FAQs
Where do I drop off / pick up my child?
If your child is in Nursery, you drop off and pick up your child from the Nursery entrance (in the rear car park) at 9.15am. Someone will be there to meet you when sessions begin and end.
If your child is in St George, your child can be dropped off by St George entrance (in the rear car park) between 8.45am and 8.55am. Doors will open at 8.45am, and your child is able to come into school from this time. A member of staff will be there to supervise your child and be a point of contact should you need to talk to us.
If your child is in St. Christopher, St. David, St Patrick, St Andrew, St Mary or St John, your child will need enter through the Large Playground (near the driveway) between 8.45am and 8.55am. Doors will open at 8.45am, and your child is able to come into school from this time. All children are expected to be in school by 8.55am. A member of staff will be there to supervise your child and be a point of contact should you need to talk to us. Please remember that supervision of your child before they enter school is your responsibility. No children should be left unsupervised on the playground before doors are open.
At hometime, Nursery can be collected from their classroom door at 3.15pm. St George can be collected from their classroom doors into the rear car park at 3.25pm. Parents are asked to wait on the rear car park away from the entrances to make dismissing the children easier.
St Christopher, St David and St Patrick will be released from the large playground at 3.25pm. Parents are asked to wait at the back of the playground, nearest to the drive, and not stand near the doors of the exit slope. St Andrew, St Mary and St John will then be dismissed at 3.30pm
If you are late to school, please take your children to the main office. If you wish to pick your child up early for an appointment, please go to the main office. Other entrances will be locked.
How do I pay dinner money and for other items?
Our school dinners are now provided by Edwards and Ward Catering. School dinners need to be paid for in advance.
We are a cashless school, and all dinners and other items must be paid for using Arbor in advance.
Other money, such as trip money etc must be paid for in the same way. When your child joins our school, you will receive more information about using Arbor during the first week of term.
Kids Club use an online system called Enrolmy - contact them for more information or look on the Kids Club page on this website.
What do I do if I have a concern about my child?
Come and talk to us, the sooner the better. We have an open door policy at All Saints’. We will always try to make someone available to talk to you. Your child’s teacher will be available at the end of the day. Please ring or email, or come and talk to us.
If you would like to talk to your child’s class teacher, please wait until the rest of the class have been dismissed It will be easier for your child’s teacher to talk at that time.
If you have a general query or concern, call into the school office and we will try to help. Mrs Allbutt will always be willing to have a chat if she is free!
What do I do if I want a holiday in term time?
We do try to discourage time off during term time. Having time off, for whatever reason, does negatively impact on your child’s learning and progress. Having a week or two weeks off for a holiday means that your child will miss 25 or 50 hours of learning. It is very difficult for them to simply ‘catch up’.
If it is genuinely not possible for holidays to be booked in holiday time, parents need to request time off. The national guidelines on authorising absence in term time are that holidays will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. Have a look at our attendance guidelines for more information.
Parents MUST complete a request for absence before you go on holiday, as holidays cannot be authorised retrospectively. A request form can be obtained from the school office. Alternatively you can download a form from our ‘Useful Documents’ page.
How do I keep up to date with what is happening in school?
We try our very best to keep you up to date with what is going on in school. We are trying to be a paperless school.
Letters go home by ClassDojo or email. We use the email that is allocated to your Arbor account. Please keep this email up to date.
Occasional letters are sent home in your child’s school bag if the are personalised or require a response.
Messages to classes and to parents will be sent out through the ClassDojo app. It is really important that you download the app, or go to classdojo.com regularly, as we use this system as our main quick communication system. Check you have notifications switched on for ClassDojo – that way you will be notified if we send a message and won’t miss anything.
We rarely use texts, unless email or ClassDojo is not a suitable option. Please remember to give us your up to date mobile numbers in order to receive texts.
Newsletters are sent home electronically. A link is sent by Class Dojo.
Our school website also provides more general information for you as a parent.
We also have a facebook page – the link is at the bottom of our home page.
Can children drink in lessons?
Set of blank bicycle plastic bottles for water. water bottle water bottle water bottle
Yes, of course. We ask that you send your child in with a named water bottle. This will be kept in school, and will allow your child to have a drink during they day whenever they want to. It will be sent home regularly to be washed. Please send your child with a water bottle, especially when the weather is hot.
Can my child have food at break time?
We are a healthy school. We offer fruit and milk at break times if your child is in Nursery or Reception.
If your child is in Key Stage 1, fruit is also available free if your child wishes to have it.
You may also send your child with a healthy drink and snack. Please do not sent chocolate, sweets, crisps or fizzy drinks. Cereal bars are fine as long as they do not contain nuts.
Please remember that it is a long time until lunchtime. Sending in a snack for your child will really help them to concentrate in lessons.
Can I come and help in school?
Yes – we would appreciate the help. If you are interested in hearing readers or helping in another way around school, please call into the office. The office staff will tell you more. All staff and volunteers in school are vetted to make sure that they are suitable to work with children.
Where do I park?
If you bring your child by car, please DO NOT park on the school grounds. Even if your child goes to Kids Club, we ask that you park on the road outside the school. This is for the safety of all the children, as the driveway is also the main walkway in and out of school.
Parents are encouraged to park on Birchall Playing Fields Car Park. We have an agreement with the local council to use this car park as a ‘Park and Stride’ location, which will allow you to park safely and still enable your children to walk a little each day. Using this car park will also ease congestion outside the school and reduce pollution.
We would like to remind you that cars should not be parked on the zig zags or the yellow lines outside school. It is dangerous for the children and the passing traffic, and it is also against the law.
We also try our best to maintain good relationships with our neighbours. If you are parking on the estate behind school, please part courteously and do not block driveways or in unsafe places.