Information for Parents

Admission arrangements for Paganel Primary School.

If you wish your child to attend Paganel Primary School then a place must be applied for by contacting the Local Authority  Admissions Department.

Parents/Carers can contact the Admissions Department on 0121 675 0555, alternatively you can go via the Birmingham City Council website www.birmingham.gov.uk/schooladmissions

On entering the site open the ‘schools and learning’ section and select admissions from the menu on the left hand side of the page.

If you are interested in your child attending the school we strongly urge you to visit the school. To do this simply contact the school office on 0121 464 5040 and ask if you can arrange a visit for you and your child to look around the school.

Children are expected to attend School every day unless there is a good reason not to.

If your child is too unwell to attend school please contact the school office in the morning to let us know that they won’t be in that day. If they are ill for more than one day please make sure you call every morning of your child’s absence.

If you know that your child is going to be absent from School e.g. Hospital or Clinical appointments please let the office staff know in advance. Non-emergency appointments, such as dental check-ups; eye-tests; GP check-ups etc, should be scheduled for out of school hours or non-term time.

Leave during term time will not be authorised. Requests will not be considered for any leave during term time.

Unauthorised absences: when an explanation for the absence is not given, or days for which there is not an adequate reason your child will receive an unauthorised absence mark. Unacceptable excuses for a day off include: going to buy shoes or clothing – getting up late – a day off for the child’s birthday – going to see relatives, term time holidays or visits abroad.

We are required by the Government to monitor all absences and do so every week. If your child is absent then they miss valuable lessons. An average of one day missed each week adds up to one whole school year missed in four years! PLEASE help us to educate your child by ensuring they attend every day.

‘Fast Track’ on Attendance

We monitor every child’s attendance daily. As part of the Fast track on Attendance initiative, any child with 10 or more unauthorised absences within the last year will be placed in an ‘Action Group’. Any further unauthorised absence will result in  possible court action.

If your child’s attendance falls below 96%. You will then be invited into school to discuss your child’s attendance with the Attendance Officer or Headteacher.

In the worst case, you may have to go to court and receive a fine. The Court section have successfully prosecuted two families from Paganel.

Working together should help us sort out any difficulties so this does not happen.

Mrs Sale our Attendance Support can offer you support . You can contact her in the Main office or on the school telephone number: 0121 464 5040.

It is not true that pupils catch up on missed work. Research shows that by missing lessons, pupils soon fall behind.

It is not true that lessons are repeated at a later date.

It is not true that you are entitled to 10 days extra holiday each year.

REMEMBER, EVERY SCHOOL DAY COUNTS

Children have 13 weeks holiday every year. This is plenty of time to go on holiday and visit family.  With effect from 1st September 2013 The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations.

Holidays during school time are not allowed and will not be authorised.

It is a parent’s legal responsibility to ensure their children receive appropriate education.  Failing to send your child to school regularly without good reason is a criminal offence.  

Legal action that may be taken includes:

Issuing penalty notices: Each parent receives a penalty notice for each child who has unauthorised absence. The penalty is £60 or £120 depending on how soon payment is made.  So, if there are two parents and two children the total penalties could be up to £480. Failure to pay may result in prosecution.

Taking parents to court for unauthorised absence: Education Act 1996 Section 444(1) – court can fine each parent up to £1000 per child, order payment of prosecution costs and/or impose a Parenting Order.

Taking parents to court for persistent unauthorised absence: Education Act 1996 Section 444(1A) – court can fine each parent up to £2,500 per child, order payment of the prosecution costs, impose a Parenting Order and/or sentence you to a period of imprisonment of up to 3 months.

Being taken to court could result in you having a criminal record.

In the case of illness or accident, it is essential that we have an upto date telephone number and address where parents can be contacted quickly. You will be given a form to fill in to supply this information. If you change address, place of employment or MOBILE PHONE number, please let us know immediately.

Visits form an integral part of the curriculum.  A form of consent must be signed for each child, for each visit made.

Voluntary contributions towards the cost of the visits which take place wholly in the school day will be sought in accordance with the Charging and Remissions Policy set by the School Governors.  Last year visits included London, Camping, Weston-Super-Mare, Think Tank, Black Country Museum.  If parents find it difficult to make a contribution towards a visit, then a brief word with the Head teacher is advisable and the School may be able to help.

Sometimes children have minor injuries at school; our staff are trained in first aid and will treat them as necessary. If your child has a more serious injury or becomes ill while at school, we will contact you immediately. Therefore it is very important that you provide us with up to date telephone numbers of where you can be contacted throughout the day.

If a child wears glasses or a hearing aid or has any diagnosed allergies it is essential that the school is made aware of this – a medical form must be completed at admission. The school must be informed if there are any changes to your child’s ongoing medical needs.

If your child has asthma and requires an inhaler, please make sure that your child’s inhaler is in school at all times, together with instructions for dosage. Doctors will usually provide you with a spare one to keep in school. It is up to the parent to make sure that the medication is in date and has not run out. You will need to fill out an asthma permission form for us to store and administer your child’s inhaler, this can be done at the school office. In the case of an emergency, i.e. a broken inhaler, the school has adopted use of a school based emergency inhaler. Authorisation for the school to administer this is at the bottom of the asthma permission form.

Parents are often faced with the dilemma of whether to send their child to School after an illness. If your child is feeling better, and is not contagious, they can return to school. We can administer antibiotics that have a named prescription label, and requires at least 4 doses per day. School policy does not cover the administration of pain relief. Please come to the office to fill out a medication form if you require medicine to be administered during school hours. Sometimes, doctors can be asked to prescribe medicine so that it can be administered in fewer doses. If you have any concerns regarding medication please contact the school.

Please consult the School if your child has been suffering from an infectious illness as we have an official list of exclusion periods.  No child should attend school until at least 48 hours after symptoms of vomiting or sickness have ceased.

The Health Service Nurse will see any child who has been referred by the School.  If you want the Nurse to see your child, we can arrange an appointment for you.  Our School Nurse advises pupils and parents on a range of health issues and can refer children to the School Doctor.

We follow the Birmingham City Council Guidelines. If we feel that any child is at risk then we are obliged to refer the matter to Social Services.

We believe in and follow the Equality Act 2010.  We recognise Paganel Primary School as a multi-racial school in a multi-racial community. We aim to ensure that our curriculum and general ethos reflects and values the rich diversity of culture present in our midst. The school is committed to emphasising the common elements and values of our multiple cultures, and aims to provide positive images for our children, regardless of race, gender, background, ability or disability.

We recognise that the effectiveness of our policy depends on the full support of all parents, pupils, governors and staff. Please support our policy at all times.

Workshops are a chance for parents to learn a little more about how to help their children at home, keep parents up to date on any new ideas in school and a chance to work with their child in the classroom with the children.

We are committed to school and families working together to help children make great progress. We talk with parents about ways to continually improve and for new ideas. They also provide opportunities for staff and families to get to know each other better. Relationships are very important to us.

We were asked by our parents/carers to formulate a code of conduct so we all agree on appropriate behaviour on the playground and other areas associated with school.

The final version is available to download below. This has been approved by governors and discussed with parents/carers.

Thank you to everyone for your support with this.

We encourage our parents/carers to speak to teachers directly at drop off or collection times if they have a question or concern about their child in school.

For more in depth discussion about your child’s progress we hold parent-teacher consultation evenings in Autumn and Spring terms.

Parents/carers can book appointments for these evenings via our online system.

At Paganel we have made the decision to become a ‘Restorative Practise’ school. The Paganel team would like to involve as many people as possible in this step and will endeavour to do all they can to share the training, information and techniques.

Restorative approaches look at alternative ways of thinking when addressing behavioural issues, but are not simply behaviour management tools. Working restoratively will develop stronger, mutually respectful friendships, a better understanding of our own feelings and will equip our children with the ability to make decisions on issues that affect their lives.

A comparison between different ways of thinking and responding in authoritarian and restorative manners:

What is a restorative response to harm or conflict?

Those affected are invited to share:

1. What has happened
2. Thoughts and feelings
3. How they and others have been affected
4. What needs to happen to put things right or to make things better in the future.

For this to happen effectively we, as supporting facilitators will aim to:

• Build a respectful rapport with everyone
• Listen and respond calmly, empathetically and without interruption or judgement to all sides of an issue
• Develop a sense of safety and trust
• Encourage people to express their thoughts, feelings and needs appropriately
• Appreciate the impact of people’s thoughts, feelings, beliefs and unmet needs on their behaviours.

At Paganel we recognise the importance of having clear rules, routines and structures to support our children in feeling safe when they are at school. As part of this, the school has ‘5 Golden Rules’ that all children are explicitly taught and are modelled throughout the school day which reflect the school’s core values of Respect, Enquire and Persevere.

The ‘golden’ rules are as follows:

1. Be a good friend and treat all people politely.
2. Always try your very best.
3. Be a good team player.
4. Take care of everything.
5. Always tell the truth.

The school staff and children have been working hard to ensure everyone really understands these rules and we are all committed to following them at Paganel!

This year we have revised the rewards and consequences that we will be using this year and some details of these can be found below:

Incentives for making the right choices

We are continuing to have a golden ticket raffle on Friday each week. Children can earn a golden ticket every time they reach gold on the zone board and each week a ticket will be drawn in every class and the winner will receive a prize. Last term we asked the children exactly what they would like for prizes and we have acted on their thoughts so I hope they will like the selection on offer.

We have introduced ‘Praise Pads’ which are small certificates that can be awarded for a variety of reasons and every teacher will hand a selection out each day to celebrate with you the good choices the children have made in school.

House Points are going to continue in school but will be used outside of the classroom (in assembly, corridors, lunch hall, on the playground and for homework) where children will be awarded house point tokens that will be counted each week and the winning house will be awarded a point. This will be combined with other points earned from house competitions that will take place every half term to decide a winning house that will participate in a fun activity at the end of the term. This terms event is a cinema afternoon.

This year we will also be continuing to celebrate children’s behaviour with the behaviour tea parties: each term class teachers will nominate children who consistently demonstrate the school’s core values and 5 golden rules to attend a tea party (parents of nominees are also invited).  We celebrate with some yummy food, certificates and balloons! This year all children invited to the behaviour tea party will then also be invited to the end of year behaviour trip.

The Restorative Approach

At Paganel we will continue to use the restorative approach to behaviour management.  If issues arise we will use a question framework to explore what has happened, how we can repair a situation and move forward positively. This framework is also used by the school’s peer mediators (children in Year 6 who support the younger children in school during lunchtime) to help solve any problems that arise during lunchtime. This year we will be holding parent workshops to develop understanding of this approach and how it is used in school – dates to follow!

Consequences

Prior to the children receiving any consequences for their behaviour choices, they will be provided with a series of reminders and visual cues that indicate that they are not currently acting in line with school expectations which aim to support the children in making positive changes.

These are as follows:

-The teaching staff will encourage them to change their behaviour by reinforcing the school’s ‘golden’ rules.

-The teaching staff will then give one verbal warning.

-Following the warning if the behaviour does not improve the children will now be issued with a yellow card, this will be awarded in a discrete manner and all children have received support in to ensure they have good understanding of what the yellow card means.

If a child’s behaviour does not improve they will be issued a second yellow card, this will lead to a child attending the reflection room at lunchtime for 15 minutes. Whilst in the reflection room the child will be supported to discuss what has happened and complete reflection activities which aim to support the children in thinking about what they can do differently to ensure they make more positive choices moving forward. The child will then participate in normal lunchtime activities.

If there is still no improvement in behaviour the card will be upgraded to a red card, this will lead to the child attending reflection room for 30 minutes – they will follow the same procedure (as yellow card) whist attending. The child will then participate in normal lunchtime activities. You will be notified by a phone call or by your child’s class teacher at the end of the day that a red card has been issued and you will also receive a letter about this explaining the reasons for the red card.

There is an emphasise that prior to any lunchtime consequence taking place we will firstly ensure that the children have eaten and the timings outlined will allow for the children to have time outdoors or in lunchtime clubs.

School will make reasonable adjustments to the behaviour policy for pupils with disabilities. In addition to this an individualised response will be taken when behavioural issues might be a result of educational, mental health and other needs or vulnerabilities.

At Paganel we wish to work with our children and their families to understand behaviour expectations and we will provide support for our pupils to help them develop their behaviour choices.

Please find below a flow chart outlining the processes that will be followed for rewards and consequences as part of the new behaviour policy(click for full policy).