Parents’ Information
Contents
Welcome to our School!
As parents, you are central to the life of our school. We have an Open Door Policy and are very happy to discuss your ideas, complaints or thanks at any time. We hope we keep you up to date with all aspects of the running of the school and the progress of your children, as well as involving you as much as possible in school life.
If you would like to see the types of things we do at Woolsery Primary School and Sunflowers Preschool, please visit our Blog pages on the menu to the left. We’d love it if you posted a comment or two to tell us what you think!
We also keep parents up to date with day to day things via SMS Service. Please speak to Sue or Tina in the Office and they will add your mobile or landline to our distribution list so you receive texts relevant to your child.
Below, you should find much of the information you need but should you require anything further, please check the Information page and, of course, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Staff
Click HERE for our up to date staff list, with contact details for class- and office-based staff.
Uniform
We believe that uniform makes a clear break between learning time and home time, as well as fostering a community feel for all school members. Our school uniform is as follows:
Red Polo Shirts, embroidered with the school emblem
Navy blue Sweatshirts with logo
Optional navy blue Fleece with logo
Grey or Black skirts, trousers or shorts.
Sensible footwear – no high heels or flip-flops.
Dresses (optional) for the summer. Blue or red are the school colours.
The school is very happy for children to wear non-branded red polo shirts and we do not specify any particular style or brand of trousers, skirts or shorts.
Please use our Online Payment Portal to order any items of branded uniform you may need.
Our Parent-Teacher Association, known as Team Woolley also run an online shop to order previously used items of uniform at reduced prices. Their shop can be found here: https://www.pta-events.co.uk/teamwoolley
Jewellery isn’t practical for school and can be dangerous during playtimes and PE lessons. Only small studs should be worn by children with pierced ears. This greatly reduces the danger of ears being torn or injured during organised games or boisterous play. Children are expected to be able to remove their own ear studs before PE – staff are unable to help with this. It is a good idea to supply your child with a small named bag to put their studs in until they get home when you can help them re-insert them.
Our school has been designated a Forest School for over a decade. All children take part in Forest School learning each term and we ask parents to provide wellington boots for these sessions. The school supplies waterproof coats and trousers for this exciting outdoor learning experience. Forest School aims to develop creativity, leadership skills and team working skills, either as a stand-alone session or linked to the class’ project work.
P.E. Clothing
PE kit must be in school at all times and should comprise:
A change of t-shirt, preferably red, (a school uniform- style polo shirt is acceptable provided it is different from the one being worn in class time)
Shorts, preferably blue,
A change of socks
Trainers for outdoor PE.
In colder weather children may, of course, wear jogging bottoms and sweatshirts for outdoor PE.
Gymnastics and dance lessons are done in the hall and children will have bare feet for these activities. Jogging bottoms are not suitable for gymnastics lessons.
Labelling Clothes
Please mark all your child’s clothes. It is much easier to match lost clothes to anxious owners! Order forms for iron-on and stick-on labels are available from many online providers and we strongly encourage the use of these because it’s much clearer than handwritten names or initials which become faded after a few washes.
Philosophy for Children (P4C) and Oracy
Our school has been committed to the internationally recognised SAPERE Philosophy For Children (P4C) approach in all classes for several years. We are also part of an Oracy Development Project with Dartmoor Teaching School and Plymouth Teaching School. the Oracy programme draws heavily on the Voice 21 project which continues to successfully attainment and dialogic learning in schools in London. The two strands combine within our school ethos to develop our children as confident speakers, able to articulate and express their ideas and opinions. Each class is developing dialogic and debating skills, and a deeper understanding of democracy, through structured P4C sessions each week and Oracy is embedded in all aspects of learning.
The structure of P4C and Oracy allows children to develop skills in talking effectively, listening to each other actively, analysing people’s ideas, reflection on those ideas and acceptance of other people’s opinions which may be different from their own – all essential skills for later life!
Term Dates 2021-2022
Autumn Term 2021 Term Begins: 7th September Half Term: 25th – 29th October Last Day of Term: 17th December Training Days: 6th September |
Spring Term 2022 Term Begins: 4th January Half Term: 21st – 25th February Last Day of Term: 8th April |
Summer Term 2022 Term Begins: 25th April Half Term: 30th May – 10th June (2wks) Last Day of Term: 27th July Training Days: 6-8th June, 28th July |
Early May Bank Holiday is on Monday 2nd May.
Training Days are set aside by the Governing Body for staff training purposes. There are 5 such statutory days in any school year. We use these dates for sharing assessment data and evidence (moderation), looking at new ways of delivering lessons, deepening subject knowledge (CPD) and further developing our whole-school ethos. One of the five days each year are devoted to Annual Report Writing and quality assurance of the comments written in the Annual Report.
Please remember that no term time holidays can now be authorised and families taking holidays in term time will be subject to fixed penalty fines and, if necessary, further legal action. See HERE for more details.
Term Dates in calendar format:
Keeping My Child Safe
We have lots of information to help you keep your children safe, both out in the “real” world, and in their virtual online world.
You are welcome to speak to any member of staff about anything that is worrying you, or take a look at the online resources and advice which we publish HERE.
How Do I Enrol My Child?
Admissions
Woolsery Primary School is a very busy school and we are very proud that many of our year groups are presently full or nearly full. As a Foundation School, the Governing Body of the School sets our Admissions Policy. However, the Governors have elected that this should be in line with the Devon Local Authority Admissions Policy. Since September 1st, 2011 (When neighbouring Clovelly Primary closed), the school’s designated area includes the villages of Woolsery, Clovelly, Higher Clovelly, Bucks Cross, and Bucks Mills, together with outlying hamlets as far south as Ashmansworthy. However, we are able to offer places to families who live outside this geographical area.
At present, the County Council have set a Published Admissions Number (PAN) of 20 children per year group for our school. We request that Devon handle our in-year admissions, so if you are looking for a place, you’re welcome to contact us and discuss your needs but you will need to liaise with Devon Admissions as well. We are still bound by the Devon School’s Admissions Code so where year groups are already full, the Governing Body must apply strict criteria before offering places. It is very helpful if, when you contact the school about places, you know which current year group your child will be placed in.
If you live within the Designated Area (“catchment area”) for Woolsery, the admissions policy for oversubscription will still be applied. If you wish to see our Designated Area, please clickHERE.
If you are considering bringing your child to Woolsery Primary School from another local school, we will usually contact your child’s present school before an offer of a place is made.
How Admissions Work
Children are admitted into the main school between the ages of 4 and 11 (Admissions into preschool are not bound by this process). There are two types of school admission: “Normal Round”, which is for September Admissions and “In-Year” for any admissions during the school year.
The school operates a single offer point, with children usually beginning their Reception year in the September of the school year (1st Sept – 31st Aug) in which they are five. This is line with Devon County Policy which also allows for deferred and delayed entry.
If you are thinking of sending your child to our school, we strongly encourage a visit: You and your child are very welcome to come in to meet the staff, look around and get a feel for our ethos. Please contact the Office for a mutually convenient time.
If you decide to apply for a place, it’s work checking directly with us first that we have space in the relevant year group for your child (although you may be able to apply for over-subscription criteria in line with our Policy). Once you know whether a place is possible or not, you can contact Devon Admissions and formally apply for a place. They will then contact us for a formal decision on a place offer. Devon will then get back to you to advise you of a start date for your child.
If your child lives within our Designated Area but more than 2 miles outside of the village of Woolsery, you may qualify for transport to school or payment towards your travel costs if Devon are unable to include you on their minibus or taxi routes. If you think this applies to you, we can help put you in touch with officers at Devon School Transport.
Sunflowers Preschool is an integral part of the School. Sunflowers offers children up to five morning sessions and five afternoon sessions weekly for two year olds until they reach school age. The school’s Foundation Stage, which incorporates both Preschool and our Reception class, is very well integrated and your child will be very well supported as they move from preschool into the main school. They will be very familiar with all Foundation Stage staff, routines and learning styles deployed across both settings.
We encourage any new children joining us to spend at least half a day with us, prior to entry, as this means they are familiar with the school, and this helps to ensure a smooth transition when changing from another school.
School Lunches
Dave Ward, our chef, prepares our meals every day in our kitchen using local produce wherever he can. Lunch can be ordered via our online ScoPay portal.
Our current menu can be downloaded as a PDF here: Summer Term 2022 VSP
Our current menu allergens list can be downloaded HERE