School Hours

All state-funded, mainstream schools are expected to provide a compulsory school week of at least 32.5 hours.

The 32.5 hours includes breaks and lunch times as well as teaching time and any extra-curricular activities that all pupils are expected to attend. It does not include optional before or after school provision (i.e. our Cool B4School Breakfast Club).

With this in mind, our school day is as follows:.

Our school day starts for pupils at 8.50am – this means that the teaching day starts at 8.50am and all pupils are expected to be in class and ready for lessons to begin.

To enable pupils to be in class for 8.50am, the school gates open at 8.40am and classroom doors open at 8.45am. This is the same for all pupils from EYFS to Year 6.

At the end of the school day ALL Year Groups (EYFS-Y6) finish at 3.20pm with gates opening for parents/carers at 3.15pm.

8.50am – 3.20pm means 6.5 hours per day in school

Travelling to School

The school car park is for use of staff only. There is some very limited on-road parking on the roads surrounding the school and we always ask our parents to be courteous to our school neighbours. The best way to arrive safely, and promptly, at school is to set off from home in good time and park ‘away from the school’ on one of the neighbouring roads, and then walk along the Greenbelt, or along one of the alley ways/ ‘jitties’ that lead to school.

Entry is via either the Main Entrance or the Greenbelt Gate; there are not other designated entrances or exits on to/from the site.

Most children live close enough to walk or cycle to school. Please consider this option. It’s often faster than driving in the rush-hour and looking for a safe and legal place to park. Walking is good exercise for children… and for you! Additional benefits include significantly better air quality outside cars (especially if you use quieter back streets) and children arrive better prepared to settle in class and learn after an active, stimulating and energetic journey to school.

If you really must drive, allow time to park safely and considerately, and do not block entrances, driveways, or junctions – you may have to park some distance away from the school and walk the rest. Morning arrival and afternoon departure of pupils inevitably results in traffic jams near school so allow plenty of time for your journey. Try walking or cycling one day, it may be faster!

If you can walk, hold your child’s hand, especially when crossing roads and teach them correct road safety skills for life. You can play your part in reinforcing the road safety education which your child receives at school.

Arriving at School

The School Gates open at 8.40am. Children should wait by one of the entrances on to the site in readiness! (Main Gate or Greenbelt Gate). Classroom doors also open at 8.45am and staff will be on duty at this time, to ‘meet and greet’. It is the responsibility of parents to supervise their children before 8.45am.

We encourage parents, from Year 2 onwards, to allow their child/ren to enter through the school gates by themselves (some Year 1 children are happy to do so too), carrying their own bookbag, water bottle etc; this encourages independence.

We ask parents/carers to avoid having conversations with staff before the start of the day, unless sharing essential information regarding their child’s welfare or safety, so that the teaching day can start promptly and directly. If it is necessary to speak to the teacher about your child’s learning and classroom experience, please email, or phone, in to the school office and the identified staff member WILL contact you back on that day.

School officially starts at 8.50am and after this time gates onto the playgrounds will be locked. Any child arriving after 8.50am should enter school through the Main Reception and sign in at the School Office.

Please note that during the school day access to school is limited to the main entrance ONLY, please follow the signage provided.

Lunches

All pupils in Foundation Stage (EYFS) and KS1 are provided with a hot school meal on a daily basis, paid for by the government. Meals for pupils in KS2 cost £2.30. Meals are freshly cooked on the premises by our Cook Supervisor, Mrs Tuckwood, and our Catering Team, and provide excellent value.

Our preferred method of payment is through ParentPay, but cash (or a cheque made payable to ‘Mountfields Lodge School’) is still acceptable.

You may also send your child with a packed lunch.

We actively encourage “healthy eating”. For this reason we ask that snacks and packed lunches are as healthy as possible and contain nut free products (we have a number of pupils with nut allergies).

Children are encouraged to bring a bottle of water into school each day (in a named bottle please). This can be kept in the class so that children have access to water throughout the day. We call this our ‘Drink to Think’ initiative. The bottles should be taken home each evening, washed out (we prefer pupils not to have single-use plastic bottles for reasons of eco-awareness and sustainability), re-filled and returned on a daily basis.

Leaving School at the End of Each Day

At the end of the day children collect their belongings from the cloakrooms and meet their carers at an outside area close to the classroom. Foundation Stage and KS1 pupils are only allowed to leave their classrooms if their parent/carer is present; they are personally ‘handed over’ to them. If staff do not know the adult collecting the pupil they will not hand them over.

Please tell us if there are any changes as to who will meet your child.

In KS2 pupils are reminded that they must come back into school immediately if they are not met.

We encourage children throughout school to learn to take responsibility for their own belongings. It is important also that, during their primary years, children can learn to make safe decisions as they gradually gain independence. We value your support in helping them to do this.

Bad Weather

Very occasionally, if we have a period of very severe weather and feel that it would be unsafe for the children to be in school, we will close the school. Notice of closure would be sent to all parents via Parent Mail. A ‘tickertape’ message would also be uploaded on to the Home Page of the School Website.

The most frequent cause of closure is heavy snowfall, and this may happen overnight; this sometimes leaves a very short period of notice of closure for parents for which we apologise in advance.