The School Day

Attendance

We have a ‘soft start’ to the day and children can enter school between 8.45 and 8.55am via the door off the rear playground. Our morning session is 8.55am – 12noon with a ten-minute break. Children may bring snacks, though these should be either fruit or vegetables.
The afternoon session runs from 1.10pm until 3.30pm without a break.
Please contact school before 9am to let us know if your child will be absent that day: 01332 512373 or officemanager@ravensdalej.derby.sch.uk. Our school attendance lead will be in touch if you have not let us know or if we have any concerns about your child’s attendance. They also carefully monitor late arrivals. If your child is late coming into school, please accompany them to the school office. If you do not inform us about absences, we have to record them as unauthorised.
Under government regulations, holidays during school time are not permitted and the Local Authority may prosecute parents who take their children out of school when this is not authorised. Occasionally, in exceptional circumstances, absence during term time may be permitted. A form requesting ‘leave of absence’ must be completed for all such absences from school. We would encourage parents to ask for a meeting with the head teacher before bookings are made. Absence at the beginning of a new term or during SATs week in Y6 will not be authorised under any circumstances.
If your child is sick in the night or unwell in the morning, please keep him/her at home for 48 hours after the last bout of sickness.
Should a child need to leave school during the day for any purpose, please let us know in advance with the reason. Where possible, please arrange appointments outside of the school day.

Please inform us if:
• there is a change in your child’s health or medication is being taken (a form may need to be completed)
• there is anyone who should not be allowed to collect your child from school
• there is any unusual occurrence at home which may upset or worry your child.
Unless your child is very unwell, please dose them up and send them into school! A good attendance is vital for a good education; we monitor this very carefully and aim to have at least 97% attendance as a school over the year.

Uniform

It is the expectation of Governors and staff that pupils wear a uniform to school. Uniform can be purchased at Morley’s school wear, which is on Nottingham road in Chaddesden (01332 281311) or though Uniform Direct ® - School Uniform Suppliers - Online & Wholesale, which is on Babington Lane in Derby. All items of school uniform can be bought on the high street as it is not necessary to have the school logo. Governors do not expect school uniform to cost any more than would be spent on any other everyday clothing. Please ensure that all uniform and personal property, such as lunch boxes is named. On PE days, children should wear PE kit to school.
For any other information about our uniform, please click the image or here.

School Dinners

We run our own kitchen in school and have a delicious 3-week menu with a choice of a meat, fish and vegetarian option on a daily basis. The menus are on our website here. Most items are cooked fresh on site (the quiche is a favourite of the staff) and there is a salad bar from which the children can help themselves. The children use plates (not flight trays) and they eat the main course before collecting their dessert. For dessert, there is always a choice of yogurt, fruit, or a pudding. Alongside the cake or pudding, the children can take a small piece of fruit such as slice of watermelon or half a banana. Drinks are available on the tables for children to help themselves.
Children order their choice of dinner that day on a tablet in the classroom and are given a coloured band just before lunch to hand into the kitchen staff to indicate their choice of lunch.
Payment for dinners may be made online: login details to Eduspot (School Money) will be provided once your child is registered with us. We encourage all parents to pay in this way. Alternatively, money can be sent to school on Monday mornings whether a child is staying for the whole week or for only part of the week. Please ensure you send dinner money in a named envelope.
Children of parents who receive certain benefits are entitled to free school meals. You can get the necessary application form from school and you should return it to Children and Young People’s Services. Children having free school meals are not treated any differently from those who are paying for their dinner and this information is kept confidential to school staff.
We make provision for children who wish to bring a packed lunch to eat at lunchtime. It is the responsibility of the parents to ensure that food and drink are brought in suitable containers marked with the owner's name. Please do not send fizzy drinks or sweets at lunchtime and ensure that there is a healthy balance of food to enable the children to be wide awake for learning in the afternoon. Children eating lunch at school, whether a school dinner or packed lunches are not allowed to leave the premises during lunchtime. Pupils may choose to have a combination of packed lunches and dinners over the week and the pattern does not need to stay the same each week.
Children can to choose who they sit with at lunchtime and those on sandwiches and dinners can sit together if they are in the hall at the same time.

Behaviour and Well Being

Promoting Good Behaviour (further details are in our Behaviour Policy) The ethos of the school forms the basis of our approach to discipline. Good behaviour is expected from all children to enable pupils to learn and teachers to teach in an environment which is relaxed and free from unnecessary interruptions. All members of our school community are expected to be considerate, thoughtful and courteous to other children and adults. Our aim is to provide an atmosphere of mutual respect where there is a strong and consistent expectation of good behaviour. A good work habit is encouraged within the school’s Behaviour Policy, incorporating clear rewards and sanctions. However, we are aware that pupils are at different levels in their personal development so will respond to school life in different ways. Some children may have challenges in this area and they will be supported through the development of an individual behaviour plan. This will aim to put strategies in place to enable the child to succeed with their current abilities, as well as supporting their development in this area.
All behaviour incidents are recorded and monitored. We do not accept any form of bullying in school and suspected incidents of this type of behaviour are recorded on our safeguarding system. Pupils involved are given specific support. Physical and verbal attacks, including racist comments, are treated seriously and dealt with as soon as we are able. Children are encouraged to talk to an adult in school but if your child reports any incidents to you, please speak to the class teacher or our pastoral team. We can only deal with these incidents if we know about them.
For more information, click here to view a parent meeting about this.

Pastoral Care

We pride ourselves in providing a high level of pastoral support for any pupils or families who need our help.
Both members of staff are very to happy suppport you with any concerns that you may have regarding the emotional well-being of your child and a face to face or telephone appointment can usually be arranged the same day. We are also here to help families, so if you have any concerns about issues such as domestic violence or alcohol abuse, we can also help you to access the support you need. All information is treated with the utmost confidence.

Extra-Curricular Clubs

Every term we offer a range of after school or lunchtime clubs that children may choose to join. In the past these have included athletics, choir, recorders, tag rugby, football, dance, and netball. We also have private or group instrument lessons. Some of these clubs are run by outside providers. There may be a small charge.

Homework

To support their learning, we ask that all parents (even Yr6!) read with their child five times a week and help them learn spellings and times tables. A variety of other homework will also be sent.

Visits and Visitors

To enrich our curriculum and provide the children with a wide range of experiences, we aim to offer a visit out of school or visitor into school each half term for all year groups. Our aim is to only charge for three of these: one at the cost of a bus fare, one £5 - £10 and another £10 – £30. The cost for families who are in receipt of Free School Meals is subsidised by 50%. This is funded by school and not other families. We offer a residential visit to every year group, which are charged at different rates. Year 3 have an overnight camp on the school field in the summer term. Year 4 have one night away in the Autumn term. Year 5 have a two-night residential at Manor Adventure in Shropshire and Year 6 are offered a 3 or 4-night residential visit.

Wrap Around Care

We offer a breakfast club from 7.45am and an after-school club which runs until 6pm. Please see our website here for further details and charges, or contact the school office for details at officemanager@ravensdalej.derby.sch.uk


You will find a wide variety of useful information on our website and you can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Parents are regularly updated by newsletters which are emailed out to you and these, as well as copies of all paper letters can be found on the website.
Parents can record comments in the home-school diary but need to be aware that these may not be looked at every day and so email may be the best form of communication.
We hold parent partnership mornings each half term on one day, 9 – 10am. At these events, parents are invited to come into the school hall for some light refreshments whilst we give a short presentation on an area of the curriculum. You then have the opportunity to work alongside your child in their classroom for about 30 minutes on learning related to the presentation.
Parent Consultation Meetings take place in October and February. At the October meeting we ask you to complete the online questionnaire ‘Parent View’ which is organised by the DFE.

For any other information about our school please download our latest prospectus.

There are many teams of people who work at Ravensdale carrying out a range of roles including teaching, administration and pastoral care. Although it is not possible to list all staff, here are some of us.