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St. Francis' Catholic Primary School

"For it is in giving that we receive." St. Francis of Assisi

Parents Information (especially useful for new Parents)

Please find below some information to help you with the daily routine of the school.

Start of Day

The school gate is open from 08:45 every day. We operate a 'soft start' where children can go straight into classes where the teacher will be waiting for them. Registers are taken promptly at 9am. Children who arrive late after the gates are closed should enter via the Office and must sign in giving the reason of lateness.

End of Day

All children finish school at 3:30pm.  Children can be collected from outside their classroom, or in the designated collection area for the class.  Their teachers will let you know where for each year group.

Parking: With three schools on the site, it is obviously busy at drop off and pick-up times. 

 The school times are staggered to try and ease congestion. Audley school start early and finish their day at 3pm.

We ask our parents to be considerate at all times, but especially at the end of the day, please do not come on site too early to park. Coming very early to park and wait is unhelpful and inconsiderate to others.

All behaviour should be in line with the expectations of our school ethos. 

Parking is only allowed in the designated bays - please respect this for the safety of all, but especially the children. Do not park on the double lines or zebra crossings. Doing this can endanger all.

Trim Trails, Play and Gym Equipment: Children are not allowed to play on the trim trails, play equipment or gym equipment, and no scooters should be brought onto the playground.  

Drop Off Scheme & Volunteers: The PTA run a drop off scheme every morning with a rota of volunteers.  This enables parents to safely drop off their children to go into school and eases congestion and parking around the school and surrounding roads. Drop off can be used by anyone in the school as long as your child is able to get out of the car safely by themselves and is confident to go into school on their own. There are some general rules of etiquette:

  • Drop off is available to any child in the school from Year 1 to Year 6. It is not normally used for Reception age children - if you have any questions with this please speak to the office staff.
  • Volunteers will be available from 8:45am when the gate is opened and a teacher comes on duty
  • Volunteers will, where possible, open your door and help your child exit the car
  • Parents are asked to drive around the horseshoe to the farthest volunteer on the horseshoe before stopping and before any child exits the car – this ensures up to four cars can unload at the same time
  • Children should be ready to exit the car and holding all their belongings
  • Children should only exit on the passenger side not on the driver side – if this is not possible please park and walk your child to the gate. 
  • Children should not be dropped off before the zebra crossing, as this halts the flow of traffic and can be dangerous.
  • Adults driving should not exit the car to open doors or boots. Wait for the volunteers to assist.
  • As soon as children have been dropped off please move forward to allow those behind to drop off, please do not wait until your child has entered the gates to move on
  • If adults are being dropped off with children who require supervision please do not use the horseshoe area please do this elsewhere on the grounds

We also ask that you please note the following:

  • Volunteers are giving up their time to do this voluntarily and they take no responsibility for children that have been dropped off, in particular those left before the gate opens. Please treat them with respect.
  • Mr Brad Coyler the school caretaker and Staff are on duty on the gate to ensure children do not exit the school and that those dropped off go straight into school.

Please do try to follow the above guidelines and also pass this information on to anyone that may be dropping off on your behalf so as the system continues to move swiftly and not cause congestion in the mornings.

Scooters and Cycles: These should not be brought onto the playground - there are scooter and cycle stores right by the main playground gates. Adults with their own bicycles or scooters collecting children should either leave the bike/scooter at the bike store, or walk with their bike/scooter to collect their child. Adults should NOT be cycling or scooting through the playground at any time - this avoids accidents.

Motorised scooters and buggy cars are NOT allowed anywhere on the cul-de-sac/site or the playground. 

Trim Trails: Children should not be on the trim trails in either playground nor climbing on the play or gym equipment before or after school. The school is not responsible for accidents on these outside of school hours. 

Rainy Days: If it rains then children go directly to their classrooms, parents should drop them at the door. 

Snow Days: We do not close the school unless absolutely necessary! Please keep a close eye on the red banner on the school website. Once all risk assessments and health and safety checks are completed and we know that we have enough staff to open (many of our staff live a distance away from school), we will post on the website and our school facebook page to confirm whether the school can be opened. Similarly, we will post if school is open and we need to close as snow is falling and there is a risk for pick up time. Please make sure if you work a distance away from school that you have an emergency plan - family member or friend who can pick up at short notice.

Sickness Reporting: It is the responsibility of parents to let the school know the reason why their child is absent. This can be done via the phone or by emailing absence@stfrancis.surrey.sch.uk giving the reason for sickness. Saying your child is poorly/ill is not sufficient, please indicate what is wrong with them - eg a temperature, vomiting etc. 

Vomiting: If children have vomited they must stay off school until 48hours has past from the last bout of sickness.

When a child is unwell, it can be hard deciding whether to keep them off school for parents.These simple guidelines taken from the NHS website should help. Click here to go straight to it.

Contacting Teachers: Teachers are not available to talk to parents in the mornings as they are settling children first thing. If you need to get a message to the class teacher you can put a note in your child's book bag, write a note in the school planner/reading record, or email into the school office. Parents should avoid entering the school playground in the mornings - if you need anything please come to the school office where the staff will help. 

New Reception Parents: 

  • Infant children have three breaks - mid-morning, lunchtime and mid-afternoon.
  • They are given a snack of fruit in the morning.
  • If it drizzles we still take the children out for a play and fresh air. Please make sure they have a coat or rain jacket in school. If rain is heavy they stay in the classroom and play games. 
  • We welcome volunteer helpers to come in and read with the children. Please let the office know if you would like to help, so we can tell the staff and arrange a DBS.
  • Spare Clothes - We do keep some spare underwear and clothes, but it is helpful to have spare clothes in school in case your child has an accident.  Speak to the class teacher if you feel this may be an issue for your child.