Our School Information

The School Day

The school gates open at 8.35 am ready for 8.45 am registration. Any child/children arriving after 9.00 am will arrive through the main office and will be marked as late in the register. Arrivals after 9.30am will be marked as unauthorised. The school day finishes at 3.15 pm for Reception to Year 6 and 3.30 pm for Nursery. This delivers a working week of 32.5 hours. The school gates are open at 3.15pm for collection of your children and will be locked at 3.30pm for site security. Any enquiries after this time must be at the main office.

Staff are available on the playground before and after school for any worries or concerns.

The children are organised into key stages as follows:

• EYFS     -     Nursery class, two Reception classes and one Year 1 class
• KS1       -     Year 1 and Year 2
• LKS2     -     Year 3 and Year 4
• UKS2     -    Year 5 and Year 6

 We provide hot dinners at lunchtimes. These times are: 

• Nursery            11.40 – 12.40
• Reception         11.45 – 12.45
• KS1                    11.45 – 12.45
• KS2                    12.15 - 1.15

We stagger our lunchtimes to ensure we have maximum space for each key stage within the dining hall and outside for playtime. We also stagger our morning break times for the same reasons. During the dry weather we make use of our fantastic school field where the children have ample room to run and play. During the wetter times of the year the children use the playground.

The outdoor play equipment situated on the playground is available for the children during school hours and is on a weekly rota. This equipment cannot be used before and after school as it will not be supervised by a member of staff. Any accidents incurred during this time will not be the responsibility of the school. Please adhere to the signs on the equipment. This is to ensure we follow Health and Safety policies.

Due to the lack of space within school and to ensure we minimise trip hazards, we ask for children to bring minimal items into school. Bags should be not be too large as they need to fit onto the child’s peg in class with their coat.

The Wearing of Jewellery and/ or Accesories

The school follows County guidelines at all times. Their recommendations regarding the wearing of jewellery are as follows:

 “Watches, jewellery and earrings, belts with metal buckles and other unnecessary encumbrances likely to prove dangerous to the wearer or to others should not be worn”. In the case of pierced ears, only small studs should be worn. Neither the school nor the LA can accept any responsibility for any loss or damage resulting from the wearing of jewellery."

Essex County Council’s ruling (January 1995).

It also states that for PE “all jewellery, including sleepers and studs in newly pierced ears, must be removed for safety reasons. Those children who do not comply will not be permitted to participate in the activity”.

We ask that long hair is neatly tied back, and the wearing of large hair clips and decorations is not appropriate. We also discourage children from having patterns, designs or partings cut into their hair. Nail varnish or false nails for pupils is not acceptable at any time

No items from home should be brought into school unless requested by the teacher e.g. items for show and tell or items related to topic work. Personal items often get lost or misplaced which results in upset for all concerned. The school has all equipment needed in a school day e.g. pens, pencils, rubbers, balls, fiddle toys etc. Pencil cases are not required or any sports equipment to play with at break time. Any child that requires a fiddle toy for their needs has to be accessed by the SENCO and she will assign them the appropriate item from our stock. Items that get brought into school without prior consent will be kept on the teacher’s desk until the end of the day.

Walking home

Often children in Year 5/6 have parental permission to walk home by themselves and carry a mobile phone for health and safety reasons. If this is the case please ensure your child hands their mobile into the school office on the way into school and then they can pick it up on the way out. The school cannot be responsible for the loss or damage of mobile phones. We are also following safeguarding procedures that state mobile phones are not in public areas of the school during school hours unless they have prior permission from the Head teacher/Deputy Head teacher.

Home School Agreement

Please ensure you complete the Home School Agreement, who is allowed to pick up your child form and inform the office if at any time your personal details change. It is imperative we have correct contact numbers in case of an emergency and that we have a correct address for your child. If someone different is picking up your child please inform the office. We will not release any child until we have checked with you first. This is following safe guarding procedures.

Who to Contact

If you have any queries or concerns please either:

Telephone   - 01255 860210

Email            - admin@engaines.essex.sch.uk

Or visit the school Office.