should his/her parents be unable or unwilling to make a contribution.

In some cases, parents will be asked for their decision before a trip is booked so that the school can assess its viability.

Please note that the above statements do not apply to residential visits. However, Governors will try to give assistance to pupils whose parents may not be able to meet the full cost of a voluntary activity. Naturally, such matters will always be dealt with in complete privacy.

Governors will normally expect parents to pay for the cost of repairs for breakages and damage arising from the misbehaviour of their children.

The Governing Body have in place a full Policy on Charging and Remissions. This may be viewed in the Policies File held in the library.

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