Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
A guide for parents, carers & students attending Bridge Learning Campus 2019-2020
Dear Parent/Carer, We take great pleasure in welcoming you and your child to Bridge Learning Campus (BLC). We are very proud of our school community, the ethos of which supports all students to grow in confidence, to aim high and to achieve their full potential, both academically and personally. We know that with your support this will be a very successful year for your child. We believe that confidence is the key to future success. This is why everything we do at BLC is designed to help our students to become confident individuals who always represent our values, the three R’s: Respect; Responsibility; and Resilience. Our new curriculum for 2019 supports this ambition and, with the high expectations we have of our students (and of ourselves too), I am very excited at the prospect of what your child will experience and achieve as part of our community. Our school website www.bridgelearningcampus.org.uk has all of the most up to date information, but as a parent of school-aged children myself, I know that having something handy on paper can also be really useful. So this handbook is designed to give you some of the essential information you need as well as some more detail about how we will help your child to learn, grow and develop with us. We look forward to meeting you and working in partnership with you during your child’s learning journey at Bridge Learning Campus. Please do not hesitate to contact the school with any questions. Mr R Maule Headteacher
Contact us Bridge Learning Campus
William Jessop way Hartcliffe
Bristol BS13 0RL
Main Contacts 🕿 Jenner (Nursery to Year 5) 0117 9030356 🕿 Curie (Year 6 to Year 11) 0117 3534472
🕿 General Email [email protected]
Other school contacts
Student Services 🕿[email protected]
Attendance Team 🕿 [email protected]
Special Educational Needs Team 🕿 [email protected]
Bullying concerns: [email protected] Admissions [email protected]
Twitter - @Bristol_BLC / Instagram - @bridgelearningcampus / Facebook - Bridge Learning Campus
ALL ABOUT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS 2019-2020
1
Website - www.bridgelearningcampus.org.uk Times of the School Day
START Nursery to Year 5 – 8:30am Year 6 to Year 11 – 8:35am END Nursery to Year 10 – 3:00pm Year 11: Tues, Wed, Thu – 4:00pm; Mon, Fri - 3:00pm
Term Dates 2019-2020
Term 1 Wednesday 4th September 2019 to Thursday 24th October 2019 Term 2 Monday 4th November 2019 to Friday 20th December 2019
Term 3 Monday 6th January 2020 to Friday 14th February 2020 Term 4 Tuesday 25th February 2020 to Friday 3rd April 2020
Term 5 Monday 20th April 2020 to Friday 22nd May 2020 Term 6 Monday 1st June 2020 to Thursday 16th July 2020
INSET days - School closed to students
Monday 2nd September 2018 Tuesday 3rd September 2018
Friday 25th October 2018 Monday 24th February 2020
Monday 29th June 2020 Friday 17th July 2020
Communication
www.parentmail.co.uk
We use ParentMail to inform parents of all types of information and we ask all parents and carers to sign up
to the ParentMail system so that you receive all correspondence relating to your child. Its quick and easy to
do. Please ask a member of the student services team if you need any assistance.
Parents & Carers – who to talk to…
If you need to speak to someone about a learning related issue, these are the best routes to follow – and if it needs to go further we will pass it on. If your child is in Jenner/Primary (Nursery to Year 5) For any child protection or very sensitive concerns, speak to one of the Jenner Pastoral Team leads (Ms Moore or Ms Lee) or Miss Hackling or Ms Johnson (Designated Safeguarding Lead) Problems with Learning & Lessons
● Your first point of contact is your child’s class teacher ● If that doesn’t help, please contact Ms Broad (Assistant Headteacher) or Mr Howells (Assistant
Headteacher) Problems with Friendships or Health
● Your first point of contact is your child’s class teacher ● If that doesn’t help, speak to your child’s pastoral lead Ms Moore (Nursery to Y4) or Ms Lee (Year 5) ● And if that doesn’t help, speak to one of our Assistant Headteachers Mrs Broad & Mr Howells.
If your child is in Curie/Secondary (Years 6 to 11) For any child protection or very sensitive concerns, speak to your child’s Pastoral Lead Ms Lee (Y6 & 7), Mr Trudgeon (Y8 & 9), Mr Young (Y10 & 11), Miss Hackling or Ms Johnson (Designated Safeguarding Leaders)
ALL ABOUT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS 2019-2020
2
Problems with Learning & Lessons
● Your first point of contact is your child’s class teacher ● If that doesn’t help, speak to the Head of Department or, if the concerns are about a number of
subjects, your child’s Pastoral Lead. Problems with Friendships or Health
● Your first point of contact is your child’s tutor ● If that doesn’t help, speak to the Pastoral Team ● And if that doesn’t help, speak to one of our Assistant Headteachers Mr Todd, Mrs Hazel or Miss
Hackling
Students – who wish to talk to someone… There are LOADS of people at school that you can talk to if you have worries or concerns. Sometimes your worry might be small – you could be struggling with work or friends or something at home has upset you. It doesn’t matter how small – we’re here for you.
☺ Your Tutor and Associate Tutor ☺ Your teachers ☺ Secondary Head of House and Deputy Head of House ☺ Primary Pastoral Team, Ms Moore and Mr Locke ☺ Safeguarding Leads , Ms Johnson and Miss Hackling ☺ First Aider, Ms Brown ☺ Mrs Rehbein about careers, work experience or post-16 choices ☺ Miss Flook and Mrs Rudd about Special Educational Needs ☺ Any adult in the school! ☺ We can also arrange for you to speak with a counsellor if this would help
At other times it may be more serious:
☺ You’re being hurt at home or school ☺ People are sending mean messages to you or asking you to do things that make you uncomfortable ☺ You might be feeling really down or thinking about hurting yourself ☺ You might feel upset or confused about who you are or feelings you might be having
How Parents Can Help Us
☺ Please provide the school with the most up to date address for you, contact numbers and email addresses; communication breaks down very quickly if we can’t contact you, especially in an emergency.
☺ Children should not be bringing mobile phones into school. If they do bring them, encourage your child to have it turned off and certainly don’t call or text your child during school hours. Also ensure the phone is insured!
☺ If you have a concern or a complaint, please contact US and not add comments to social media sites such as Facebook – this ultimately doesn’t help and often makes things worse.
☺ Attendance is so important – please send your child to school every day and on time. ☺ Please help us by ensuring your child has a breakfast before school starts, either at home or at
school, and that they get enough sleep – it is worth removing items like phones, tablets, games consoles, etc.
ALL ABOUT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS 2019-2020
3
Anti-Bullying@BLC
We are always here for you and so are ChildLine
Here at BLC we take Anti-bullying very seriously and have a committee which looks and develops the ways in which BLC manage bullying issues. The committee is made up of teaching staff, pastoral staff, parent and carers, governors and our Police Officer, PC Westerlink. The Committee represents the whole school community. If you have any concerns or questions please email [email protected]
Anti-Bullying Quality Mark As a Committee we are also working towards gaining the school the Anti-Bullying Quality Mark Bronze Award. The Award ABQM-UK is a national award that is awarded to schools who can demonstrate that the safety of children is taken seriously and bullying is not tolerated, should bullying happen, that the school community know who to approach and can be reassured that it is dealt with efficiently and effectively. We will keep you updated of our progress.
Firefly is our on-line learning space for children and adults. It is also an app you can access on your phone or tablet. For you to sign up we must have your email address linked to our school
information system – this is to make it more secure and so no other adult can access information about your child. Website address: http://blc.fireflycloud.net. Speak to your child’s Teacher, Tutor or a member of our office staff if you need support with this.
Parent, Carer and Teacher meetings
Information and details of other parent meetings will be sent out throughout the year. These are also advertised on our website & via social media.
School Uniform
All students across all phases should wear full uniform to school every day and not to do so is a sanctionable offence. Uniform options are available through our supplier ‘Famous School Branches’ 140 East Street, Bedminster Bristol BS3 4EW. See website for details. https://store.famousbranches.com/
Students in Nursery to Year 4
· Tailored black trousers (not tight at the ankle, not skinny, denim or leggings style), knee length
black skirt or knee length black tailored shorts
· Plain white (or green) polo shirt with BLC logo on the chest
· Green sweater with BLC logo
· Grey or black pinafore dress
· Green gingham dresses (summer term only)
· White, grey, black or green socks/tights
· Black polishable shoes only (no trainers or visible logo)
· In Nursery & reception only – green jogging bottoms
P.E Kit. Light Blue Polo Shirt, Black Shorts, white Socks and appropriate sports trainers.
ALL ABOUT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS 2019-2020
4
Students in Years 5 to 11
Compulsory items
· Tailored black trousers (not tight at the ankle, not skinny, denim or leggings style), knee length black skirt or knee length black tailored shorts
· Black blazer with BLC logo on the chest
· Plain white shirt
· Clip-on House tie
· White or black socks; flesh-coloured or black tights
· Polishable Black shoes (no trainers, boots, canvas, sandals or branded)
Optional items to be worn under the blazer
· Optional plain blue jumper with BLC logo on the chest
· Optional plain black waistcoat
Physical Education kit
· BLC sports t shirt in navy/white
· Plain black /navy shorts
· Knee High sports socks – black/navy
· Appropriate sports trainers (not canvas shoes/boots or Converse type trainers)
Strongly Recommended Physical Education Kit for boys and girls
· Moulded boots for on grass and astro
· Shin pads for Hockey and Football
· Gum shield for Hockey and Rugby
Optional Physical Education kit
· Black/Navy sports leggings
· Plain tracksuit bottoms – black/navy
· Plain tracksuit top – black/navy – no hood
Jewellery and Make-up
Wearing jewellery is not encouraged. This is not part of our uniform and remains your responsibility if worn. All items of jewellery must be removed for P.E but remain your responsibility at all times. Only the following is permitted:
· ONE small piercing in each ear (no ear-stretchers)
· A single necklace - underneath clothes
· A watch
· A single flat ring
x
ALL ABOUT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS 2019-2020
5
· Apart from one piercing in each ear, no other piercings will be permitted – this includes facial and body piercing, including the tongue, lip, nose, etc.
· Any additional jewellery will be confiscated.
Hair Styles
Hair should be out of the eyes and of a natural colour. The school acknowledges cultural and religious diversity, however sculptured or patterned hairstyles (including lines that are not in line with the parting) are not permitted. Hair needs to be tied up for PE lessons.
Make-up
If worn it must be minimal. If students arrive to school wearing excessive make-up they will be asked to remove it.
Nails
Should be of an appropriate length and suitable for all activities. Nail extensions are not permitted. Nails must not exceed length of fingers in order to safely participate in PE lessons.
Coats
All jackets must be removed in the building and placed in bags or lockers. Caps/Hoods are also not to be worn indoors.
Lunches All children buy lunch through our cashless system, see the ParentPay information below. If your child is entitled to a free school meal and is in Year 3 and above please claim your entitlement by applying through Bristol City Council. Children in Nursery to Year 2, please see the school office for a Pupil Premium Checker form and return this to us. We will carry out the check for you by liaising with the Local Authority. For those children on free school meals the cost of a meal is added automatically daily so every child appears the same. This year the catering company have introduced a Biometric thumb print to their system so students will not have to carry a card. Please ensure you have ticked the permission box on your admission form or ask the office for a Biometric opt in form.
Children may also bring packed lunches but there are a number of items that are banned and will be
confiscated immediately. This is to reinforce healthier eating choices at school. These include:
Any fast-food and all fizzy AND any high-sugar drinks
Parentpay online payment system ● enables you to pay for school meals and other items such as locker keys, dinner cards and trips ● offers a highly secure payment site ● gives you a history of all the payments you have made ● allows you to create a single account login across all of your children that attend a ParentPay school ● shows you all of the items available for payment that are relevant to each child ● emails a receipt of your payment to the email address you register
How does ParentPay help you? ● gives you the freedom to make payments to school whenever and wherever you like ● stops you having to write cheques or search for cash ● gives you peace of mind that your payments are immediate, there is no waiting for cheques to clear ● payments for many of the larger trips can be made in installments up to the due date ● ParentPay is quick and easy to use
How does ParentPay help our school?
ALL ABOUT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS 2019-2020
6
● reduces the administrative time spent on banking procedures ● keeps accurate records of payment made to every service for every student ● reduces paper ‘waste’ ● allows for quick and easy refunds to be made back to the payment card ● improves communication between the school and parents concerning payments ● offers a more efficient payment collection process, reducing the amount of money held on school
premises
How do I get started? We will send you an activation letter containing your activation username and password to enable you to set up your ParentPay account. During the activation process you will be guided through changing your username and password to something memorable. If you have more than one child at a ParentPay school/s you can also add children to a single account providing one login for all your children at ParentPay schools. Don’t want to pay by credit/debit card Please contact the school to request a PayPoint letter if you are unable to add money to an account online and wish to use the PayPoint facility at a local Paypoint store. A bar code will be issued for you to make cash payments for school meals, trips etc at local PayPoint stores. If you wish to order a plastic card these are charged at £2.00 and can be ordered from the school reception.
PayPoint payments are recorded by ParentPay and can be seen by logging into your ParentPay account and viewing your payment history online. PayPoint facilities can be found online at www.paypoint.co.uk/paypointlocator.
Bridge Learning Campus parents also have the ability to pay for Locker Keys, Book Bags and Dinner Cards using ParentPay. Eventually all trips will be payable via ParentPay. We hope you will support us in achieving our goal of becoming a cashless school. Your support using ParentPay will help the school enormously, thank you. Further information can be found on the ParentPay website, alternatively contact the school reception team.
Governors We have a Local Governing Body (LGB) here at Bridge Learning Campus (BLC) which is a committee reporting
to the Trust in Learning Academies (TiLA) Board. To find out more about us visit the BLC website
www.bridgelearningcampus.org.uk/local-governing-body/
Bridge Learning Campus has its own LGB, which comprises of staff, parent and community governors. The LGB meet eight times a year. Governors are all volunteers and have a real interest in making a difference to children’s lives.
It is our responsibility as Governors to set the vision, ethos and priorities for BLC in partnership with the
Headteacher and their Leadership team. We are also responsible for ensuring every child is safe in school
and that the school delivers high quality opportunities to ensure your child is successful.
We are also responsible for managing the financial performance of the school and making sure money is
well spent and we achieve value for money. Should you need to contact the LGB for any reason, please email
the Clerk to the Governors, Mrs Jacqui Dibble [email protected]
Parent Voice
At Bridge Learning campus, we know that a strong partnership between the school and the home is essential if a child is to do their best. We are currently reviewing how we conduct our parent voice meetings to make sure that as many parents as possible have the chance to share their views on what we are doing well and where we can still make improvements. Your opinions are really important so please keep an eye out in the near future for opportunities to have your say.
ALL ABOUT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS 2019-2020
7
Families And Community Engagement (FACE) The Family And Community Engagement Project is here to support all parents and carers. We understand the rewards, challenges and importance the role of being a parent / carer is. All children need to be supported from their earliest years to their teenage years. Whether this is supporting their education and learning, developing life skills, attendance at school and helping them to fulfil their full potential so that they can grow up to be happy, healthy and ready for adulthood. The FACE project can help you with this. We are here to offer support for parents and carers in many ways and we aim to offer early intervention and support before problems get too big. We also look to offer you opportunities to continue your own learning. This is done in many different ways:
● Positive parenting courses ● Courses to develop your literacy and numeracy skills ● Courses to help you have fun and meet other parents, these could be art and craft, flower arranging,
jewellery making, willow weaving, sewing, crochet etc. ● Curriculum workshops on how to help your child at school ● Courses that lead to qualifications such as first aid, food hygiene. Level 1 in Health and Social care,
Level 1 working with children etc. ● CV writing, Interview skills, How to apply for a job etc.
FACE can also offer you 1:1 support around your child’s attendance, benefit advice, debt advice, support to meet with members of staff to discuss your child’s progress or issues they are having at school.
Behaviour
Bridge Learning Campus is a unique all-through school where children of all ages have the right to learn, all teachers the right to teach and everyone on school the right to feel safe. We therefore have a collective and individual responsibility to respect others, ourselves, and the environment.
Our fundamental principle is an unconditional positive regard for others. This, combined with rights, responsibilities and routines will produce good behaviour where everyone is able to work effectively and happily.
We are in inclusive school and this policy strives to ensure inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. In order to maintain good order and appropriate behaviour, we recognize the importance of rewards and sanctions. Students’ positive behaviour and participation needs to be acknowledged and rewarded; poor behaviour – especially that which interferes with others’ learning or that which endangers others – will be sanctioned appropriately.
The aims of this policy are to clearly set out: The core purpose of the school is to educate young people and that everyone has the right to learn in a safe environment unheeded by the actions of anyone else;
That we also have the responsibility to educate young people in appropriate behaviour, conduct and ways of interacting with one another;
Values, principles and standards
● The emphasis is on good behaviour and respect for the individual thus enabling high quality teaching and learning for all members of the community;
● Students should be fully aware of and follow the BLC pupil code of conduct; this is known as The BLC ‘R’ Way. This outlines the expectations of how the children learn and behave at school and in their community. By following The ‘R’ Way, pupils are working and behaving in a manner that will put them in the best position to succeed.
● Students are aware that they make a clear choice when deciding how to behave and understand how this impacts on their own and other students’ learning;
● It should bring about a positive ethos where the emphasis is on praise; ● Students should be given every opportunity to reflect on their behaviour and learn appropriate and
acceptable behaviours;
ALL ABOUT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS 2019-2020
8
● Clear, appropriate sanctions are used by all staff where a student chooses behaviour that is inappropriate
Objectives
● To promote a positive environment, where learning can be effective and staff and students feel safe and respected at all times;
● To encourage and develop a sense of personal responsibility and accountability by students, and emphasise that they make clear choices regarding their behaviour;
● To promote self-esteem, self-discipline and positive relationships; ● To ensure that the school’s expectations and strategies are widely known and understood; ● To define acceptable standards of behaviour; ● To encourage the involvement of both home and school in the implementation of this policy; ● To create an environment which encourages and reinforces good behaviour; ● To encourage consistency of response to both positive and negative behaviour; ● To minimize low level disruption and therefore create a positive climate for learning.
All parents, Carers and students are expected to highlight any issues relating to behaviour to a member of the house and pastoral team as soon as they arise. Please refer to our website for our behaviour policy which will provide you with full details of our expectations - www.bridgelearningcampus.com
Attendance - Registration, Punctuality & Lateness
Attendance Manager is Miss Allen, who can be contacted on:-
01173 534472 - Primary
01179 030356 - Secondary
Primary school day starts at 8.30am
Secondary school day starts at 8:35am
Punctuality to school is crucial. Lateness into school causes disruption to that individual’s learning and to that of the other pupils in the class. It is paramount therefore that all pupils arrive to school on time, ready to learn. All children should be outside their classroom door by 8:25am, ready for the doors to open at 8:30am. Classroom doors will close promptly at 8:40am.
ALL ABOUT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS 2019-2020
9
Registration will close at 8:50am for Primary & 9:00am for Nursery. All late students, who arrive in school after the closing of registration must sign in on our Entry System, entering through our Reception, this will be recorded as Late on our registers for that session. All children who attend school late must be accompanied by a parent/carer (Primary).
Should your child arrive after 9:30am your child will receive a U code, this equates to an unauthorised absence for that session and will affect your child’s annual attendance. The attendance team will monitor all pupils’ attendance on a weekly basis.
Should your child continue to attend school late, your case may be referred to the Educational Welfare Service, who may take action against you, in the form of a Penalty Notice or Prosecution under section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996 at a cost of £60 per parent, per child, or a summons to court.
Absences If your child is unable to attend school please telephone on 0117 3534472 (years 6 – 11) or 0117 9030356 (years N – 5) and clearly state the reason for absence. If the school does not obtain a valid reason for absence, your child will be marked down as an ’O’ on the register, which means your child has been marked as unauthorised.
Truancy Call This is an automated system that is sent when a student has an absent mark for AM registration. Responding to truancy call is free; you can use it to contact the school to give the reason for the absence.
Illness Parents must inform the school by 8:50am when their child is ill and will not be attending school. Where an absence hasn’t been reported, parents will be contacted by the Head of Key Stage during the morning requesting a response and reason for absence. Where this is not forthcoming, the absence will be classed as unauthorised.
Wherever possible, all medical and dental appointments should be made outside of school time. Also, it is expected that every effort is made to minimise the amount of time that the child is absent for the appointment, i.e. not leaving until just before the appointment and returning immediately afterwards.
Where the school is concerned about the child’s attendance, they may request confirmation of medical appointments or medial support of illness or injury. Parents should note that not all illnesses or injuries require a child to be absent from school.
Please read our ‘Should my child got to school today’ leaflet on our website for further information and advice about illnesses.
Should attendance drop to a concerning level the Attendance Manager may request supporting medical evidence for those absences relating to illness. Medical evidence can include items such as a GP slip or letter, appointment card or letter, the original prescribed medication or the prescription itself. They may also request a written explanation from your GP for the absence in question.
Monitoring Illness If you receive a letter to say we are monitoring your child’s attendance this is due to a moderate amount of illness. The aim of this letter is for you to check their attendance so that you can monitor the amount of time they are away from school and if this is reasonable for the condition.
No Illness If you have a letter to say we are no longer authorising your child’s illness, this is due to a high level of illness. You can have illness/medical appointments authorised by bringing in appointment cards or medication
ALL ABOUT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS 2019-2020
10
packaging. If they bring it to reception we will copy it, store it on their file and return the original. Please do not ask doctor’s for notes as they are very busy.
Absence letters If you receive a letter asking where your child was on a certain date it is important you contact us. You can do this via email, telephone or sending your child in with the slip completed. If we do not receive this information a penalty notice could be issued as the absences will stay as unauthorised.
Penalty Notices A £60 penalty notice can be issued by the local authority if there are between 8—20 half day absences in any 10 week period. All parents at risk of receiving this are sent an appointment to discuss how we can stop it getting to the point where a fine is sent. It is important you attend this meeting or call to say you can’t.
A penalty notice is £60 per child per parent, for 21 days and then £120 for a further 7 days and then goes to court and a £1, 000 fine can be given.
Requests for leave during school time.
We strongly discourage holidays being taken in term time as learning is disrupted and the lost time is detrimental to the educational progress of the child. In 2013 guidance from the DFE stated that holidays during school time can no longer be authorised by schools, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Each request will be assessed on an individual basis.
Parents and carers who wish to apply for a period of absence during term time must make a request to the Headteacher in writing at least 2 weeks before the proposed absence (unless there are extenuating circumstances). Requests that are received retrospectively will not be granted and the pupil’s absence will be marked as unauthorised. The Headteacher will decide if the request meets the following criteria:
● One or more parent is a member of the armed forces and has been or is due to be deployed overseas
within the last or next 6 months and evidence can be provided to support this. ● One or more parents is a member of the police, fire or medical NHS staff who has restricted leave due
to their job and evidence can be provided to support this. ● Death of a parent, grandparent, step parent, sibling, or step sibling who is living overseas and whose
funeral will be overseas. ● Terminal illness of immediate family member (this includes parents, step parents and siblings who
have less than 3 months anticipated left to live)
Any leave of absence taken without written authorisation from the Headteacher could result in a fine being issued. Furthermore, it is our duty to instruct you that fines are issued per parent, per child in line with Government guidelines. This would effectively mean that if two parents took two children out of school they would in effect be liable for 4 fines of £60, per parent, per child.
ALL ABOUT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS 2019-2020
11
Days off school add up to lost learning!
190 school days a year!
175 Non-School days to spend on family time, visits, holidays, shopping……..
190 school
days in a
year!
--------------
190 days for
your child’s
education!
10 days
absence!
--------------
180 days of
education!
19 days
absence!
---------------
171 days of
education!
29 days
absence!
-------------
161 days of
education!
38 days
absence!
-------------
152 days of
education!
47 days
absence!
--------------
143 days of
education!
100%
95%
90%
85%
80%
75%
Excellent
Excellent
Worrying
Worrying
Serious Concern
Serious Concern
Complaints
We fully appreciate that no matter what we do, there will be times where communication breaks down, someone makes a mistake or you feel let down. We always want to put matters right as soon as we can. It is always worth trying to resolve the problem before making a formal complaint. However, should this be an avenue you wish to pursue, please email the Headteacher’s PA Alex McAfee at [email protected] for more information.
