Playground Supervision This is provided for 10 minutes at the beginning (0835-0845) and end (1515-1525) of the school day. Children should not be on the premises before or after these times. When supervision ends any child who has not been collected will be brought to the school office and we will contact you. If you are unavoidably late (e.g. stuck on the A32) please ring the school office so that we can reassure your child.

Child Care Woodpeckers Childcare provide daily, out of hours care.  They run this service from GADSAD in Elson Road.  Contact Mr Ian Woodhouse 02392 357013

Emergencies When your child joins the school, you will be asked to complete a form giving us details of where to contact you, in case of illness at school.  It is important that we know of any changes in the address/telephone number and we will send a new form home to update our records every September.  Mobile numbers seem to change frequently, please inform us if you get a new phone.

Accidents There is one member of staff who is a Qualified First Aider.  In addition some teaching and non-teaching staff have attended basic first-aid courses. You will be contacted if your child has had a serious accident at school - (not for such things as grazed knees!).

If your child bumps their head, however slight the injury, they are given a sticker indicating this so that staff can monitor them over the rest of the day. We also send a ‘Bumped Head’ letter home to you. If the head injury is more than just a bump, we will try to contact you during the day.

In an emergency we will try to contact you, but if necessary a member of staff will accompany your child to hospital.  Please inform us of any medical details which may be critical at such a time e.g. continuous medication, drug allergies, rare blood groups etc.  Valuable time can be saved at the hospital if we have this information and you cannot be contacted.  If your child is asthmatic you should ensure they have a spare inhaler kept at school.

Absences If your child is really unwell, please do not send them to school - it is very difficult for us to nurse a sick child at school. When your child is absent, please let us know why by 1000 the same day.  You can leave a message on the answer machine before 0830.  If we have not heard from you by 1000 we will contact you.  This ensures that both parents and school know where a child is.

If your child is absent for a long time without a letter or is repeatedly absent e.g. every Friday afternoon, we shall ask the Education Welfare Officer to call on you and check that you are aware of this and that there is an acceptable reason for the absence.

Since August 1991, DfEE Regulations have required that we distinguish authorised and unauthorised absences - absence for a birthday treat or to go shopping are, for example, both unauthorised absences. High levels of attendance lead to high levels of achievement for the children.  It also promotes good attitudes towards their learning now and in the future.  At Elson our attendance figures are fairly good but the Governors are very concerned at the increasing number of families requesting holiday leave during school time.  They would like to encourage you to take your family holidays during the school breaks in order to minimise the impact on your child’s education.  We aim for all our children to have more than 95% attendance.  We award certificates for 100% attendance during the school year.

Holidays Governors encourage everyone to take their family holidays during the school breaks.  They recognise that work or family circumstances may make this impossible and so have a clear policy on when holidays may be authorised.  Parents have a legal duty to ensure their child's regular attendance at school.  Headteachers may authorise leave of absence for up to two weeks (10 school days) in any school year to enable a child to go on a family holiday.  The headteacher has to consider the reasons for the request, the effect on the continuity of the child's learning and his/her overall attendance.  The Headteacher will not normally give permission simply because holidays cost less during term time.

Holidays will not be authorised during the revision or testing periods which run from Easter to the end of May.   Year 6 sit the National SATs tests and Years 3, 4 and 5 sit Internal Assessment in English & Maths.  Holidays will not normally be authorised in September as this is an important time for your child to settle down with their teacher and class.  Only one family holiday will be authorised in each academic year.

The application should be made well in advance and parents are strongly advised to apply for leave of absence before they confirm their holiday arrangements.  Under no circumstances will absences for family holidays in term time be authorised after they have happened.  The Headteacher will notify you of the decision within five days of receipt of the form.

Only in exceptional circumstances may the amount of leave granted exceed (in total) more than two weeks in any school year. Please bear in mind that taking a two week holiday every year will result in your child missing more than half a term of their education.

Medicines You are asked not to send children to school with any medicines bought from the chemist.  Staff will not administer them.

If your Doctor has prescribed a medicine, the Administrative Officer will keep it in the school office and administer it if she has written instructions about the dose and frequency.  Alternatively, you are welcome to come in during the day and do this yourself.

Release from school Children will only be released from school during the day if they are collected by the parent/carer with whom they live, or if we receive written instructions from you.  For your child's safety, we will not send them home as a result of a telephone call or allow them to be collected by anyone else.

Crossing Patrols There are 4 crossing patrols serving our catchment area.  The children are encouraged to use them as the safest means of crossing main road en route to school. The patrols are present every school day at the following times: 

morning        08.25 – 08.55        afternoon    15.10 – 15.40

1. At the junction of Amberley, Palmyra and Rydal Road (immediately opposite a side entrance to the school site).
2. At the junction of Elson Lane and Eastbourne Avenue.
3. In Elson Road, alongside its junction with Frater Lane and Elson Lane.
4. In Elson Road, opposite the Scout Hut on the corner of Ham Lane.

’20 is Plenty’ The roads around the school have signs up to encourage all drivers to reduce their speed below 20 mph. We encourage all parents to support this, if you slow down then so will others. This will help keep us all safer.

Site Security Our school building is alarmed, with outer doors being 'security locked'.  You are asked to come in to school by the School Office entrance.  Staff will give access to legitimate visitors.  Please do not wander around the building or go direct to classrooms - for your child's safety we need to know who is in the building.

If you work in school during the day, please sign in at the office and collect your "Visitor" badge.

Communicating with Us At the beginning of the school day teachers will collect children from the playground if you need a quick word. If you need to talk about something in more detail you can make an appointment to see your child's teacher at a time when they can give you their full attention; at the beginning and end of the school day they are responsible for the whole class. You can also send a written message or leave a message at the school office and this will be passed on for you.

You can also make an appointment with Mrs Rich (Headteacher) or (Deputy) to discuss any matter.  Appointments will be offered on the same day, if possible.

Car Park There is not much space in our car park and we encourage as many children as possible to walk to school. All children using the car park must be accompanied by an adult so please collect your child from the path or playground. If you need to use the car park, we ask you to park considerately in places other than the delivery bay (double yellow lines) and to reduce your speed. Two disabled parking bays are provided near to the path.  Please keep the Emergency Services Entrance clear.  Please be aware that we do occasionally suffer from break-ins to cars in the car park.  Do not leave children in the car or anything in sight and always lock the doors.

Visiting "Care Staff"

Visits are made by a school dentist and doctor.  You will be notified if your child is to be seen by the doctor.

The School Nurse/Health Support Worker visits for routine height, weight, vision and hearing checks.

The Education Welfare Officer, Ms Jo Simpson, acts as a link between home and school.  She is particularly concerned with absent or late children but is available to help with any social matter which is affecting a child's education.  She can be contacted at Gosport Locality Team Office (023 92432001).

The Educational Psychologist, Mrs Jackie Bachelor visits each term to discuss any children who are having particular difficulty at school.  She may offer general advice to staff, but if she thinks she needs to see your child separately, you will be contacted about this first by our SENCO Miss Heidi Adams.

We also have connections with many local agencies who can provide additional support for your child and family depending on your needs. If you have concerns or problems please let us know and we can advise you of the best approach. This may involve the completion of a CAF (Common Assessment Form) which we will do with you. This will help us and the support agencies to decide on the best form of support. The Gosport Locality Team provides additional family support through the Family Support Worker, Mrs Michelle Chandler, and Lyn Scott the parent Support Worker who covers the Brune Park Cluster of schools.