We work hard to ensure our children are safe in school and out of school.
If anyone, any adult or any child, has any safeguarding concern, including any related to radicalisation they are encouraged to contact one of our safeguarding team Mrs Turner, Mr Fortuna, Mrs Patrick or Mrs Ford in person, via telephone of via email.
If you are unable to speak in person to one of the safeguarding team regarding a concern, please contact via the school office email address – office.sjc@dcvst.org
If we have reasonable cause for concern that a child may be at risk of significant harm, we will refer to social care. This referral can be made with or without us informing parents.
For further information please read our Child Protection policy.
At the heart of the work of every primary school class is a continuous cycle of planning, teaching and assessment which takes account of the wide range of abilities, aptitudes and interests of the children. The majority of children will learn and progress within these arrangements. Those children whose overall attainments and achievement in specific subjects fall significantly outside the expected range may have Special Educational Needs (SEN).
For children who have a specific learning difficulty or a disability, our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) policy outlines the educational support we provide.
If a teacher notices a pupil experiencing difficulties with their learning they will seek guidance from the school Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCo). Advice will be given, which may include alternate strategies to support the pupils learning. Both class teacher and SENDCo will hold a meeting with parents to discuss next steps which could include:
When a child is placed on the Special Educational Needs register, consultation with parents will continue through:
Please contact the school office to speak to Mrs A Patrick.
Good attendance at St. James the Great Church of England Primary and Nursery School is a vital factor in determining how well pupils progress academically and whether they achieve their full potential in all areas of school life, both in lessons and in extra-curricular activities. It also impacts on their welfare and happiness at school.
Gates open in the morning from 8.35am and pupils will begin the day with a morning task revisiting prior learning. Registers are taken from 8.35am and your child will receive a late mark if they arrive after 8.50am. The school gates will close promptly at 8:50am. Registers close at 8.50am and arrival at school after this time will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.
The Department for Education classifies children with an attendance below 90% as persistent absentees, in line with the Government’s commitment to reduce absences. In real terms this means that, for example from September to October half term, if your child had an absence of 4 days or more, they fall into this category of being a persistent absentee.
As a school we closely monitor the children’s attendance and are obliged to report any child in this category of persistent absentee to the local authority or the children missing education service on a termly basis. This is then reviewed by them and where appropriate parents will be called to attend a meeting with an officer from this service.
Whilst we would not want you to bring your child to school when they are genuinely ill, we would request that, wherever possible, doctors and dentist appointments are booked outside of school hours, as although these absences are authorised, they do count within the 90% attendance threshold. We understand that being unwell and absent from school is sometimes unavoidable. The follow-up procedures are an automatic part of the school’s statutory duties of care for the welfare and progress of pupils. A leaflet from the NHS outlining when you should keep your child at home due to illness is attached below.
We would also remind you that requests for holidays/leave of absence will not be authorised unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances’. The definition of ‘exceptional circumstance’ is rare, significant, unavoidable and short. A child who has two weeks out of school for a holiday will miss 50 hours of education. The Local Authority penalty notice for an absence taken that has not been authorised is up to £160 per parent per child (up to £640 for a family with 2 adults and 2 children). If you have had a previous penalty notice for unauthorised absence, the local authority may choose to prosecute you for further absences.
Absence Requests
There is no entitlement in law for students to take time off during term time and authorisation will only be given for exceptional circumstances.
Leave of absence must be applied for using the “Application for Leave of Absence from school during Term Time” form for each pupil (see below).
We will not consider applications for leave during term time:
Any Leave of Absence taken without completing the appropriate application in advance, or taken when permission has been refused by the school, will be recorded as an unauthorised absence and may result in the school applying to the Local Authority (Attendance Compliance) to issue a Penalty Notice or if you have previously been issued a Penalty Notice, the school may request a direct prosecution by the Local Authority (Attendance Compliance).
If you would like to apply for an authorised absence from school, please download the form below and return it to the school as soon as possible.
Expectations at St. James
