If we have not answered any particular query here, please come and talk to us about it. We’ll be happy to help you.

What time does school start?

School opens at 8.55am. The register is called at 9.00am. Any child arriving after 9.05am will be recorded as late and the reason for the late arrival will be recorded in the school’s late book in the school office. If your child arrives after 9.30am, this will be recorded as an unauthorised absence (unless your child is sick or has a medical/dental appointment).

What time does school finish?

School ends at 3.20pm. You can wait for your child outside their classroom door in the playground. When the teacher sees you, your child will be allowed to come to you. Please let us know if anyone other than yourself is picking up your child.

What happens if my child becomes upset?

School can be overwhelming for any child, so don’t worry if your child gets upset especially when you leave. They will soon settle down, and we would always contact you if there are any real problems.

What happens if my child is unwell?

If your child is sick or unwell then he or she needs to be at home. A phone call to school on the day of absence followed by a written note giving the reason for absence when your child returns to school, helps us to keep accurate records. If your child has had a tummy upset then he or she should be symptom free and eating normally for 48 hours before returning to school.

What if my child becomes unwell during the school day?

Every effort will be made to contact you. You would have provided us with contact details on the Admissions Form when your child started school. It is very helpful to have home, mobile and work phone numbers. Please remember to inform us of any changes especially telephone numbers.

What if my child needs medication?

We are happy to administer medication due to medical conditions such as asthma. Inhalers etc. must be clearly named and are kept in the school office to be used whenever needed. You will be asked to complete a form giving details of medication and dosage.

How do I know what’s going on?

We send regular newsletters out to parents with news and dates of forthcoming events, such as parents’ evenings, Inset days and social events as well as items of interest. Posters, notices and newsletters are displayed on the notice board in the playground and also uploaded on to this site.

Will my child be taken out of school?

From time to time, we like to take the children out of school to study the local area in connection with topic work. Children are always be properly supervised with the appropriate number of adult helpers. We do need your permission to take your child out of school, and it would be helpful if you could complete the form included in this pack so that your child can be included in these education activities for the time that they are in school.

We also take the children on school trips involving transport. There is often a charge associated with these trips and we will always seek permission separately for these trips outside of the local area. The school has insurance in respect of all visits and trips outside of school.

What if there are any problems?Your child’s teacher is always willing to talk to you. The end of the afternoon is better than the beginning of the school day. Miss Keeble is also always available for information or advice, or if you’re worried about anything.

What information will the school hold about my child and will it be passed on to anyone?

In order to meet the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998, schools have a requirement to give parents information about the information held about pupils, why it is held and the third parties to whom it may be passed on to. Yatton Infant School processes personal information about its pupils and is a “data controller” in respect of this for the purposes of the Data Protection Act. It processes data to:

• Support its pupils’ teaching and learning;
• Monitor and report on their progress;
• Provide appropriate pastoral care, and
• To assess how well the school as a whole is doing.

This data includes contact details, national curriculum assessment results, attendance information, characteristics such as ethnic group, special educational needs and any relevant medical information.

This data may only be used or passed on for specific purposes allowed by law. From time to time, the school is required to pass on some of this data to local authorities, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), and to agencies that are prescribed by law, such as the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), Ofsted, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the Department of Health (DH), and the Primary Care Trusts (PCT) and Contact Point (a directory that will help people who work with children and young people to quickly find out who else is working with the same child, making it easier to deliver more coordinated support). All these are data controllers in respect of the data they receive, and are subject to the same legal constraints in how they deal with the data.

Pupils, as data subjects, have certain rights under the Data Protection Act, including a general right of access to personal data held on them, with parents exercising this right on their behalf if they are too young to do so themselves. If you wish to access the personal data held about your child, then please contact the relevant organisation below in writing. In order to fulfil their responsibilities under the Act the organisation may, before responding to this request, seek proof of the requestor’s identity and any further information required to locate the personal data requested.

Separately from the Data Protection Act, regulations provide a pupil’s parent (regardless of the age of the pupil) with the right to view, or to have a copy of, their child’s educational record at the school. If you wish to exercise this right you should write to the school.

The Local Authority (LA) uses information about children for whom it provides services to carry out specific functions for which it is responsible, such as the assessment of any special educational needs the child may have. It also uses the information to derive statistics to inform decisions on (for example) the funding of schools, and to assess the performance of schools and set targets for them. The statistics are used in such a way that individual children cannot be identified from them. The LA is also required to maintain the accuracy of the information held on ContactPoint (see below) about children and young people in their area.
http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/

Data Protection Officer at North Somerset Council, Town Hall, Walliscote Grove Road, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1UJ

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) uses information about pupils to administer the national curriculum assessments portfolio throughout Key Stages 1 to 3. This includes both assessments required by statute and those that are optional. The results of these are passed on to DCSF to compile statistics on trends and patterns in levels of achievement. The QCA uses the information to evaluate the effectiveness of the national curriculum and the associated assessment arrangements, and to ensure that these are continually improved.
http://www.qca.org.uk/

Data Protection Officer, QCA, 83 Piccadilly, LONDON, W1J 8QA

Ofsted uses information about the progress and performance of pupils to help inspectors evaluate the work of schools, to assist schools in their self-evaluation, and as part of Ofsted’s assessment of the effectiveness of education initiatives and policy. Ofsted also uses information about the views of children and young people, to inform children’s services inspections in local authority areas. Inspection reports do not identify individual pupils.
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/

Data Protection Officer, Alexandra House, 33 Kingsway, London WC2B 6SE

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) uses information about pupils for statistical purposes, to evaluate and develop education policy and monitor the performance of the education service as a whole . The statistics (including those based on information provided by the QCA) are used in such a way that individual pupils cannot be identified from them. On occasion information may be shared with other Government departments or agencies strictly for statistical or research purposes only. The LSC or its partners may wish to contact learners from time to time about courses, or learning opportunities relevant to them.
http://www.lsc.gov.uk/

Data Protection Officer ,Cheylesmore House, Quinton Road, Coventry, Warwickshire CV1 2WT

Primary Care Trusts (PCT) use information about pupils for research and statistical purposes, to monitor the performance of local health services and to evaluate and develop them. The statistics are used in such a way that individual pupils cannot be identified from them. Information on the height and weight of individual pupils may however be provided to the child and its parents and this will require the PCTs to maintain details of pupils’ names for this purpose for a period designated by the Department of Health following the weighing and measuring process. PCTs may also provide individual schools and LAs with aggregate information on pupils’ height and weight.
http://www.northsomerset.nhs.uk/

North Somerset PCT, Waverley House, Old Church Road, Clevedon, BS21 6NP

The Department of Health (DH) uses aggregate information (at school year group level) about pupils’ height and weight for research and statistical purposes, to inform, influence and improve health policy and to monitor the performance of the health service as a whole. The DH will base performance management discussions with Strategic Health Authorities on aggregate information about pupils attending schools in the PCT areas to help focus local resources and deliver the Public Service Agreement target to halt the year on year rise in obesity among children under 11 by 2010, in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole. The Department of Health will also provide aggregate PCT level data to the Healthcare Commission for performance assessment of the health service.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/index.htm

Data Protection Officer at Skipton House 80 London Road London SE1 6LH

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) uses information about pupils for research and statistical purposes, to inform, influence and improve education policy and to monitor the performance of the education service as a whole. The DCSF will feed back to LAs and schools information about their pupils for a variety of purposes that will include data checking exercises, use in self-evaluation analyses and where information is missing because it was not passed on by a former school.

The Children Act 2004 provides for the Secretary of State to issue Regulations requiring the “governing body of a maintained school in England” to disclose information for inclusion on ContactPoint. The purposes of Contact Point are to:-

• help practitioners working with children quickly identify a child with whom they have contact;
• determine whether that child is getting the universal services (education, primary health care) to which he or she is entitled; and
• enable earlier identification of needs and earlier, more effective action to address these needs by providing a tool to help practitioners identify which other practitioners are involved with a particular child; and
• encourage better communication and closer working between practitioners.
  ContactPoint will hold for each child or young person in England:
• basic identifying information: name, address, gender, date of birth and a unique identifying number based on the existing Unique Identifying Number/National Insurance Number;
• basic identifying information about the child’s parent or carer;
• contact details for services involved with the child: as a minimum school and GP Practice but also other services where appropriate; and
• the facility for practitioners to indicate to others that have undertaken a common assessment in relation to a child.

ContactPoint will NOT record statements of a child’s needs, academic performance, attendance or clinical observations about a child. All practitioners and system support staff (in LAs who will be responsible for maintaining the data) will have to have relevant training and to have undergone rigorous checks and appropriate security clearance procedures. To ensure high standards of accuracy, information on ContactPoint will be drawn from a number of sources including the termly School Census from which pupils’ home address will be collected.

The DCSF will also provide Ofsted with pupil data for use in school inspection. Where relevant, pupil information may also be shared with post 16 learning institutions to minimise the administrative burden on application for a course and to aid the preparation of learning plans.

Pupil information may be matched with other data sources that the Department holds in order to model and monitor pupils’ educational progression; and to provide comprehensive information back to LAs and learning institutions to support their day to day business. The DCSF may also use contact details from these sources to obtain samples for statistical surveys: these surveys may be carried out by research agencies working under contract to the Department and participation in such surveys is usually voluntary. The Department may also match data from these sources to data obtained from statistical surveys.

Pupil data may also be shared with other Government Departments and Agencies (including the Office for National Statistics) for statistical or research purposes only. In all these cases the matching will require that individualised data is used in the processing operation, but that data will not be processed in such a way that it supports measures or decisions relating to particular individuals or identifies individuals in any results. This data sharing will be approved and controlled by the Department’s Chief Statistician.

The DCSF may also disclose individual pupil information to independent researchers into the educational achievements of pupils who have a legitimate need for it for their research, but each case will be determined on its merits and subject to the approval of the Department’s Chief Statistician.