Page 14 - Red Hall Prospectus

75% 48 days 250 lessons
70% 57 days 290 lessons
65% 67 days 340 lessons
General Welfare of the Child

Caring for children in all ways is the duty of both home and school. Parents are used to
looking after all aspects of their child's needs but, by law, schools must also ensure that
the physical, moral, spiritual and social development of the child receives due attention.
Schools often refer to caring for the child's general welfare as their pastoral responsibility.

In a primary school, it is part of the teacher's job to have a pastoral responsibility for each
child in the class. This is a demanding role, not least because of the number of children
to be monitored. It involves the teacher in such varied tasks as encouraging friendships,
discussing problems, sorting out arguments, encouraging good manners, seeking medical
advice, dealing with behaviour difficulties, making enquiries when a child is upset or not
working well, sharing good news, reporting unexplained injuries, monitoring attendance
and punctuality and, perhaps most importantly, being a good listener.

Parents can help the teacher considerably by sharing any news, difficulties or concerns.
An informed teacher is better equipped to deal with a child in an appropriate way. It is
particularly useful if parents share any concerns about their child at an early stage.
Discussion may lead to ideas for solving a problem which may become worse if not
tackled.

In school, there is a procedure for dealing with concerns about a child. If necessary,
advice and help can be sought from colleagues inside or outside the school. It is our policy
to involve the parents at an early stage, so that we can approach the matter with the
benefit of joint knowledge and mutual support.

Physical Welfare

There is a procedure in school for dealing with illness and injury. If a child is too ill to
stay in school, parents will be notified and asked to collect the child. The school needs to
have on record a trusted adult who can be contacted in an emergency if the parents are
unavailable. Children are not allowed to leave the premises unaccompanied by an adult
during school hours.

Medicines in School

The LA would normally expect that pupils who require medication for a short term illness
or acute condition would be kept away from school with the medication being
administered by the child's parent. However, there may be circumstances where the only
reason that the child is not attending school is the need for prescribed medicines to
continue until a course or dosage is finished or where medicines or medical procedures are
necessary on a long-term basis to sustain the child's health.

It is preferable for parents to undertake the responsibility of supervising personally the
taking of the medicine by their child in the school. The following guidance is offered for
cases where parents cannot reasonably be expected to supervise or administer medicines
themselves.

It is school policy that only prescribed medicines which need to be administrated 4 times a
day can be brought into school.

14