Whole School Information
This page contains key information relevant to all pupils and parents. Information can be found below on the following:
- Attendance Expectations
- Term Dates
- Timings of the School Day
- Uniform Requirements
- ParentPay
- Lunchtime & Breaktime Arrangements
- Milk
- Head Bump Advice
- Code of Conduct for Parents & Carers
- Getting Involved with School
- Useful External Links
Standard forms that are often required to be completed can be accessed by clicking on the items in the below list:
Attendance Expectations
The Coppice recognises that regular school attendance and punctuality is essential if a child is to make the most of the educational opportunity available to them, achieve their full potential and improve their life chances.
Our Attendance Policy explains clearly the expectations for all parties involved in the education of your child, including applicable legislation.
The children are expected to attend school every day. Should your child not be attending school on any day, this Absence Procedure must be followed.
Any messages relating to a child’s absence, appointments or pick-up times need to be sent directly to the school office and NOT to the class teacher. This ensures messages can be recorded appropriately and actioned on a timely basis.
The school office can be contacted by phone or e-mail for such matters – staff are available to talk to from 8.00 am – 4.00 pm each weekday, with an answerphone system outside those hours.
The absence line answerphone is open 24 hours a day (Option 1 when calling the school).
Specific advice on assessing if your child is too ill for school can be found on this NHS website.
The specific impact of "broken weeks" is also explained here
Term Dates
The terms dates for 2023/24 were last updated on 29th November 2022.
The term dates for 2024/25 were last updated on 29th November 2022.
The term dates for 2025/26 were last updated on 29th November 2022 - They can be accessed here.
Timings of the School Day
The timings of the school day are slightly different for each school year - the summary of timings by year group can be seen in the table below.
When collecting your child from school please note the following:
- We need to know if your child is being picked up by someone other than the parent or other person on the agreed collection list, if this is not the normal arrangement. Parents are asked to notify the school office by telephone, letter or email if you know in advance that this will be the case. However, in the case of an emergency, you must telephone the school office directly and not rely on other forms of communication. You will appreciate the need for us to be most careful in this matter for safeguarding reasons
- There is a one-way system in operation for entering and leaving the site so to avoid children walking through the car park. At the end of the day all parents must enter the school site through the top gate by the church, sticking to the path where possible. All parents must walk through the school playground and leave the school site through the KS2 gate by the bungalow
- At the end of the school day, all classes of children will be lined up in their classrooms ready to be collected from the classroom doors. If parents/carers are unavoidably delayed, the child/children will be taken to wait by the main door to the school. However, it is very important that children are picked up on time because we cannot always guarantee that a member of staff is available long after the end of the school day to supervise them
- If parents are regularly more than 10 minutes late collecting their child and have not informed school, we will charge the cost of employing the member of staff to supervise the child - this will either be via ParentPay if school staff are required or via CareClub if your child needs to be placed there
Uniform Requirements
We wish for all of our children to have the same, high standard in both school uniform and PE kit so that it gives our children a clear identity. It shows that they all belong to The Coppice Primary School. We want children to feel that they belong to their school and to be proud of it.
One of the mantras that we share with the children is ‘Smart in body, smart in mind’. By this we mean that children learn best when they are in a mindset for work. Through being smartly presented, the children understand the high expectations that our school has for them and that we are striving to be the best that we can be in every sense of the word. For this to be the case, every detail is important and uniform is one of those details.
What is also really important to us though is that the uniform and PE/Forest School kit expectations outlined are both achievable and affordable for all parents and carers. Therefore, we have made decisions that we believe enable this to be the case. We do not want to exclude anyone or pose challenges financially for any of our parents or carers with our expectations. For example, we do not expect an embroidered logo on anything apart from their school sweatshirt, jumper or cardigan. Everything else can be plain.
In the document above we also provide details of places where parents and carers can buy the required uniform at affordable prices. In addition, for children with sensory issues, we also provide details of where sensory alternatives can be purchased so that all children can conform to the expectations, just as they will be expected to do at secondary school and in the world of work beyond that. These specialists use specific sensory-need fabrics, which, through research, have a proven track record.
Should anyone find that they have financial constraints which impact on their ability to provide school uniform for their child, then please get in touch with the school office so we can support as best we can, including providing assistance on sourcing second-hand uniform which is managed and sold by The Coppice PTA.
ParentPay
The school uses an external platform, ParentPay, to facilitate the smooth booking and payment for your child's activities.
This includes all lunch bookings, school trips, school operated clubs and any other miscellaneous school related activity. NB. PTA organised events may or may not be processed via ParentPay - instructions will be issued in communications for each event.
When a child joins the school, they will be registered by the school on the platform and activation details will be sent out to you.
The ParentPay website can be accessed here.
Some instructions around making lunch bookings via Parentpay can be found here.
If you have any problems with the platform then please contact the school office.
Lunchtime & Breaktime Arrangements
The Coppice is able to provide hot meals, which are prepared on-site. Our school lunchtime food is provided by Alliance in Partnership (AiP). They provide a choice of 3 different hot meals each day, including a vegetarian option, as well as a sandwich option. The latest menu can be accessed here.
The catering company are also able to offer specialised menus for individuals who have specific dietary conditions, such as allergies or intolerances. To assist them in being able to plan a revised menu for your child, please complete this Special Diets Form and return it to the school office.
All School Lunches (whether paid for or entitled to free of charge) need to be booked on our Parent Pay system. Please ensure lunches are booked by 9am each morning to enable the kitchen to plan effectively. Please also ensure that should your child not be attending school on a particular day, it is necessary for Parents & Carers to cancel any lunch bookings themselves, also by 9am each day, so as to prevent being charged for any non-used meals.
Means-tested Free School Meals are available to all children who have been assessed as eligible. Parents who feel they may be eligible for free school meals should apply via the link below.
It is essential that parents apply (whatever Year Group your child is in) as the School will then receive other funds as and when they are made available to support you further, such as subsidised school trips and funding for any other Government initiatives.
Universal Infant Free School Meals are available for all Reception, Y1 and Y2 children.
The alternative is that children can eat their own packed lunch on our own premises. Please make sure that all lunch boxes are clearly labelled with your child’s name and class, using an appropriate container e.g. a ‘Tupperware’ container or similar non-breakable container. Drinks should not be brought in glass bottles.
Children are encouraged to bring a healthy, balanced meal including some fruit. In that respect, we have created a Healthy Lunchbox Policy. A variety of free fruits and vegetables are provided each day for all infant and nursery children.
Milk
The Coppice Primary School provides a milk scheme that is available to all pupils. This is completely free for all under-fives, subsidised for pupils aged five or over and administered by a company called Cool Milk on our behalf.
Once a child is registered with Cool Milk a carton of semi-skimmed milk is delivered fresh and chilled, to the classroom, everyday, providing essential nutrients and a rehydrating, energy boost to bridge the gap between breakfast and lunch to help children stay focused.
How to register :-
Children under five: Register your child via Coolmilk.com to receive milk. Free milk will continue until the Friday before your child's fifth birthday. You will receive a payment request three weeks before that time and if you wish your child to continue to receive school milk simply make a payment.
Children over five: Register your child via Coolmilk.com. Shortly after registering you will receive a payment request. You can pay online, over the phone, at a local PayPoint or by cheque in half-termly, termly or annual instalments. You should pay by Tuesday for your child to start receiving milk the following week.
If you are entitled to Free School Meals, just indicate this when you register and the milk will be free of charge for any age.
Head Bump Advice
Should any child have a Head Bump at school then text or phone communication will be sent to parents/carers to alert them.
Children have many bangs to the head and it can be difficult to tell whether they are serious or not. Most head bumps are not serious and simply result in a lump or bruise but occasionally head bumps can result in damage to the brain.
Observe your child closely for the next 2-3 days and check that they can respond to you normally.
Additional advice on head bumps is available via this NHS link.
Code of Conduct for Parents & Carers
Overwhelmingly, the vast majority of parents, carers and others visiting our school are keen to work with us and are supportive of the school. However, on the rare occasions when a negative attitude towards the school is expressed, this can result in aggression, verbal and or physical abuse towards members of school staff or the wider school community which will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
In that respect, a Code of Conduct has been created to establish a clear expectation for all.
Getting Involved with School
We are very grateful to everyone who helps support their child and the school. We often have individuals willing to provide more wider support. Below are the ways that people can support the school.
Parent Forum
Full details of The Coppice Parent Forum, including recent meeting minutes, can be found by clicking the link below:
Volunteering
For those interested in volunteering in school, please complete our Volunteer Application Form and then return it to the Office Team.
PTA
The Coppice PTA is a group of friendly, like-minded parents and teacher representatives. Our main aim is to raise funds for our children’s school by organising fun events throughout the year. In order to achieve this we meet on a regular basis at the school to discuss and plan forthcoming events.
Further information on our school PTA can be found on our website here.
The PTA also has a separate website page which is kept up to date with upcoming events, contact details for the team and facilitates payments for events.
Easyfundraising
School budgets have never been tighter so maximising our available funding for pupil development is critical.
Easyfundraising is a great way of doing this. If every parent registered and remembered to use this (i.e. visit online retailers via the easyfundraising site), it could raise hundreds of pounds for us without any cost to parents. We are listed (the ‘cause’) with easyfundraising as: The Coppice Primary School PTA, Hollywood.
Further information from Easyfundraising is below:
Q. How does easyfundraising work?
A. We work with over 2000 retailers who have all agreed to pass a donation to your cause when you shop with them. The donation is usually a percentage of how much you spend with them but it can also be a set amount, such as £30 for a new car insurance policy from Aviva. Our retailers include Amazon, M&S, Boden, John Lewis, Argos and 2000 other well known names
Q. What do you need to do to raise money?
A. Firstly register with us and tell us who you want to support (if your cause isn’t listed yet, you can either register them yourself or ask someone within your cause to do it). It’s free for both shoppers and causes to register and use.
To raise money, instead of going directly to the retailer website, log into easyfundraising first and click on the retailer you want to shop with. You’ll then be taken to the retailer’s website where you shop as you would normally. But because you visited easyfundraising first, your cause gets a donation. It really is that simple.
Q. What's the catch?
A. No catch. Whatever you buy costs exactly the same as it would if you visited the retailer site directly. We don’t take any financial information from you as all your transactions are with the retailer. We won’t sell your information on and we won’t spam you. And it doesn’t cost you or your cause anything.
Suggestions
At The Coppice, we welcome good ideas or suggestions from our parents or other members of the community.
If there's something you'd like us to consider, please let us know by contacting the office team.
Useful External Links
CareClub
On our school site, there is a 3rd party provider who provide wrap-around childcare support and offer holiday clubs.
Their website can be accessed here. Please note that this is completely separate to school activities.
Free School Meals
To apply for Free School Meals should you meet the eligibility criteria please follow this link.
Childline
If you are worried about anything, big or small, don't bottle it up. It can really help if you talk to someone. If there is something on your mind, ChildLine is there for you. Any phone calls are free and nobody will know about them. Click here, or phone for free on 0800 1111 . You can also go to the Talk section of the website and chat to somebody using messaging online if you prefer.