Pastoral Information

Safeguarding Support

At Poltair School we are committed to ensuring that our students and staff are protected from abuse and harm. In Poltair it is the responsibility of everyone who works with children to ensure they are safeguarded from harm.

Safeguarding is defined as:

Protecting children from maltreatment
Preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physicals health or development
Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

Our Safeguarding Team at Poltair are committed to supporting the school community and receive regular training and updates to ensure they can keep all of our children safe.

Inclusion Support

We understand that the transition process to secondary school can cause some children to feel anxious. Our SEND team are here to offer support, to help make the transition experience a positive one. The SENDCo will liaise closely with primary schools to ensure the correct provision is in place for students when they start at Poltair School in September.

Inclusion Team- [email protected]

Pastoral Support

Our pastoral support at Poltair School includes guidance, advice and information to students and their families within our school community, helping with any worries or concerns that may arise in relation to your child’s education, attendance, behaviour and wellbeing. Our role includes liaising with staff, parents and outside agencies to ensure the wellbeing of individual students is fully supported.

Areas of support include attendance and punctuality, self esteem and confidence, positive behaviour strategies and advice, positive mental health/emotional first aid, conflict resolutions, friendships/social skills, bereavement, one-to-one mentoring support and group work intervention.

These are all valuable life skills for which some students may need a little extra support with. Some issues may require long term support whilst others may need short-term intervention. Within the mentoring programme, identified students can have the opportunity to spend designated time with a trusted adult on a 1:1 basis or within a small group. The benefits of these interventions for students can be improved self-esteem, making and maintaining positive friendships and attitudes, increase in self-confidence and the ability to manage their own feelings successfully.

Promoting positive mental health and supporting vulnerable children and young people is at the heart of our work. It is embedded in the culture and ethos of the school.

ParentPay

A secure, online service called ParentPay is used to pay for school meals, trips, instrumental lessons and more. ParentPay offers parents/carers the freedom to make payments whenever and wherever they like – safe in the knowledge that the technology used is of the highest security available.

Parents/carers will have a secure online account, activated using a unique username and password. If you have more than one child at our school, or children at other ParentPay schools, you can create a single account login for them all. Parents/carers will receive their unique ParentPay account activation details from the school.

Making payment is straightforward and ParentPay holds a payment history to view at a later date; no card details are stored in any part of the system. Once you have activated your account, you can make online payments straight away.

Further information regarding ParentPay, including your account activation details, will be shared at a later date.

For further information please contact: [email protected]

Cashless Catering System

Poltair School has a cashless catering system, this enables us to provide a more efficient, faster and ultimately better-quality service.

There is no need for students to carry a card – the system will recognise their thumbprint at the till paypoint. Please note, no cash is accepted in the canteen. Students will be given training on how to use the system in September.

Any amount of money can be paid into their account – any money spent on food and drink will be deducted on a daily basis.

If you choose for your child not to be registered on the biometric system, they will be allocated a 4-digit PIN. Please note that PINs do not have the same level of security and it will be their responsibility to remember the code and keep it secure at all times.

First Aid

Parents of children with medical conditions are often concerned that their child’s health will deteriorate when they attend school. This is because students with long-term and complex medical conditions may require monitoring and interventions in emergency circumstances. It is also the case that a child’s health needs may change over time, in ways that cannot always be predicted, sometimes resulting in extended absences.

It is important that parents feel confident that Poltair will provide effective support for their child’s medical condition and also that the student feels safe.

If a student has an individual healthcare plan, takes regular prescription medicine or suffers from any of the following: Epilepsy, asthma, heart condition, diabetes, migraine, joint problems, bladder problems, bowel problems, hearing impairment, sight loss, allergies that require EpiPen or has any other significant medical conditions, parents should email our Principal First Aider and provide as much information as possible.

Principal First Aider – Jane Thorn: [email protected]

How can I support my child at Poltair School?

Parents/Carers can support their child by:

Supporting our uniform expectations and making sure that your child comes to school properly dressed and fully equipped for the day ahead.
Ensuring that your child attends regularly and keeping us informed of any reasons for their absence.
Avoiding taking family holidays during term time.
Talking to them about their work.
Taking an interest in their activities.
Encouraging a healthy lifestyle (balanced diet, plenty of water and regular exercise).
Providing your child with a quiet place in which to study and a table or desk at which to work.
Ensuring that your child develops a routine when it comes to homework. The timings do not matter; the regular routine does. It makes sense for students not to go out until homework has been completed.
Encouraging your child to go on school visits or to get involved in out-of-hours learning (eg. Music, sport, art, clubs and societies, revision programmes).
Most importantly, giving praise and positive encouragement.

You should encourage…

Young people to complete around 1-2 hours homework a night.
Your child to talk to you about their work. Ask them to explain their work to you. Research suggests that this is the most significant form of positive reinforcement. It is the best revision exercise.