Before Easter an intruder was able to enter our premises, steal a handbag and then a car from our car park. This is of course a major concern for us as an unidentified and uninvited person was in our school for the wrong reasons. As you would expect, we have reacted to this by reviewing thoroughly our procedures and making changes to ensure we are doing everything possible to guarantee your child’s safety. We have identified that at the start of the school day the site has not been adequately secure.
With immediate effect, we are changing the system of dropping children off at school. This is for reasons of child protection and the security of the school building. We believe this new system will increase the security of our site and will also provide an additional contact point between parents/carers and your child’s teacher.
From now on, we would like to ask that children enter the school building at the beginning of the day through their own class’ outside door. Willow class will enter through Olive class’ door, and Hazel will enter through the back door by the church. A teacher or TA will be on the door to supervise the entry and will be available to take short messages or information that may help us to be of more support to your children.
KS2 doors will be open and supervised by staff members from 8.35am until 8.45am and Saplings and KS1 doors will be open and supervised from 8.45am until 8.55am. Children arriving after that time will be asked to go through the reception to sign in. As before, parents/carers of children in KS2 are asked to leave their child to enter and organise themselves (this helps children to continue to develop independence), however parents/carers of Saplings and KS1 children are welcome to enter the classroom to help them get organised for the start of their learning. Please ensure that if you enter the building for this purpose, you leave from the same door through which you entered.
The Car Park gates will be locked at 9am promptly, and will open again from 2.50pm until 3.20pm. Mrs Harding and Mrs Brock will continue to be available in reception for any additional enquiries.
Procedures for collecting children from school will remain unchanged.
We will review the success of this new system after a couple of weeks. Although we appreciate that there may be some additional inconvenience for some parents, our principal responsibility is to the safety of your children in our care and this is at the heart of all we do. We thank you for your cooperation while the new system settles into a routine.
I would just like to say it’s fabulous to have all this information available via a mobile friendly website. Not only is it extremely useful but it shows that the school is keeping updated with technology and that can only be a positive thing for the pupils.