Parent Handbook

A very warm welcome to Heywood Prep. The purpose of this digital handbook is to give both new and current parents useful information on the various routines and aspects of life at Heywood Prep.

Our aim is to enthuse children, enabling all to reach their potential and teaching them how to be independent as well as thoughtful and considerate of others. We provide a happy and caring environment, allowing everyone to flourish whatever their particular talents or interests and encouraging all to play a full and active role in the life of the school. Our pupils experience a diverse curriculum that encompasses every aspect of their development – from their academic, physical and creative prowess to their social, cultural, spiritual and moral well-being. Pupils learn to work successfully with others and celebrate their own and others’ achievements.

The journey through Heywood is full of wonder, discovery, fun and challenge but we recognise that we represent only one of several key stepping stones along a child’s educational journey and therefore a smooth transition to subsequent senior schools is vitally important for us. As pupils move on from Heywood Prep, we seek to equip them with the skills, confidence and enthusiasm to always give their best in the future and enjoy themselves whilst doing so.

Do please keep in regular touch with your child’s Form Tutor. I am sure that you will agree that successful education is built on a strong partnership between home and school. I look forward to a happy and successful association with you and your family in the years ahead, working together to provide your child with educational excellence.

Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s form tutor if you would like any further information or there are any aspects regarding your child’s time at Heywood that you wish to raise. With my very best wishes

Tim O’Connell

Headmaster

Tim O’Connell – Headmaster

Gareth Edwards – Deputy Head

Flora Watson – Director of Studies

Anna Lawrence – Head of EYFS

Annette Bidgood – SENDCo

Chris Knight – Assistant Co-Curricular and Director of Sport

Nicky Bartholomew – School Business Manager

Anna Lawrence – Reception Teacher, Head of EYFS

Gabriella Parker – Reception Teacher, RE Lead

Claire Hill – Year 1, Geography Lead

Charlotte Durrance – Year 1

Selina Harper – Year 2

Megan Watts – Year 2- Phonics Lead

Brett Harrington – Year 3- Head of Digital Strategy

Caragh Perrott – Year 3 – Specific Learning Difficulty Tutor

Alex Britten – Year 4 – History Lead

Ellie Smith – Year 4 – PSHE and RSE Lead

Flora Watson – Year 5 – Director of Studies

Hilary West – Year 5 – Head of English and Science

Sarah Gilmore – Year 6 – Assistant Director of Studies

Justine Skinner – Year 6 – Head of Art

Angelique Williamson – Head of Music

Camilla Evans- Head of STEAM

Ashleigh Cammiade- Games and PE

Amy Gaiger – Games and PE

Bradley Mildon – Games and PE

Millie Dyke – Reception Teaching Assistant

Fiona Padfield – Year 1 Teaching Assistant

Emily Lucas – Year 2 Teaching Assistant

Anna Edwards – Year 3 Teaching Assistant

Hannah Ovens – Year 4 Teaching Assistant and Games

Sian Klukowski – Year 5 Teaching Assistant and Games

Lieve Gray – 1:1 Teaching Assisant

Faith Faulk – Learning Support Tutor Caragh Perrott – SpLD Tutor

Niki Wigram – Registrar and Headmaster’s PA

Lottie Richards – Marketing Manager

Jo Collier – School Receptionist

Padraigh Dowd – Site Manager

Andy Rose – Minibus Driver and Site Assistant

Nick Ekland – Head Chef

Jo Bond

Lisa Bagnall

Amanda Killmurray

The information of these handbook pages will be updated well in advance of the start of each academic year.

The day before we start school in the Autumn Term we hold an open house afternoon where children and parents can visit the child’s new classroom where their class teacher will be waiting to show them their peg and drawer and the sports staff will help the children find their sports lockers.

Children are invited to bring in their PE kits and blazers in on this afternoon and leave them in school. We hope this will settle any first day nerves and also make the arrival at school for the new academic year smoother as there will be less bags to carry and less unknowns for children and parents alike.

On the first day of the Autumn Term, staff will be on hand from 8.00am to help new children and parents to find their way around the school. Children can be dropped off in Breakfast Club 7.30-8.00am, the playground from 8.00am – 8.20am or in the classroom by 8.30am. Children in Reception will go straight to their new classroom where their teacher will be ready to greet them.

If your child is joining Heywood Prep mid-year, their Form Tutor and your child’s nominated buddies will come to meet you both in the School Office when you arrive and take your son/daughter to their classroom.

Children should bring their school bag, water bottle, PE/Games kit, coat and blazer on their first day in Prep. They should take everything to their classroom and their Form Tutor will ensure that all their belongings are put away in the correct place.

At the beginning of the academic year, pupils will spend the first lessons of the day with their Form Tutors during which time reading diaries, timetables and exercise books will be issued. Form Tutors will also go through the timetable with their class and discuss any other important information.

Children require a Heywood Prep rucksack and those in Year 6, a clearly named, small pencil case containing pencils, erasers and a sharpener and ruler. A set of colouring pencils is also useful for Humanities lessons. It is not necessary for children to have felt tip or gel pens.

Children in Year 6 will need at least one ink pen (rollerball or fountain pen with blue ink). They also are welcome to bring in their own calculators, compasses, protractors etc. though the school will provide these when necessary. It would help greatly if special individual items are also named.

Children are allowed to keep a clearly named water bottle, with a sports cap to minimise spillages, in class (no larger than 1 litre). These should only contain water and be taken home and refilled daily.

A Breakfast Club is available between 7.30am and 8.00am, during which time children will have a choice of cereals and toast/croissants, fruit juices and fresh fruit. At 8.00am, the children are taken to the playground for a supervised playtime until registration. Bookings should be made through the School Office.

On subsequent days, children may be dropped off in the playground (or in their classrooms if it is raining) from 8.00am – 8.20am. Children are then collected from the playground by their Form Tutor. After 8.20am, children in Years 3-6 should take themselves to their classrooms.

We encourage children to come into school carrying their own belongings unless necessary to have assistance and come into the building from the cloakroom independently. We request that parents with children in the Prep Department do not accompany their children into the classroom so that they learn to manage their own belongings. All children need to be in their classroom ready for registration by 8.30am.

Registration will take place in the classroom at 8.30am. Any children entering the classroom after 8.30am will be marked as ‘late’ in the register. Registration is an important part of the day when we prepare the children for the day ahead.

Things don’t always go to plan and sometimes families miss going to their classrooms at 8.20am. If you arrive after 8.20am, please take your child to the School Office and sign in on the late register.

There are three assemblies each week as follows:

Tuesday – Head’s Assembly

Thursday – Singing Assembly

Friday – Class Assembly

We like to celebrate the children’s achievements inside and outside school during Head’s Assembly. If your child has gained any certificates, won trophies or achieved anything which you would like us to share with the whole school, you should send details to their Form Tutor on a Tuesday morning to be shared in the Head’s Assembly.

Each class leads a Friday morning assembly once per term unless they have a major production. Dates are published in the school calendar. The assembly starts at 8.40am and usually lasts for approximately 20 minutes. Parents and other family members are invited to attend; refreshments are served before the assembly.

All children have a mid-morning snack at break time.

All children have a hot lunch which is freshly prepared on-site every day by our catering provider, Chapter One. Copies of the menu are available on the school website. Two hot meal options are always available (one meat or fish and one vegetarian). In addition, soup and a salad bar are available.

All children eat their lunch in the School Hall with staff members to supervise them.

Parents should notify the school of any food allergies or other requirements using the Medical Form which is part of the Registration Pack. Should your child’s needs change, please notify the School Office. Children staying for Activity Clubs and the After School Club are offered a snack immediately after school and are served a light tea at 5.15pm. The tea menu is included on the weekly menus.

The school day finishes at 3.30pm (3.20pm for Reception children). Parents should wait on the playground and your child’s Form Tutor will bring the children out and dismiss them one by one, Reception children will be dismissed from the gate near the School Office. Children going to After School Clubs will be dismissed by the Form Tutor to clubs registration.

Children are dismissed in their navy school coat during the Autumn Term and Spring Term and blazers remain in the classroom. In the Summer Term, we dismiss the children in their blazer. Children shake hands with their Form Tutor and say “Good afternoon” before leaving.

Form Tutors are only allowed to dismiss children to someone other than their parent if the School Office receives notification from you (this also applies to play-dates). If we do not have permission, we will ring you to ensure that you are happy for the person presenting themselves to collect your child.

We wait on the playground until approximately 3.35pm; in the event that children are left after that time and have not been booked into After School Care or After School Clubs, we will send the children to Cosy or Homework Club and telephone you to ensure that all is well.

If your child is unable to attend school due to illness or other circumstances, please call the office to notify us as soon as possible. If a child does not come into school and we have not heard from you by 9.30am, we will call to confirm the reason for the child’s absence.

If your child is absent for more than five days then the school may require a doctor’s note. Please see ‘Practicalities’ for guidance on illness and exclusion times.

The school uniform brochure can be viewed here

Hair that touches a child’s collar should be tied back with a hairband. One pair of plain gold or silver stud earrings may be worn, which must be removed for Games and PE. No other jewellery is permitted at school for health and safety reasons.

Hair ribbons and bands should be navy or school uniform colours. Nail varnish or hair coloured to an unnatural colour is not permitted

In Reception, the curriculum is carefully planned to encompass a broad range of exciting and engaging topics that will engender an excitement for learning.

On the first day of each term, you will receive a detailed Curriculum Map will be uploaded to the Parent Portal which will highlight the key learning that will happen in their year group over the coming term. Each week an update on what your child is learning that week will be added on your child’s online learning journal..

During their time in Reception, your son/daughter will continue to follow the seven areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum, just as they did in Nursery. The seven areas of learning are:

Characteristics of Effective Learning

All the different areas of learning across the EYFS curriculum are interconnected and this often occurs through the way children engage with their learning, their environment, and resources. The three main ways of engaging with play and learning are through:

Playing and exploring (engagement) – children learning through finding out and exploring. They play with what they know, becoming increasingly willing to ‘have a go’ especially when things become challenging.

Active learning (motivation) – children become increasingly involved in their learning, developing motivation and concentration. The children develop resilience and an ability to keep on trying. They develop a sense of achievement.

Creating and Thinking Critically (thinking) – children make links in their learning and have their own ideas. The can select the resources and equipment that they need in order to complete an activity.

PE and Games Lessons

Reception children have a weekly PE lesson and a weekly Games lesson. The content of the PE and Games curriculum each term will be shared with parents in the termly curriculum map. In Reception, the children come to school in their PE kits on the day of their timetabled PE or Games lesson; please see the uniform brochure for further information.

Swimming, Forest School and STEAM

Swimming lessons take place weekly, one term out of three, on rotation with Forest School and STEAM. The children are taken by school mini-bus, along with their class teacher to Ashwicke Hall and they are taught by our own qualified swimming teachers. Flotation aids, where necessary, will be provided – please do not send floatation devices from home. Please practise changing at home so the children can be as independent as possible when changing for swimming.

In the Pre-Prep, the curriculum is carefully planned to encompass a broad range of exciting and engaging topics that will engender an excitement for learning.

Year 1 and 2 children have one PE and one Games lesson per week, and one swimming, Forest School or STEAM lesson (on rotation throughout the year. Details will be in the Head’s Start of Year letter.

The curriculum in the Prep Department is closely allied to the National Curriculum. However, as an independent school, we are able to extend this to provide a broad and stimulating curriculum to engage pupils and engender curiosity and a love of learning as well as achieve high academic standards.

The term by term curriculum is outlined for each subject and circulated to parents. If you would like further information on a particular area of the curriculum, please speak to the teacher concerned who will be able to provide details on content and delivery.

All pupils in Years 3-6 have a Form Tutor who is their pastoral point of contact and who will teach the class for part of the curriculum. Alongside the core subjects of English and Mathematics, children in Year 3 – 6 also have lessons in Science, Geography, History, Computer Science, Art, Music, MFL, Games and PE, RE, PSHE and Personal Project sessions. Specialist teaching is provided for most year groups in Science, Humanities, Computer Science, Art, Music, MFL, Games and PE. Classes may also have specialist teaching in Maths and English. We feel that contact with several teachers during the day is a strength of the school as we use the specialisms of individual teachers who can pass on their enthusiasm and knowledge of different subjects to the children. For our Year 6 pupils, it is also good preparation for senior school, where they will have a different teacher for every subject.

During the week, children also attend a variety of Individualised Learning sessions for half an hour each day before lunch. These are intended to provide support, enrichment or extension and range from Maths and English support groups to Latin and Problem-Solving challenges.

There is a wide scope of extra-curricular activities and opportunities for children in the Prep Department. Regular sporting fixtures and tournaments with other local schools, trips as well as other special events throughout the year also greatly enrich the children’s learning experience.

After the completion of entrance exams in the Spring Term, Year 6 pupils take part in an exciting programme of life skills activities such as Bikeability, First Aid and cookery sessions, as well as enjoying a stretching academic programme that touches upon elements in the Year 7 curriculum.

Tuition is available in a wide range of instruments including piano, guitar, violin, flute, saxophone and drums, as well as speech & drama for those children in Year 1 and above.

Please visit the Parent Portal and click on ‘Music Department Information’ to see information from the music department regarding peripatetic lessons. If your child wishes to play an instrument that is not listed, we can usually find a teacher! Lessons are usually arranged on a rota so that pupils do not miss the same lessons every week.

As with most schools, our music staff are self-employed and your contractual arrangement is directly with the teacher, who will invoice you on a termly basis.

All year groups usually organise at least one educational trip or in school workshop per term to support their studies.

In addition to day trips, we also have a programme of residential trips in place for pupils in the Prep department which we are hopeful that all children will attend. These are as follows:

Parents will be notified of day and residential trips well in advance and permission sought where necessary. The cost of the trip is added to your termly bill (more expensive trips are billed in installments).

The school provides a packed lunch and snacks for day trips as necessary and residential trips are on a full-board basis. Electronic equipment such as mobile phones, computer games and portable music players are not permitted on school trips.

Children are gradually introduced to homework from Reception, in order that they are ready to meet the demands of secondary school homework when they leave us in Year 6.

Reading

Children who read every night will make the most progress with their reading. Little and often is key – they are not expected to read the whole book in one go, a few pages is perfectly adequate, depending on the amount of text on each page. Children will bring home a reading book containing non-decodable words each day and every child has access to an online account where you can access e-books containing decodable words linked to their phonics lessons. If you require any guidance, please contact your child’s Form Tutor. We encourage children to enjoy bedtime stories, and to read picture books and any other books that they enjoy at home in addition to their school reading book. We do not send reading books home during the school holidays, but rather encourage children to visit the library and select picture books that interest them, so that they read for enjoyment as well as working their way through our reading scheme.

Phonics

As the children are introduced to different letter sounds they will be sent home with grapheme information cards. Please practise reading and writing these graphemes and phonemes at home with your child. Later on, these can then be used to create words for your child to practice blending for reading.

Supporting Your Child’s Leaning at Home

We encourage children to be independent and to manage their own needs as far as possible. Throughout the year we will hold workshops on phonics, maths and handwriting which will give you a valuable insight into how these subjects are taught in school and how you can support your child’s learning at home; dates will be published in the school calendar and in the weekly newsletter. Here are some ideas for activities that you can do together at home to help your child develop throughout their Reception year – you may do many of these already!

Personal Social & Emotional Development

– Encourage your child to dress and undress independently. They will have to do this in school when changing for PE. Perhaps practice with their school uniform to enable them to get used to any new fastenings.

– Teach your child to use the toilet independently and to wash their hands afterwards. At school they will be allowed to go to the toilet when they need to.

– Encourage your child to play with others, to take turns and to share.

– Encourage your child to put things away when he/she has finished using them.

– If your child does misbehave, discuss why their actions might be unsafe or inappropriate and what alternatives there were.

– Encourage your child to use cutlery and to sit at the table to eat meals.

Communication, Language and Literacy

– Read with your child and talk about stories, pictures and characters.

– Say nursery rhymes together.

– Set an example; let your child see you reading, for pleasure and to find information.

– Look at signs and labels as you go for walks or shopping.

– Encourage your child to “write” and praise any attempts they make.

Mathematics

– Take every opportunity to count things with your child, e.g. toys, stairs in the house. Encourage your child to look at and compare colours, shapes and sizes of things.

– Say counting rhymes with your child, e.g. 1, 2, Buckle my shoe

– Encourage your child to sort things, e.g. by colour or size.

Physical Development, Knowledge and understanding, Expressive Arts

– Let your child have every opportunity to run, climb, hop, skip and cycle.

– Play balls games with your child, catching, throwing and rolling.

– Give your child opportunities to listen to, dance to and sing along with music.

– Encourage your child to observe, investigate and talk about the things around them.

– Let your child play with construction materials.

– your child opportunities to use different materials to create pictures and models.

Most importantly – HAVE FUN!

Reading

Children who read every night will make the most progress with their reading. Little and often is key – they are not expected to read the whole book in one go, a few pages is perfectly adequate, depending on the amount of text on each page. Children will bring home a reading book containing non-decodable words each day and every child has access to an online account where you can access e-books containing decodable words linked to their phonics lessons. If you require any guidance, please contact your child’s Form Tutor. We encourage children to enjoy bedtime stories, and to read picture books and any other books that they enjoy at home in addition to their school reading book. We do not send reading books home during the school holidays, but rather encourage children to visit the library and select picture books that interest them, so that they read for enjoyment as well as working their way through our reading scheme.

Phonics Homework

Children have five phonics lessons a week in their classrooms. We send home a yellow folder each week with a list of spellings linked their phonics lesson for the children to complete and learn at home. This is to consolidate the learning that has taken place in the classroom. The children will also learn harder to reading spellings for their year group. Children can also access ‘Spelling Shed’ online to practise their spellings through a variety of games linked to their weekly spellings.

All homework should be completed in pencil, not ink or biro. We encourage children to use the same standards of presentation in homework as they do in class work.

Children in the Prep Department will be given weekly English and Maths homework as well as spellings and times tables to learn. Daily reading at home is strongly encouraged and time should be directed towards developing and extending reading fluency, comprehension and spelling. We really do feel that the children would benefit from reinforcing these key skills and having the time set aside at home to do so.

Pupils in Year 3 have written English and Maths tasks, and these will be given to children each Monday in a folder for English and workbook for maths which should be returned on a Friday.

Pupils in Year 4 – 6 are set English and Maths homework online using Atom Learning and children are provided with their own account which moves through the school with them. Work is set on a Monday and should be completed by Friday.

All pupils are issued with Spelling Shed and Timetables Rockstars accounts, which are online learning platforms designed to support spelling and timetables respectively.

In order to provide the children with enrichment activities, teachers in particular subjects may also suggest optional tasks relating to topics studied. Any work completed at home may be brought into school to be shared with the class and achievements celebrated.

Years 5 and 6 may also be set past papers and arithmetic papers when applicable

There are a number of ways that you assist your child in their learning:

• Check that your child’s reading record is filled in clearly and regularly. Please initial this at least once a week.

• Agree a timeframe for homework and work within it. We recommend each piece of maths and English homework should take between 20 to 30 minutes. If your child has not finished the work in this time, please do not worry.

• Ensure that things are not left until the last minute – especially at weekends.
Please do let the relevant member of staff know if your child is having problems regarding any homework they have been set.

We have a department dedicated to supporting children who have particular learning needs. The Learning Enhancement Department may support children for a short period to close a gap in their learning, or over a longer period if the need arises. Support available includes group support in class, 1:1 intervention, Individual Learning Plans detailing targets for the child and teachers to work on, or recommendation to or liaison with external agencies such as Educational Psychologists and Speech and Language Therapists. Referrals are usually made by the child’s teachers, in consultation with the parents. However, if you feel that your child may benefit from the guidance or expertise of Mrs Bidgood and her team, please do contact your child’s Form Tutor or Mrs Bidgood directly (annette.bidgood@heywoodprep.com).

The Learning Enhancement Department also make provision for those children who excel in particular areas of the curriculum, or indeed across the whole curriculum.

We believe that all children have the potential to improve their level of performance and to become more able, acquiring and developing their skills through hard work. There will be those who are considered ‘exceptionally able’ whose individual needs will require special provision.

‘Talented’ children are those who are able in Art, Drama, Music and Sport; ‘exceptionally talented’ children will also require special provision.

Teachers will monitor the performance and progress of all children using assessments and examinations throughout their time in the School. The School considers that ‘exceptionally able and talented’ pupils are those pupils who achieve, or have the ability to achieve, at a level significantly in advance of the average for their year group.

The school has its own internal procedure for identifying and supporting Gifted, Able and Talented children. If you feel that your son/daughter should be considered for the programme, please contact Mrs Annette Bidgood (For further information, please see our Gifted, Able and Talented Policy on our website.

Throughout the year the children are observed on a daily basis and staff monitor the children’s progress in all areas of learning within the Early Years Curriculum. These observations are recorded using Tapestry. This enables parents to see the learning that has been taken place and the milestones of development are recorded. The observations ensure that we can support and develop your child’s learning, by closely matching activities to your child’s needs.

These ongoing assessments form part of the Early Years profile. Once the children have settled into school they will complete a Baseline Assessment. This will give us a clearer picture of each child’s initial skills, the tests will help indicate a child’s ‘baseline’ abilities in very basic literacy, reasoning and cognition (how a child understands and acts in the world).. Each child’s progress is shared with parents throughout the year at parents’ evenings and in children’s individual reports

In addition to curriculum tests that enable to the teacher to identify gaps in learning, children also sit age standardised tests, which enable us to track their learning as they move through the school to ensure they make good progress. If you have any questions regarding assessment, please contact the Director of Studies.

Staff are always willing to give feedbackabout a pupil’s progress at any point in the year, but there are also set times of the year when parents will receive written or face-to-face communication about their child’s progress:

The school attaches much importance to courtesy, integrity, good manners, good discipline and respect for the needs of others.

House Points are awarded to children for their good work as well as for their behaviour, manners and helpfulness. Children are able to gain green House Point tokens which are placed in the relevant container in the entrance hall. Children may also be chosen to receive a Head’s Award for a particular achievement.

Children in the Pre-Prep also move up the beanstalk in their classroom when they receive praise. For exceptional learning, behaviour or anything else that shines through the children move to a ‘magic cloud’ on the beanstalk, receiving additional house points.

We firmly believe that rewarding positive behaviour is key to encouraging good behaviour in young children.

Occasionally, children will need to know that their behaviour is not what we would expect of them. At Heywood Prep we have a whole-school Behaviour Policy, which is available to view on the school website.

In the Pre-Prep, we make age-appropriate allowances and deal with incidents bearing in mind the needs of the individual, given their young age. In the Pre-Prep, the children move up a class beanstalk to highlight the positive behaviours, and conversely, they move to a ‘thinking cloud’ if they need time to think carefully about something they have done or said. Children may also be given reflection time standing next to a member of staff at playtimes or get sent to a member of the Senior Leadership Team to discuss their actions. Details of these and further sanctions are in the school’s Behaviour Policy which can be found on the policies section of the school website.

In the Prep Department we run a detention system for Years 3-6. Children may be given a ‘short’ or a ‘long’ detention depending on the misdemeanour. Examples of behaviour and associated sanctions can be found in the School’s Behaviour Policy on the School website (despite these examples, it should be noted that the Head reserves the right to give any sanction that they deem appropriate). Any child receiving a detention will complete a piece of reflection work during the detention. Detentions will be supervised by a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

All children and staff belong to one of Heywood Prep’s three houses: Danes (red), Saxons (yellow) and Romans (blue). The house system encourages friendships between year groups, and enables children to foster the values of loyalty and responsibility. There are regular inter-house competitions happen throughout the year. Children are allocated a house upon entry to the Nursery, and siblings are always assigned to the same house.

Each year, the Year 6 House Captains organise a charity event for their house to run assisted by a members of staff in their house.

The school remains open until 6.00pm Monday to Thursday (5.15pm on Friday), other than on the last day of each term.
At 3.30pm, children are either dismissed to go home or may either go to a pre-booked activity club or Cosy or Homework Homework Club.

Children who are still with us at 5.15pm will be given supper. The tea menu is published on the school website.

Activity Clubs

A wide range of Activity Clubs are on offer each term, including sports, arts, music, dance, judo, fencing, gardening, cookery, Lego robotics and more!

Before the end of each term, a letter is emailed to parents outlining the details of clubs running the next term Club booking is completed through the CompleteEd system. Parents are advised that places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and some clubs are very popular and often fill up in a few minutes. A guide for parents on using CompleteEd can be found here.

Parents experiencing problems with CompleteEd should email parenthelp@heywoodprep.com.

All other queries about clubs should be emailed to clubs@heywoodprep.com.

Activity Clubs start at 3.45pm and finish at 4.45pm.

Please note that there are no Activity Clubs during the last week of term. Supervision is available if you are unable to pick your child up at 3.30pm. If you require after school supervision during the last week of term please contact the School Office.

Holiday Club operates every half term and throughout the school holidays, with the exception of Christmas week, Bank Holidays and the staff training days immediately before the start of each term.

The club is run by staff from the school and nursery and provides a wide range of activities run by our own staff and external specialists, including music and dance, sports, cookery and occasional trips out to local landmarks and playgrounds and further afield.

Holiday Club booking is managed through CompleteEd (see ‘Clubs’ section above for help with CompleteEd).

The holiday club day is split into 3 sessions: Sunrise (8am – 9am), Main Session (9am – 4pm) and Sunset (4 – 5pm). There is no sunset session on Friday

Children attending the Holiday Club need to bring a water bottle and appropriate outdoor wear. Lunch and snacks are provided.

Queries about holiday club should be emailed to holiday.club@heywoodprep.com

Friends of Heywood (FOH) is a parent body which aims to promote and build the school community by holding regular events, parent socials and raising funds for extra-curricular activities in support of learning.

FOH is a group of fun-loving parent volunteers. They welcome and value any contribution you can make, however small or intermittent. Please see the FOH pages of the school website for details of how to get involved or contact one of the committee members or class reps.

To contact FOH, please email heywoodfoh@gmail.com

During the Summer Term, we aim to prepare children for the move up into their next class. Transition meetings also take place between teachers, ensuring that the progression from one year group to the next is as smooth as possible for the children.

Shortly after the half term holiday in May, the Head will write to parents with details of Form Tutor allocations for the following academic year. During the final week of the Summer Term, children will have the opportunity to spend an afternoon with their new teacher. On this day, parents are also invited to an informal tea party after school to meet their child’s teacher.

An essential role of the Prep Department is to prepare pupils for the next stage of their education, so that they will progress to senior schools as confident and independent individuals, with a joy of learning. We have an annual Senior Schools Evening in the Summer Term, at which parents have the opportunity to speak to staff from various senior schools in the locality and also learn about how they can help prepare their child for entrance exams. This evening is primarily aimed at Year 4 parents.

Parents of children in Year 5 are invited to meet with the Head and Director of Studies in the Spring Term of Year 5 to discuss their child’s future schooling and parents are encouraged to visit different senior schools during the course of the year. We encourage parents to have settled on a first choice of senior school by the summer half term in Year 5. If you wish to discuss future schooling at an earlier date we would be very happy to do so. We have an excellent relationship with each of the local senior schools and are ideally placed to work with parents to identify the right school for their child, whether in the independent or state sectors.

In the late autumn and January of Year 6, following class-based preparation, pupils take entrance examinations and attend interviews for various independent schools. In recent years, our Year 6 leavers have secured places, including many scholarships, at the following schools:

– Dauntsey’s School King

– Edward’s School

– Kingswood School Marling

– Monkton Combe School

– Pate’s Grammar

– Prior Park College

– The Royal High School, Bath

– St Mary’s, Calne

– Stonar School

– Warminster School

– Westonbirt School.

Heywood Prep does very much like to encourage all children to be successful on the sports field and it is most common that all children will have the opportunity to represent the school in competitive fixtures against other local schools on a weekly basis.

There are opportunities for our more gifted pupils to compete in regional and national competitions and this selection process will obviously cause disappointment to those not selected. We are very careful to plan a pathway where possible leading in to these events to give all the children an opportunity to be selected.

We also utilise the Individualised Learning sessions to create wider training squads for some competitions and also to help nurture those children who perhaps would benefit from some extra coaching.

Children should only bring mobile phones, laptops, tablets and e-Readers into school with the express permission from their teacher. In each case, parents must complete the user-agreement (available from the Head of Digital Strategy). It is understood that their children bring these personal items into school this is done so at their own risk.

In order to safeguard pupils, children up to and including Year 4 must not wear or bring to school smart watches that capture still or moving images, sound, send or receive messages or calls, browse the internet or play games. Children in Years 5 and 6 are permitted to wear a smart watch, but must not have watches capable of capturing still or moving images.

Our oldest pupils will demonstrate the levels of maturity necessary that mean they will not play games or use messaging, notification or call functions whilst on school site, they will simply use the device to tell the time and/or to track fitness goals. Children in Year 5 and 6 must be gradually prepared for their transfer to senior school, when children often have access to a mobile phone that they must use responsibly and in line with school rules in Year 7; we feel that allowing our oldest pupils to wear their smart devices if they wish is a step towards the further freedom and associated responsibility they will experience within the next year or so.

Children in Year 5 and 6 who are found to contravene these rules will have the opportunity removed and all personal belongings are brought to school at their own risk.

Your son or daughter’s Form Tutor has the responsibility for overseeing the academic and pastoral care of your child. It is the Form Tutor to whom you should turn to if you are concerned at any time about your child’s work or social relationships. It is our hope that a constructive relationship will grow between your family and the Form Tutor that will enable everyday problems to be dealt with swiftly and satisfactorily.

The Form Tutor is supported by the Deputy Head and Director of Studies in monitoring academic progress and pastoral matters.

If you would like to discuss another area of school life, please contact the School Secretary who will direct you to the relevant member of staff.

The School Office

The School Secretary will be happy to answer your queries, take messages, or direct you to the member of staff with whom you wish to speak.

The office is open from 8.00am until 6.00pm, during term time, and from 9.00am until 4.00pm during the school holidays.

The main telephone number for the school is: 01249 713 379

You may also wish to contact the school by email: office@heywoodprep.com

Please note that any urgent or time sensitive messages should be communicated to us by telephone.

Contacting Teaching Staff

Due to the nature of their role, it is usually difficult for teaching staff to take telephone calls during the day.

If you need to speak to your child’s Form Tutor, please either catch them at drop-off or pick-up, call the office to make an appointment, or email them. Email addresses are listed under the staff section at the top of the page.

When emailing teaching staff, they will aim to respond within 24 hours. If your message is time sensitive, please call the school office.

Who should I contact?

Form Tutor:

– Any issues relating to homework, curriculum and pastoral issues

– Questions about school trips

– Notification of achievements for assemblies

School Secretary, Mrs Jo Collier or Mrs Charlotte Hughes; office@heywoodprep.com:

– After School Activity / Care, including ad-hoc bookings

– Notification of sickness / unexpected absence from school or lateness

– Questions relating to the school calendar

– Reporting any changes to medical needs

– Holiday Club bookings

Head’s PA, Mrs Niki Wigram; hmpa@heywoodprep.com:

– Appointments with the Head time

– Admissions

– Uniform queries

– Requests for absence during term time

If you are unsure, the school office will direct you to the member of staff who can help you.

Escalating:

If, following your conversation with the Form Tutor you still have concerns, the next step is to contact the Deputy Head for pastoral matters or the Director of Studies for academic matters. If the issue is still not resolved having spoken to the Deputy Head or Director of Studies you should contact the Head. The partnership between us will work best if communication is open and honest.

Contacting the Head:

If you need to discuss a matter with Mr O’Connell, please contact his PA, Mrs Niki Wigram on hmpa@heywoodprep.com to make an appointment.

Making a complaint:

We pride ourselves on strong communication with parents and we hope that you won’t have reason to make a formal complaint. However, our Complaints Policy can be found in the ‘policies’ section of our school website, or a copy requested from the School Office.

After School Club:

Should you need to contact the After School Club, please first try the main school number 01249 713379. General Enquiries can be emailed to clubs@heywoodprep.com

Holiday Club:

Should you need to contact the Holiday Club during the school holidays, please call: 07776 081918 or email holiday.club@heywoodprep.com

As a general rule, uniform should be worn to school three days a week. On the other two days, your child will either have PE or games so should come to school in their sports kit. The Head writes to parents prior to the start of each term detailing the requirements for each class and informing you or which day is which.

All named items are returned to the children. Any unnamed items of lost property will be placed in a box in the cloakroom. Please contact your child’s Form Tutor if they have lost any item.

Due to space limitations, there is no parking available on the school site for staff or parents. Please be considerate to our neighbours and the rest of the school community when parking to drop off and pick up from Heywood. Please do not park on double yellow lines as this blocks the view of children and families when they are crossing the road and has caused friction with the local community.

There is a convenient car park located directly behind the school which offers two hours’ free parking (please display a ticket). The walk to school (via Hobbs Walk) from here takes little over two minutes and requires no road crossings. The car park (highlighted in yellow) is accessed off Newlands Road and the route from the carpark to school is marked below:

School ends at 3.30pm on the final day of the Autumn and Spring Term.

On the last day of the Autumn and Spring Terms, a Prize Giving Assembly is held to which parents of prize winners are invited.

Each summer we hold Parents’ Day to which all parents are invited for speeches and prize giving.

On the last morning of the Summer Term school ends at 12noon.

There is no After School Care on the last day of term.

Copies of our policies and procedures can be found on the school website or requested from the School Office.

The school will occasionally take photographs of pupils for curriculum or marketing purposes, or to record events such as sports matches, plays and performances or school trips.

Photographs are vetted by a member of the leadership team or Head of Marketing before being used on the school’s website or in any of the school’s marketing communications.

Parents are welcome to take photographs of their own children participating in school activities. If parents wish to place photographs of their children on social media websites, they must ensure that the photographs are not going to cause offence or embarrassment to the school, or any other child in the photograph. No child should be named as appearing in a photograph without the consent of that child’s parents.

It may occasionally be necessary to close the school due to snow or other adverse weather. This will always be the last resort and the decision to close will only be taken if the Head believes it is unsafe for the school to remain open.

If the school is to be closed, all parents will be emailed as soon as the decision is taken, and usually before 7.00am.

If it starts to snow heavily during the school day we will endeavour to get the children home as soon as possible and will contact parents using the telephone numbers provided. Parents should please ensure that they keep the school updated of any changes in contact details.

Since a change of law in September 2013 it is no longer possible for the school to authorise parents to take their children out of school for holidays during term time unless the Head deems it an ‘exceptional circumstance’. Requests for time off school should be made in writing to the Head. Further information is available on the Parent Portal on the school website.

Fees are payable in advance on, or before, the first day of each term. Fees should be paid by direct transfer into the School’s bank account, or by cheque. Cash is not accepted for payment of fees. Interest will be charged on overdue balances and the school reserves the right to exclude children if fees are not paid.

Extras such as Activity Clubs, After School Club, Holiday Club and school trips are invoiced at the end of each term.

Childcare Vouchers can be used to pay for Nursery Fees, Activity Clubs, After School Club and Holiday Club, but cannot be used to pay School Fees.

From time to time children are sick (vomit) either at home or at school. Unfortunately, it is not possible to distinguish between the causes, and therefore it is essential that the same rule of exclusion applies in all cases of vomiting or diarrhoea. In the Health Protection Agency document, “Guidelines for the Control of Infection and Communicable Disease in School and Early Years Settings”, the guidance is:

Diarrhoea and Vomiting exclusion.

Diarrhoea and/or vomiting commonly affects children and staff and can be caused by a number of different germs, including viruses, parasites and bacteria. Infections can be easily spread from person to person (by unwashed hands), especially in children. In general, it is recommended that any staff member or child with diarrhoea and/or vomiting symptoms must stay away or be excluded from the school or early years setting until they have been free of symptoms for 48 hours (the ‘48-hour rule’) and feel well. Personal hygiene whilst ill must be very strict.

If your child is sick at school, we will ask you or your emergency contact to take your child home. They should not return for 48 hours. We appreciate that this is inconvenient in many cases, and you may not believe your child is ill, but you will appreciate that we do this in all cases and it should reduce the risk of infection for all children in school. As an example, if your child is sick at lunchtime on a Tuesday, they should not return to school until after lunch on Thursday, provided there have not been any further episodes of vomiting.

Thank you for your understanding with this. Further guidance on infection control may be found on the Health Protection Agency website.

Other exclusion times (this list is not exhaustive).

Illness: Chicken pox

Symptoms: Feeling sick, headache, high temperature, aching, painful muscles, spots in clusters anywhere on the body

Exclusion Time: Children should be kept away from school until all the blisters have formed scabs.

Illness: Scarlet fever

Symptoms: Widespread fine pink rash which feels like sand paper to touch, high temperature, flushed face, red and swollen tongue, sore throat

Exclusion Time: Children should be kept away until they have been on a course of antibiotics for at least 24hrs

Illness: Slapped cheek

Symptoms: Bright red rash on cheeks, sore throat, headache, temperature, itchy skin

Exclusion Time: Children should be kept away while they are showing the red cheeks symptoms

Illness: Conjunctivitis

Symptoms: Sticky eyes in the morning, running eyes during the day

Exclusion Time: Children do not need to be kept away from school but should consult their doctor or pharmacist about cream which can be put on during the day.

Illness: Norovirus Sickness

Symptoms: stomach cramps, diarrhoea

Exclusion Time: Children should be kept away from school for 48hrs after the last episode

Illness: Hand, foot and mouth disease

Symptoms: Fever, poor appetite, runny nose, sore throat, blister-like rash on hands, feet and in the mouth

Exclusion Time: Children should be kept away from school if they have the rash and a fever

Illness: Ringworm

Symptoms: Ring like rash anywhere on the body but feet and groin area are most common

Exclusion Time: Children do not need to be kept away from school but the school should be notified to enable more stringent hygiene measures to be put into place

Illness: Worms

Symptoms: Most common type is threadworm which look like small white pieces of thread in stools. Sometimes people also get itchiness around the bottom and genitals

Exclusion Time: Children do not need to be kept away from school but the school should be notified to enable more stringent hygiene measures to be put into place

Medical Needs: At the time of registering you would have filled out a medical form, containing details of any known medical conditions, allergies, etc. This information is held in the school’s medical register and class teachers and kitchen staff are informed of any specific conditions or requirements.

Please inform the office of any change to an existing medical condition, or any new condition.

If your child is prescribed medication which needs to be administered during the school day, you will need to complete a Medical Consent Form, which can be obtained from the office, or downloaded from our website: www.heywoodprep.com/Useful-Forms

Dietary Requirements & Allergies: We are able to cater for most dietary requirements, and a vegetarian option is always provided. Please inform the office of any change in requirements.

Please note that Heywood Prep is a Nut Free Zone. Please do not bring any products containing nuts or nut products onto the school site.

We encourage children to bring in (named) items relating to the class topic, to share with the class. This may be books, souvenirs, models, etc.. We will endeavour to find an opportunity to share with the class on the same day, but sometimes it may be necessary to wait until the following day.

Children are not to bring in toys to play with except on the final morning of each term, when we have ‘Toy Day’, which will be advertised in the school newsletter.