Home Kingswood 2021 Our School Curriculum Year Groups and Gallery Parent Area The Lodge Calendar Newsletters Contact Us Google Classroom support The School Day Uniform School Dinners Tapestry Family Support Team Parent Mail & + Pay PTFA Ernie - school dog PARENT AREA GOOGLE CLASSROOM How to access on laptop or computer How to access on an iPhone or iPad How to access Google Meet on a laptop or computer How to access Google Meet on an iPhone or iPad Welcome to Google Classroom - how to complete work. THE SCHOOL DAY The Morning Routine In the morning the children can enter their classrooms from 8:35am. A member of staff will be at each entrance to welcome them. This allows the children time to come into the classroom, get organised and settled before the start of the school day. It also provides parents with the opportunity to pass on any messages to staff if required. The school day starts at 8:55am. Arriving Late All children who arrive late to school must report to the school office. Infant children will then be escorted to their classroom by a member of staff. The Afternoon Routine There are two dismissal slots. For Reception &Key Stage children (Year 1 and 2) ONLY and Key Stage 2 children (Years 2, 4, 5, 6) ONLY the dismissal slot is 3.05pm. If you have children in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, the dismissal slot is 3:20pm. All the children will be brought out and dismissed by a staff member. Please note all infant children must be collected by an adult familiar to the child. Once finished, staff (unless running a club) are happy to talk to parents briefly or will arrange a time to meet. Infant children accessing school transportation or The Lodge are escorted by a staff member, KS2 children are able to go independently to the waiting areas. Children who have not been collected are taken to the school office. If we are unable to determine collection arrangements the children will be placed in the after school club. Please note this is a chargeable resource. Lunchtime Routines At lunchtime, the children are able to have a school meal or bring their own packed lunch. This is entirely at parents’ discretion but please be aware as of September 2014 all infant children will be entitled to a free school dinner. Mid-Morning Snacks Our general aim is to promote healthy lifestyles. Fruit/raw vegetables are allowed as a mid-morning snack and are supplied by the government free of charge for every infant child. KS2 children are encouraged to bring a similar type of snack from home. If you do not wish your Infant child to receive free fruit please indicate on your induction form clearly or in writing. Please also highlight any allergies so that we ensure your child is not offered an item of fruit inappropriately. Drinking Water Throughout the year, children are allowed to bring water to school in a small, transparent, named bottle that can be drunk during the course of the day. Children will be able to drink water from the many water fountains in place around the site at appropriate times. School Milk Up to their fifth birthday all Reception children will receive a free carton of milk each day. The ‘Cool Milk’ scheme allows the parents of all other KS1 & KS2 pupils to have the option of purchasing a carton of milk for their child as a mid-morning drink. Please contact the office for more information. ORDERING UNIFORM UNIFORM POLICY SCHOOL DINNERS At lunchtime, the children are able to have a school meal or bring their own packed lunch. This is entirely at parents’ discretion but please be aware as of September 2014 all Infant children will be entitled to a free school dinner. Our Catering Manager and her team provide an appetising and nourishing school lunch with a range of different options each day. Our school council helps the catering staff evaluate menu choices and we are always trying to source our foodstuff locally where possible. The current menu for the school kitchen (3 week menu rotation) shows the daily options available. During morning registration the children are asked for their meal choice and provided with a coloured band. The meals are then cooked to order on site. During the summer term well-balanced, nourishing, meat and vegetarian picnic-style lunches are available as an additional alternative to the plated lunches and salads. The Catering Manager is always happy to discuss food arrangements with parents, especially if any child has a serious food allergy/specific need. The school operates a Breakfast Club and after school club (The Lodge) from 7.30-8.45 a.m. and from 3.20-5.30 or 6 p.m. Autumn 2021 Menu Week one menu: Week one allergens: Week three menu: Week three allergens: Week two menu: Week two allergens: Known allergens for the menu; please note they are subject to change. The allergens are provided to guide you/your child with meal selection when dealing with intolerances. If your child has any allergy, please advise us. Children with notified allergies will be offered alternatives where necessary. Daily, pupils are offered three hot meal options. For all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 lunches remain free. If your child is in KS2 the cost is still only £2.20 per day. The three (winter) / five (summer) colour options are:- Red: Hot meat option Grey: Hot vegetarian option Blue: Jacket potato option Green: Cheese baguette picnic (Summer only) Yellow: Ham or tuna baguette picnic (Summer only) Each morning the children need to select their colour. It would be very helpful if your child knows which option they would like before they come to school. Once your child has chosen their meal for the day they will not be able to change their mind. TAPESTRY Click here to log into your Tapestry Account. At Great Totham we are very pleased to be able to create individual ‘learning journeys’ for your Reception child through a piece of educational software called ‘Tapestry’. By logging on with a secure username and password you will be able to view all of your children’s observations, photographs and even videos from their time in Reception. This is unique to children in Reception due to the specific nature of the curriculum in this phase of education. In addition to viewing our contributions, we encourage you to add to it by uploading photos and comments about your child and their achievements at home. FAMILY SUPPORT TEAM At Great Totham Primary School we understand how children can be affected by life's challenges and we strive to support our children, and their families, through these difficult times, giving them skills and advice that lasts much longer than the time they are with us. Who are the Family Support Team? Amanda Wilson: Family Support Worker Lisa Cleghorn: Deputy Head Teacher Liz Lawrence: SENCo What does the Family Support Team do? THAT'S A HARD QUESTION - ANYTHING THAT COMES OUR WAY! We don't profess to be magicians and we are not counsellors or therapists; we cannot solve everyone's problems but we can listen, talk things through with you and offer advice or signpost you to other services who can help. As a team we are slowly but surely up skilling ourselves to be able to support a wider range of children and families using skills and techniques such as promoting positive mental well-being, using therapeutic art and stories, bereavement support activities and using talk time. As a general overview, the Family Support Team can support you, your child and your family during bereavement, illness, times of emotional unrest, divorce, toileting issues, during transition to another school or at times when something isn't right and you don't know what it is. We can also help you to become more active in your child's learning and support you to improve your child's attendance. If you or your child need support and you think we can help, please contact us. If there's something you're struggling with but don't think we can help, contact us - we might just surprise you. Sometimes just talking things through, with someone you can trust, can be the most helpful experience in dealing with life's challenges. Contact us to see what we can do for you: 01621 891091 and ask to speak to a member of the Family Support Team or email us Amanda Wilson: Family Support Worker a.wilson@greattotham.essex.sch.uk Lisa Cleghorn: Deputy Head Teacher deputy@greattotham.essex.sch.uk Liz Lawrence: SENCo mrs.lawrence@greattotham.essex.sch.uk PARENT MAIL & + PAY Payment for School Meals Payment should be made by +Pay on ParentMail2. If in exceptional circumstances you need to pay by cheque, these should be made payable to ‘Great Totham Primary School’ and the name(s) of the child(ren) for whom the payment is made, written on the reverse side. The cost of a school meal is £2.20 per day. Payment for meals should be made in advance, weekly or half termly. Many parents find it convenient to place some money on credit for their child’s dinners and then top this up as required. Please sign up for ParentMail +Pay, all school communication and transactions go through this system. ParentMail now has a mobile App you can download FREE. The App has been developed to make it easy for parents to see and respond to school requests. It will help you to keep on top of all your children’s activities, in and out of school, in the most accessible and convenient way. With the App you can: Receive messages from the school and any other organisation that uses ParentMail Pay for items Top-up dinner money Authorise trips Keep up-to-date with the school calendar View and organise calendars for each of your children and much more, all from your mobile phone. PTFA The Great Totham Primary School PTFA is a charitable organisation. Its purpose is to work alongside the teaching staff to enhance the education of each and every child at the school. The PTFA is dependent upon the support of the Parent Body for giving time and donations to make events a success. "One of the things I value most highly about our PTFA is the fantastic community spirit it generates." Miss L Cleghorn, Deputy Head Teacher WHY DO WE NEED A PTFA? We work with the school and the Parent Body to arrange events through which we build a greater sense of community and raise money to be able to enrich the learning opportunities for the children. In recent years the PTFA has made a significant contribution to the school being able to fund site improvements and opportunities that all children across the school have benefited from. We depend on you to help us to do this through support through a range of events such as Summer Fete Christmas Market Golf Day Sponsored Walk Bouncy Bonanza School lottery (ask the office for more details) Film Nights for the children Quiz and comedy nights Your support can be a personal or corporate donation, giving up your time to help on a stall or at an event or coming along to an event and having fun. The organisation of events is a key aspect of how the PTFA functions and without volunteers this could not happen. Let us know how you would like to be involved as Great Totham Primary School needs you! Why not come along to a PTFA meeting or contact us via the school office? Ernie - the school dog My name is Ernie, and I am Great Totham’s visiting school dog. I am a Sprocker Spaniel. I have one blue and one brown eye. My Mum, called Treacle, is a black cocker spaniel and my Dad, called Dash, is a white and black springer spaniel. I was born on 10th May 2020 and I had 8 brothers and sisters. I love to explore my surroundings and find out all about what everything smells like. That’s my job as a spaniel – to sniff everything! I also like to get very muddy when out on walks, although always forget that it means I’ll have to have a shower when I get home – I’m less keen on that bit! One of my other jobs is being a kind and caring friend to children and adults. I LOVE a belly tickle. If I really like you, I might even bring you one of my toys to play with! To keep us all safe, there are a few little rules for the children while I'm in school; I have a special bed in Mrs Lawrence’s office (she’s my Mum now); this is my special place to go if I need some time out. Please leave me alone if I’m laying here. Please don’t put your face near my face. I get too tempted to lick it and then I get into trouble. Sometimes if you put your face too close to mine, it can even scare me. I’m an animal, which means I don’t have the same rules for being clean as you do. You MUST wash your hands after you’ve touched me. Sometimes I might bark – it’s just a dog thing. It’s like me saying ‘hey, what’s happening?’ If you’re calm, I’ll be calm. This is me as a tiny puppy! Risk assessment and rationale 01621 891091 | admin@greattotham.essex.sch.uk | Great Totham Primary School, Walden House Road, Great Totham, Maldon, Essex CM9 8PN Company Reg Number: 7477728 VAT Reg Number: 107673316 © Great Totham Primary School Website Created By: Capture House Privacy Policy