Looking After Belongings

Firefly (online learning platform)

Firefly (vle.standrews-schools.com) is the schools on line learning platform. Firefly contains a lot of information about student work and important information in general about St Andrews Green Valley. The students access this on a daily basis to get homework, tasks and see grades for assignments. Parent will also have login codes to view this data.

Google Classroom

Many teachers also use Google Classroom as a way of sharing class content with their students. Google Classroom is a fast and efficient way for teachers and students to work together.

Website and Social Media

The school website www.standrewsgreenvalley.com. Please have a look on a regular basis. We also regularly post updates on school events and activities via our Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram and LINE.

Looking after Belongings

From as early as nursery, students are encouraged to take responsibility for their belongings. Nevertheless items often end up in lost property and we don’t know who they belong to. All items that come from home are required to be labeled clearly with the child’s name. Remember, all white socks look the same when they are off a foot!

Lockers

All students of secondary age are allocated a locker. This is for them to store their books etc and to help them become more organized. Lockers are also the only place where valuable items such as phones etc should be kept.

Personal Items at School

Students get excited when a new craze starts and they may wish to bring items to school to share with their friends. When these items come to school they are sometimes lost, broken or swapped unwisely. Teachers then have to spend time trying to resolve these issues instead of teaching your child. Often there is no resolution to these problems and it causes undue stress both at school and at home. It is preferable that these items stay at home. The school, will not be able to take responsibility for them, so the student will be responsible for any loss or damage.

Mobile phones at school

We recognise that students of Secondary age and some of their parents may wish that they carry a mobile phone with them. Students in the Secondary School may bring their phone to school but it must be switched off during the day unless a teacher allows the student to use it during a class. It is the students responsibility to keep it safe; it is their responsibility if it is lost or damaged. Students who are found using a phone during the school day without permission from a teacher will have it taken and stored safely in the Secondary Office. Phones may be collected at the end of the day for a first ‘offence’ or after a week for subsequent ‘offences’ in the same half term. If a child needs to call home during the school day they may do so from the school office. This has the advantage that we are aware of any issues and we can therefore help should a parent need to call back. Parents too may call the school office to pass on vital messages to their children. Please do not contact your child by mobile phone during the school day as inevitably we end up with lockers ringing when a student has forgotten to turn their phone off. A sure way to interrupt learning!

Laptops/iPads

Students are encouraged to bring a laptop or iPad to school and use it in lessons. When not being used in the requested class, students should keep their lap tops locked in their lockers. School does not specify a particular type of device– the students can choose whether it is a PC, Macbook or iPad

Lost Property

Lost property will be sent to the front office or the Head of Secondary’s office. Please contact the office regarding anything your child has lost. Periodically lost items will be laid out in the foyer to encourage students to ‘find’ their losses. By labeling everything your child brings from home you are assuring it is returned much sooner.

Homework

Homework is an integral part of the learning process. Students develop successful independent learning behaviours by participating in relevant homework. As lessons in class are differentiated so is the homework your child completes. They should find success within the structure provided and if they are struggling we have allowed time for students to ask for help. We hope that all homework tasks build connections between home and school. All homework given out has a deadline set. This deadline allows your child enough time to ask for help from their teacher. Homework should usually be attempted the night it is set to allow your child this opportunity. We do not operate a strict homework timetable as it is not educationally sound to set a piece of homework just because it happens to be a particular day of the week. To be effective, homework must be valued by the students as helping their learning and not just some pointless chore to be endured. Students are therefore given homework where it is appropriate to their learning and they record it in their planners. Students are increasingly expected to plan their studies at home to avoid being overloaded on one night and then having nothing to do on another. This requires your help and support, hence we ask you to check their planners regularly. If a child has not been set a specific homework task, we expect them to be reviewing their work done in class and reading as much as possible. All students should be doing this every night. Teachers post a majority of homework tasks on google classroom or in Firefly (the online learning platform) together with relevant worksheets. The deadlines are also clearly displayed and often the students are asked to submit work electronically.

Parents Absent from home

On rare occasions you may have to leave home. During this time we would advise that you appoint a temporary guardian who is responsible for your child during this absence. This guardian will act in loco-parentis and they may have to work with the school regarding your child’s social, emotional or intellectual development, support the school in dealing with issues that arise or take responsibility in case of accident or injury. Please write a letter or send an email to the school in advance, addressed to Mr. McGee (kmcgee@standrews-schools.com), informing us of this and giving the guardians contact details. He will let teachers know that you are away from home and another responsible adult is temporarily in guardianship.