School enrolment

Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre provides a milk scheme available to all of our pupils. This scheme is operated by a third-party provider called Cool Milk.

School milk is free for under-5s, and, for over-5s, it is available at a subsidised price.

Each child that registers with Cool Milk will receive a 189ml portion of semi-skimmed milk every day, delivered fresh and chilled to the classroom. School milk will not only provide your child with essential nutrients, but as it is rehydrating and energy boosting, it also bridges the gap between breakfast and lunch to help them stay focused.

How to register

If your child will be under five when they begin attending Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre:

• register online at Cool Milk’s website
• register by a Tuesday at 5 p.m. for your child’s free milk to start the following week
• free milk will continue until the Friday before your child’s fifth birthday (you will receive a payment request four weeks before their birthday; if you wish your child to continue to receive school milk, make a payment)

If your child will be five or older when they begin attending Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre:

• register and pay online at Cool Milk’s website
• you can pay Cool Milk either online, over the telephone or at a local PayPoint in half-termly, termly or annual instalments
• please pay by a Tuesday at 5 p.m. for your child’s milk to start the following week

If you have any questions regarding school milk, please visit Cool Milk’s website or contact Cool Milk directly by telephoning 0844 854 2913.

Lactose-free milk and soya milk

Unfortunately due to low demand and limited supply availability with local dairies, Cool Milk cannot offer lactose-free or soya milk products.

However, if your child is lactose intolerant or vegan, the school can provide a daily lactose-free semi-skimmed milk or soya milk alternative.

The school manages this scheme directly at a charge of £2 per week. You can order and pay for your child’s alternative milk via Arbor.

Please complete this registration form to indicate which alternative milk you want your child to receive in school.

Note on fees: Fees may increase or otherwise vary throughout the academic year.

Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre is a paperless organisation. We will never ask you to complete paper-based forms.

Family Hub is integral to this approach. It provides families with a wealth of information about school attendance, how we manage allergies in school, resources to support both your and your child’s mental health and wellbeing, and resources to support you with keeping your child safe online.

It also provides up-to-date information about school lunch menus, calendars and links to our weekly e-newsletters.

Most importantly, Family Hub enables you to:

• Report your child’s absence from school online
• Notify the school of a medical or dental appointment online
• Apply for term-time leave of absence online
• Complete medical forms online

Please be advised that if you visit our School Office for any of the above reasons, our Business Support Team will refer you back to Family Hub to complete the relevant online form.

If you do not have access to the internet at home, our Business Support Team will support you with completing these forms via a tablet computer in our School Office.

Please take some time to familiarise yourself with Family Hub before your child begins school.

All pupils attending Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre receive a daily school meal free of charge.

Aspens Services Limited manage our school catering service, and all meals are freshly prepared daily by our on-site Catering Team.

When your child begins school in September, they will receive a daily school meal. They will be able to select their meal from a menu of daily options consisting of two hot meals and a variety of alternatives, including jacket potatoes and freshly-filled sandwiches and rolls.

You can view our current menu here.

Our school catering provider can accommodate any dietary requirements your child may have.

If you shared any specific dietary information on your child’s Enrolment Form, you will receive further communication requesting further information about your child’s dietary requirements and allergies.

Packed lunch options

Due to the range of meal options available to pupils at lunchtime, Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education does not encourage children to bring packed lunches to school.

However, if you do choose to provide your child with a packed lunch, you should read our Packed Lunch Policy carefully to ascertain what your child’s packed lunch can and cannot contain.

If your child’s packed lunch contains a restricted item on any occasion, they will be provided with a school meal in line with their dietary requirements. You will be contacted on these occasions via a contact slip in your child’s lunchbox.

Using cutlery

Your child must be able to feed themselves independently by the time they begin school. Although we recognise that your child may not be able to use a knife and fork correctly due to their age and stage of development, we insist that they can at least use a spoon to attempt to feed themselves independently.

You may find this information sheet about using cutlery useful whilst preparing your child for school.

Aspens Services Limited manages our school catering service, and all meals are freshly prepared daily by our on-site Catering Team. Aspens Services Limited are committed to providing meals for pupils with special dietary requirements due to medical, religious and cultural reasons or lifestyle choices.

You indicated that your child has allergies, intolerances or a special diet due to medical, religious and cultural reasons or lifestyle choices in their ‘New Intake Form’.

We, therefore, require you to complete this form as soon as possible to enable us to cater to your child’s dietary requirements.

Our school catering provider can accommodate any dietary requirements your child may have. We will share the dietary information you supply in this form with our Catering Manager.

Based on your responses to this form, a ‘Food Allergy Notice’ will be displayed in our School Kitchen. This will contain a photograph of your child and a list of their food allergies, intolerances or special diet due to religious or cultural reasons or lifestyle choices. This will only be visible to colleagues working in our School Kitchen and will not be publicly displayed.

You must accompany your responses to this form with a referral letter from a medical professional, for example, your child’s General Practitioner, consultant or dietitian. This can be uploaded using an option presented within the form. Alternatively, please email this information to [email protected] or provide a paper-based version to our School Office.

Once you have completed this form, it will be shared with our Catering Manager, who may arrange a meeting to discuss your child’s dietary requirements.

As is the nature of children, accidents do happen at school. These mainly involve bumps, bruises, scratches and scrapes. If your child does have an accident, they will be taken to a trained first-aider for treatment, and you will receive a message via Arbor informing you that they have received first-aid treatment at school that day.

This be as follows:

Dear Parent or Carer,

 

Please be advised that [Name of child] has received first aid treatment today for a minor injury.

 

Business Support Team

 

Please note that this is an automatically generated communication. Unless you have received an accompanying telephone call from our School Operations Team before you received this communication, please be reassured that your child is perfectly well, and there is no reason they cannot remain at school today.

 

If your child bumps their head at school, you will receive a separate message via Arbor informing you that they have bumped their head that day, which will advise you to observe for any signs of concussion and contact your GP if you are concerned.

This document outlines our first aid procedures and guidelines.

If your child bumps their head at school and this is not considered significant, you will receive a message via Arbor informing you that they have bumped their head at school that day.

This be as follows:

Dear Parent or Carer,

 

[Name of child] bumped their head at school today.

Although we do not think this was serious, please observe for any signs of concussion and contact your GP if you are concerned.

 

Business Support Team

 

Please note that this is an automatically generated communication. Unless you have received an accompanying telephone call from our School Operations Team before you received this communication, please be reassured that your child is perfectly well, and there is no reason they cannot remain at school today.

 

Although this email may be concerning, we are required to contact you in these circumstances.

 

If you have not received a telephone call before receiving this communication, please assume that this incident is not deemed urgent and that your child is safe and well.

 

We always contact parents or carers directly if we have any immediate concerns about your child’s safety or wellbeing.

If your child’s injury is more serious, you will be contacted immediately to talk about what has happened and asked to collect your child.

This document outlines our first aid procedures and guidelines.

Administration of medicines

School staff are only able to administer prescribed medicines in school. We are able to administer unprescribed medication such as Calpol, etc. if parents have consented using this form

A doctor must prescribe medicines administered in school, and their label must clearly state that they require four doses per day.

School staff cannot administer medicines that require only less than four doses per day, but parents and carers are welcome to come into school to administer medication to their child during the lunchtime break.

If you require school staff to administer medicine to your child you must complete this form before any medicine can be administered.

Please be advised that this form can be completed by visiting our School Office at any time.

Please note that all medicines must be provided in their original container as dispensed by a pharmacist.

Asthma

At Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre, we are aware of the need to ensure that asthmatic pupils have access to their inhalers. We have procedures in place to ensure that inhalers are readily available. The school maintains a record of all those who are registered as asthmatic. If a child requires an inhaler and does not have access to their own, we have implemented this policy and procedures.

If your child has an inhaler, you must complete this form before they can use their inhaler in school.

Please be advised that this form can be completed by visiting our School Office at any time.

The school will not administer medicine to your child unless you complete and sign this online form.

Emergency salbutamol inhaler

In the event of your child displaying asthma symptoms, and if their inhaler is not available or is unusable, they can receive salbutamol from an emergency inhaler held by the school for such emergencies. However, you must complete the above form before they can receive salbutamol from an emergency inhaler maintained by the school.

Anaphylaxis

At Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre, we are aware of the need to ensure that pupils who have allergies that make them susceptible to anaphylaxis have access to their adrenaline auto-injectors. We have implemented this policy and procedures to ensure that adrenaline auto-injectors are readily available. The school maintains a record of all those who have allergies.

This page of our school website provides further information about how we support pupils with allergies.

If your child has an adrenaline auto-injector, you must complete this form before they can use their adrenaline auto-injector in school. Paper copies of this document are available upon request from our School Office.

Please be advised that this form can be completed by visiting our School Office at any time.

Emergency adrenaline auto-injector

If your child displays symptoms of anaphylaxis and their adrenaline auto-injector is not available or is unusable, they can receive adrenaline from an emergency adrenaline auto-injector held by the school for such emergencies. However, you must complete the above form before they can receive adrenaline from an emergency auto-injector maintained by the school.

Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre offers a wraparound care provision for all pupils attending Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre, including its Nursery.

Information about our Free Breakfast Programme can be found here.

Information about our chargeable wraparound care provision can be found here.

Information about our Hobby School Programmes can be found here.

When your child joins Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre, they will be taught according to the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.

What to expect, and when

The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework sets out children’s learning and development stages as they grow from birth to five years.

In this booklet, the seven areas of learning and development are split into three age bands. Each band contains suggestions about what your child may be doing, and how you can help them.

After each age band, you will find top tips for fun, playful experiences that you and your child can do together at home.

It is important to remember that children develop in different ways and at different rates.

Stages of speech and language development

Children develop language at different rates, too. However, understanding what is typical can help you identify speech and language problems early.

This guide provides information about the typical speech and language development stages in babies, children and young people. You can also learn how to help your child learn to talk and develop communication skills.

What if my child requires additional support?

When your child joins Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre, our focus will be settling them into new routines. During this time, class teachers will engage with your child to perform simple baseline assessments to understand their current stage of development.

Suppose your child is identified as requiring additional support with their learning or development. In that case, this will be arranged by their class teacher in consultation with our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator, Mrs Nicholson.

This may, for example, take the form of additional sessions led by the school’s Compass Team or involve your child receiving speech and language therapy sessions delivered by our Speech and Language Therapist.

You can find further information about our graduated approach to providing additional support to pupils here.

Whatever the situation, please be assured that you will be involved in every step.

Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre is part of Operation Encompass, a national scheme operating jointly between schools and police forces.

Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools, before the start of the next school day, when a child or young person has experienced domestic abuse.

As a school, we have ensured that a member of our staff, known as a Key Adult, has been trained in Operation Encompass procedures, allowing us to then use the information that has been shared in confidence to support the children in our care.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 identifies children who experience domestic abuse as victims of domestic abuse in their own right.

We are keen to offer the best support possible to all of our pupils and believe our participation with Operation Encompass benefits everyone involved.